Rubric

Once upon a time, long long ago in a galaxy far away, I was a server in the Anglican Church that I attended with my family. As a server, I got to use the same prayer book as the priest, the one with the rubrics or directions for conducting the service (i.e., what to do and when). These rubrics, printed in red ink, were set in the margin beside the black ink of the rest of the prayer book. The prayer book used by the congregation did not have these rubrics.
 
The word rubric has its origins in Latin rubrica terra (red earth; red ochre) and the PIE root reudh (red), a referring to the use of red earth or ochre to mark or signify something of importance. Sort of like the ancient version of a red pen or pencil. From these Latin sources came 13th century Old French rebrique (rubric, title) and, by around 1300, the word rubric (directions in religious services, often in red writing) is first seen in English.
 
Many years later, as a teacher I developed and used rubrics when assessing and evaluating learner achievement and performance in my courses. In this context, a rubric is a set of directions or guidelines for an assessment activity. A rubric usually consists of a fixed scale and a list of characteristics describing the performance expected for each of the points on the scale. A rubric is more complex than a Checklist or a Rating Scale and, as such, allows for a greater degree of fine-tuning in assessment.
 
In contrast to the rubrics in my church prayer book, the rubrics in my training manuals were not in red ink and everyone got to see them at the beginning of a course. No surprises. 

Reference: Online Etymological Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/
​