Creativity Rubrics

Creativity Rubric

from Grant Wiggins

6  

The work is unusually creative. The ideas/materials/methods used are novel, striking, and  highly effective. Important ideas/feelings are illuminated or highlighted in sophisticated  ways. The creation shows great imagination, insight, style, and daring. The work has an  elegant power that derives from clarity about aims and control over intended effects. The  creator takes risks in form, style, and/or content.

• The problem has been imaginatively reframed to enable a compelling and powerful  solution
• Methods/approaches/techniques are used to great effect, without overkill “less is more” here: there is an elegant simplicity of emphasis and coherence 
• Rules or conventions may have been broken to create a powerful new statement.
• Common materials/ideas have been combined in revealing and clever ways
• The audience is highly responsive to (perhaps disturbed by) the work
• The work is vivid through careful attention to telling details and deft engaging touches 
• There is an exquisite blend of the explicit and implicit

5

The work is highly creative. The ideas/materials/methods used are imaginative and  effective. There is attention to detail. A clear and confident voice and style are present.

• Novel approaches/moves/directions/ideas/perspectives were used to good effect
• There is an effective blend of personal style and technical knowledge
• Familiar materials and ideas have been combined in new and imaginative ways
• The work provokes a lively audience response

4  

The work is creative. The ideas/materials/methods used are effective. A voice and style  are present.

• Novel approaches/moves/directions/ideas/perspectives were used to good effect
• There are imaginative and personal touches scattered throughout the work
• The work keeps the audience mostly engaged 
• There is a discernible and interesting effect/focus/message/style, with lapses in execution
• The work takes some risks in methods/style/content

3

The work is somewhat creative. The ideas/materials/methods used show signs of imagination and personal style.

• Familiar approaches/routines/moves were used, but with a few new twists
• There are places where ideas and techniques are borrowed whole.
• Novel ideas or approaches may be present but they seem stuck on, excessive, out of place and/or not integrated effectively in the work
• Time-tested recipes and clichés are used even where there is a personal voice the work is pretty “safe”
• The work is a mish-mash of interesting and familiar approaches and effects, but with no coherence OR the work is technically very competent and coherent, without much spark or insight

2

The work is not very creative. The approach is trite and the ideas clichéd, leading to a flat  and predictable performance. There is little sense of the creator’s touch, voice, or style here. 

• The work offers little in the way of new approaches/methods/ideas 
• There is little sign of personal voice, touch, or style
• The work suggests that the creator confuses “creative” and “risk taking” with “shocking in a juvenile way”
• There is excessive and incoherent use of different materials, techniques, ideas
• The creator may have confused great care and precision with creativity – the work is more polished than imaginative or revealing

1

The work is uncreative.  The performance recreates someone else’s performance or relies exclusively on the models/algorithms/moves/recipes/templates/directions/materials provided.

• The work is predictable throughout, relying almost exclusively on hackneyed  approaches; there is no apparent personal touch
• The work is timid and lacking in vivid feelings and ideas – so abstract that it has little  to say to an audience
• The work is done with care but without direction or insight

Creativity Rubric 

from Susan Brookhart