Rubrics are one method used to evaluate student work. Essentially, there is no easy answer. Rubrics can be serve as a holistic evaluation or be divided into parts that address specific skills. However, some of these begin to look standardized after they are broken down into many categories that address various skills and subskills. Reliability and validity are other key issues related to assessment.
Reliability refers to the consistency or replicability of scores or performances.
Both standardized and alternative assessments attempt to achieve a degree of reliability and validity. Standardized tests, however, have a greater concern with reliability. Since they are simplified for the sake of scoring, they lose the authenticity of real-life tasks. In addition, the test taking security measures demand that test taking be made under artificial circumstances, rendering the validity questionable. Alternative assessment, on the other hand, focuses on more ill-structured tasks, and considers individual students to a greater degree, However, by allowing open measures and negotiation between student and teacher, reliability is reduced.