Rubrics are a means to communicate the standards or criteria of an assignment and to assess student work formatively or summatively by faculty, peer, and/or self. Given that assessment is a necessary and mandated component of education, this study sought to summarize what is known about rubrics as an assessment tool for student learning. In this study, fifty three empirical articles were identified with 12 at the K-12 level and 41 in higher education. Fifteen of the articles are reviewed as representative samples and organized in five categories with the remaining studies summarized in a table. While there are numerous theoretical and practitioner articles extolling the benefits of rubrics, the empirical evidence is still largely undeveloped and characterized as rudimentary. Empirical studies document that both faculty and students find the rubric a useful and appreciated means of communicating the expectations of assignments and providing a clear set of standards by which student work will be assessed. A small number of studies demonstrate a connection between rubric use and higher levels of performance. Though the evidence that rubrics aid student learning is limited, it is growing and even compelling. The diverse use of rubrics in many disciplines highlights the versatility of the tool in both formative and summative assessment. Rubrics are particularly well suited to assessing how well students can actually use their knowledge in a real world context. Rubrics are also being used for department and program assessment. A growing and needed area for future research is the reliability and validity of rubrics. The results of reliability studies are mixed with some studies showing good reliability and others revealing inadequate reliability. Little research deals with validity. Additional insight into assessment for Christian education, the author's vocational context, is gained by a careful study of the biblical letters of the Apostle Paul. Paul's language and evaluation patterns coincide with the essence of assessment in the academic context. While there is still research to be done to understand the connection between a rubric and student learning, what is known points positively to their use. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]