Therefore it's important that the entire rubric be available to the student for the time period of the assessment. In the case of self-directed learning, it would probably be for the whole year, with assessments done at three specific times, or perhaps after each major project. This same rubric could follow a student through the grades. Most rubric scores consequently provide encouraging messages about accomplishments rather than failures. This is even more so when students are able to help develop the criteria and the levels of accomplishment, thus being able to understand the depth of the assessment.
Rubrics then become guides as well as measurements.
This can become a circular evolution of students learning to use a rubric as a guide and as self-evaluation. This can be initially daunting and takes practice, but is well worth the rewards. A rubric can refer to an evaluation of one student skill over time, as in the self-direction set above. A holistic rubric can consider a whole project, selecting several over-riding criteria to consider, the rubrics presented in a matrix format. The criteria might include preparation, documentation, topic development, response to class questions, and multimedia components.