How to Write CRITERIA – An Overview

Writing effective criteria is a critical skill for educators to ensure that assessment is fair, reliable and transparent.

Writing criteria is not a difficult skill, however, different approaches abound which can be very confusing for both teachers and students. This resource explains a well-tested process for developing criteria for ANY subject area. The approach used has been developed across many years of teaching experience in a wide range of educational contexts and informed by highly experienced educators.

This approach is simple, easy to follow and is highly effective. It minimises confusion and reduces the complexity of assessment strategies and marking. It will save teachers precious time. Once implemented, the marking process is simplified.

This resource is the first in a set of resources including ‘How to Write Standards‘ and  resources around writing and understanding rubrics such as ‘How to Write Rubrics‘, ‘Generic History Rubrics‘, ‘Science Rubrics‘, ‘Blank Rubric Template‘, ‘Principles of Assessment’, ‘Writing English Rubrics‘, ‘3, 4 & 5 Level Rubrics’, ‘8 Ways to Improve Transparency, Effectiveness and Reliability of Rubrics‘, and more. The principles referred to in this resource are consistent across all resources in this Sass Education ‘assessment’ range.

The resource includes a Pdf document explaining concepts and a PowerPoint Criterion Builder Template to develop your own criteria easily and effectively.

The information found in this resource also links with other resources around developing lesson plans and writing unit plans.

All these resources are aligned to the Australian Curriculum (2022), however, the principles are equally applicable to other educational jurisdictions globally.