Quality Matters and Rubrics

     Overall, I think analytical rubrics provide more information than holistic rubrics in both approaches – behaviorist and cognitivist.
     Holistic rubrics are used more often when there is no definite answer required. They focus on the overall quality or understanding of the content or subject. It is a quicker scoring system for instructors and less detailed scoring diagram for students. In behaviorist approach, these rubrics can be used, but they do not provide enough feedback to keep positive feedback current and constant. Holistic rubrics combine different kinds of thinking into a single category, which creates less work for instructors, and more doubt for students, especially in behaviorist approach (Mertler, 2001).
     I think holistic rubrics are more appropriate for the cognitivist approach; however, they still leave the motivation aspect out, because a student must be self-motivated enough to receive an overall score. When separate parts are graded, like in analytical rubrics, and feedback is provided for each of them, the students have the opportunity to correct their mistakes and adjust along the way. Every instructor and a student are different. Although the scoring system is supposed to be on a neutral level, since neither of both rubrics, holistic or analytical, can have a mathematical approach to them, using analytical method seems to be more appropriate for both approaches – cognitivist and behavioral.
     “Instead of the holistic rubric's lumping of several different traits into one category, an analytical rubric separates them” (Pierce, 2006).  Although analytical rubrics do take more time to score, they “can be useful to departments assessing student's thinking skills in assignments and projects in multi-section courses to determine which areas of student thinking need more attention in the course” (Pierce, 2006). 
References
Mertler, C., A. (2001). Designing scoring rubrics for your classroom. Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, 7(25). Retrieved from: http://www.pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=7&n=25
Peirce, W. (2006). Designing rubrics for assessing higher order thinking. Retrieved from: http://academic.pgcc.edu/~wpeirce/MCCCTR/Designingrubricsassessingthinking.html