Grading for every type of assessment step in an ORA assignment is done by comparing each response against the same set of guidelines, called a rubric. Every open response assessment has a rubric provided by the course team.
A rubric consists of several criteria and a set of options for each criterion.
Criteria
Each criterion describes characteristics that a response should have.
For example, "Determine if there is a unifying theme or main idea" or "Assess the content of the submission" are possible criteria for assessing a response.
Options
Each criterion has options which describe how well each response satisfies the criterion. The options are usually a range of ratings, with details to help you decide the rating, and an associated point value.
For example, this table shows the options for the criterion "Determine if there is a unifying theme or main idea".
| Option | Description | Points |
| Poor | Difficult to understand the main idea. Too brief or too repetitive to establish or maintain a focus. | 0 |
| Fair | Presents a unifying theme or main idea, but includes minor tangents. Stays somewhat focused on topic and task. | 3 |
| Good | Presents a unifying theme or main idea without going off on tangents. Stays completely focused on topic and task. | 5 |
When you assess a response, you evaluate the response, and for each criterion, select the option that best describes how well the response met that criterion.