{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.03551912568306011, 'fraction_numerical': 0.011177347242921014, 'mean_word_length': 4.501366120218579, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 0, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
Rubrics in Education: Old Term, New Meanings

The term "rubric" is used widely in education. In the classroom, rubric may mean a set of categories, criteria for assessment, and the gradients for presenting and evaluating learning. When grading a student's essay, for example, a teacher may apply a rubric for its quality of organization, giving a 3 for Advanced Proficient, 2 for Proficient, and a 1 for Partially Proficient. Other criteria that could be rubrics include the use of examples, paragraph structure, grammar, and overall quality. Yet, like many terms in education, the meaning of rubric is confusing. For example, Wiggins defines a rubric as "one of the basic tools in the assessor's kit ... telling us what elements matter most" (1998, p. 153). Schmoker states that a rubric "simply means a rule or guide ... by which students' performance or product is judged. It nails down the criteria, making them available to schools, teachers, parents, and students and providing clear direction and focus" (2006, pp. 70-71). And Guskey explains that rubrics "are specific guidelines that can be used to describe students' work in reading, writing, mathematics, and other content areas" (1994, p. 25). The term, apparently, can refer to almost anything: rule, guide, criterion, or description that is used to assess the progress of students in their academic subjects, as well as the grading system for assessing each criterion. The term rubric has been used in English since the 1400s, making it as old as it is interesting. The root of rubric refers to the color red or red earth. The Oxford English Dictionary gives an example of the term used in 1607: "this marrow of a deer in sheep's milk with rubric and soft pitch, drunk every day, helps the digestion and obstructions." Another meaning, closer to how it is currently used in education, is the heading of a chapter or division of a book, written or printed in red ink or underlined in red for emphasis. In 1658, Phillips stated that a rubric is "a noted Sentence of any Book marked with red Letters." The Catholic Church has long employed the term for the directions for conducting the Mass, which are printed in red and inserted into liturgical books. Foxe in 1583 explained that a rubric is part of "the whole Canon of the Masse, with the Rubricke thereof, as it standeth in the Masse/booke." John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist church, stated that "as a Minister, I teach her Doctrines. I use her Offices. I conform to her Rubricks." And in law, a rubric is a heading or title of a statute or section of a legal code (again, originally printed in red ink). In 1634, Kirk explained that "When this Act came to be heard in open Parliament, his Majestie gave orders to read only the rubricks of it." Red delineations, headings, and divisions--the term rubric has a long and interesting history. APPLYING RUBRICS Educators today use rubric to refer to a category of behavior that can be used to evaluate performance. The term is currently so popular that no one writing a funding proposal would ignore laying out the rubric for evaluating the program's success. Today's rubrics involve creating a standard and a descriptive statement that illustrates how the standard is to be achieved. For example, a rubric for judging an essay would list everything a student needs to include to receive a certain grade on that essay. Generally, the rubric also would specify what is needed to achieve different levels of performance, such as what is needed for an A, a B, etc. In addition to helping students know what they need to do to achieve a certain grade, rubrics have other benefits: 1. A rubric can help teachers think carefully and critically about what they are teaching and what students need to learn. The rubric is a predetermined set of categories. Whatever the subject or project for which it's used, a rubric will help teachers consider what's important for them to teach and how to determine the level at which students have learned what's been taught. …