I was having a leisurely lunch down town when a friend produced a letter and he thrust it into my hand.
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It included a sentence that said “start developing a program theory and rubrics to evaluate consumer engagement at the …”.
I had to tell this person I did not know what it meant. He also asked a former newspaper editor and this man did not produce a satisfactory answer; neither did the Macquarie dictionary.
When I returned home I looked up the 20-volume dictionary, that had definitions of rubric going back to 1440, but it could not produce an answer to his question.
In desperation, I wrote an email to the person who wrote the letter. Within five minutes I received a reply – seemingly a record for a government department, or at least somebody associated with a department.
The answer, in part, read: “Our evaluation manager informs me it is a way to develop criteria to meaningfully assess something.
“This is one definition of a rubric: A rubric sets out clearly criteria and standards for assessing different levels of performance. Rubrics have often been used in education for grading student work, and in recent years have been applied in evaluation to make transparent the process of synthesising evidence into an overall evaluative judgement.”
My 20-volume dictionary, going back to the year 1440, said in a description of rubric was:
- Red earth, ruddy;
- A red preparation for heightening the complexion;
- A heading of a chapter in a book;
- An injunction;
- A direction for the conduct of a divine service and properly printed in red;
- The rule of a religious order;
- A saint’s name in a religious order;
- The heading of a statute;
- A word written in red;
- Inscribed with the titles of books;
- As an epithet of certain lake colours.
None of these definitions seemed to fit the letter, hence the request for an explanation. From my first day at work I was told never to use a word that would send you rushing for the dictionary.
My Macquarie dictionary said in a definition of rubric, going on from a church meaning: “Title, heading direction or the like in a book etc, written or printed in red or otherwise made different from the rest of the text.”
My Collins said a rubric was a group of words in an official document. That probably explains what a rubric is.
My 1901 dictionary, by Eliezer Edwards, says a rubric used to be printed in red, as well as a church use, but “it is now used whether the directions be printed in red or in black”.
The first English dictionary in 1604, said rubric was “a lawe, or title”. They couldn’t spell in those days. It went on to say rubicunde meant red, or ruddie.
But if you happen to go red for no reason, you could be rubric, or just angry or embarrassed. Or you could be about to discuss different levels of performance.
lauriebarber.com; lbword@midcoast.com.au.
