> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.mesolab.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Rubrics

> Build a rubric from your unit's outcomes, and edit every cell of it.

A rubric in MESO is a grid: criteria down the side, performance levels across
the top, and a descriptor in every cell. It is generated from the unit's context
— its outcomes, its topic and its assessment method — and then it is yours to
edit.

## Choosing a scale

You pick a **rubric scale**, which sets the performance levels. The available
scales are standard educational rubric scales for the Irish curriculum; the
default is a four-level scale running from Exemplary through Proficient and
Developing to Beginning.

Changing the scale changes the number of columns, and the grid re-colours
cleanly at any level count.

## Editing it

Everything in the grid is editable:

* **Criterion names** — rename any row
* **Descriptors** — click any cell and rewrite it
* **Weights** — set how much each criterion contributes

> [!TIP]
>
> The generated descriptors are usually the part worth rewriting. MESO gets the
> structure and the criteria close; the wording that distinguishes "Proficient"
> from "Developing" for *your* class is a judgement it cannot make.

## Rubrics and outcomes

A rubric built from unit context measures the outcomes the unit was planned
against — that is the point of [alignment](https://docs.mesolab.ai/teachers/alignment.md). Before using
one, check that each criterion actually maps to something you taught.

## A rubric on its own

You can also generate a rubric as a standalone [resource](https://docs.mesolab.ai/teachers/resource-types.md)
without attaching it to a unit — useful for a one-off piece of work. Generated
in a unit's context it will be sharper, because it knows the outcomes.

> [!WARNING]
>
> Check any levels, marks or weightings before using a rubric for real assessment.
> MESO drafts these; it does not know your school's marking conventions.


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