Final answer:
The tool used to assign a grade to student work by identifying key traits and assigning weights is known as a rubric. Rubrics help to make the grading process more objective and clearer for students and are part of a range of assessments to support learning outcomes. Tracking is a separate process that sorts students into different education programs based on various criteria.
Step-by-step explanation:
The term for a tool used to assign a grade to student work by identifying important traits and assigning appropriate weights is known as a rubric. A rubric sets out clear criteria and standards for evaluating different levels of student performance from poor to excellent. These criteria may consider factors such as attendance, talent, and work ethic which contribute to student success. However, if a teacher adopts a uniform grading approach giving everyone the same grade, such as a 'C', this is moving away from individual performance assessment and could be reflective of a more collectivist or 'communist' model of grading where the focus is on the collective rather than individual achievement.
Rubrics are especially useful because they make the grading process more objective and understandable for students. As teachers transition from numeric or letter grades to utilizing rubrics, they guide students in understanding what is expected in terms of core conceptual understanding, skills, and in-depth knowledge of the subject matter. The use of rubrics and different assessments allows instructors to support student learning and to provide feedback that is more specific and can lead to improved student outcomes.
Moreover, tracking is the term that describes the assignment of students to specific education programs and classes on the basis of test scores, previous grades, or perceived ability, which is a different concept from grading with rubrics but is still related to educational evaluation and assessment practices.