Assessment Rubrics and Trainings

All undergraduate students at Texas public institutions must complete the 42-credit hour core curriculum. This general education curriculum encompasses nine Foundational Component Areas: American History; Communication; Creative Arts; Government and Political Science; Language, Philosophy and Culture; Life and Physical Sciences; Mathematics and Reasoning; Social and Behavioral Sciences; and Writing in the Discipline. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) approves all courses within our core curriculum, and part of that approval process includes what assignment(s) faculty will use to assess the core in that course. A more detailed description of our core curriculum and a full list of UH courses approved for our core curriculum can be found here.

The THECB has identified six Objectives for the core curriculum: Communication, Critical Thinking, Empirical and Quantitative Skills (Quantitative Literacy), Personal Responsibility (Ethical Decision Making), Social Responsibility (Civic Engagement), and Teamwork. Each spring and fall semester, the Office of Institutional Effectiveness (OIE) coordinates the assessment of one of the state’s required core objectives.

The state also sets which of the Core Objectives must be addressed in each component area within the core curriculum. A chart mapping the component areas with their associated core objectives (page 5) can be found here.

Core Assessment Process

Faculty scheduled to teach core courses receive information about the Core Objectives for their component area as soon as their course “makes” before the long semesters. This preliminary communication includes the rubrics for the current Core Objective assessment and identifies which Foundational Component Areas OIE will be assessing in the coming semester. We ask that faculty think about the rubrics as they prepare to teach and ensure that there are assignment(s) that align with the Core Objectives for the component area. Copies of all VALUE rubrics for the six core objectives can be found below. Programs that do not use student-written papers should use the Additional Information for Objective Assessment (Updated). Updated steps for using the AACU Rubrics in Canvas can be found here.

Once the semester starts, OIE randomly selects courses that contain the required core objective and communicates with selected faculty with an email detailing the assessment process. This message provides faculty with the current assessment rubric and specific directions for completing the assessment. Deans and Chairs are also provided with a list of selected faculty and courses within their college for monitoring and support.

The following week, selected Core faculty receive a Qualtrics survey asking for the details about the assignment or exam they intend to use and the due date. As faculty respond to the survey, they are provided with a list of fifteen (15) randomly chosen students to rate using the current VALUE rubric or objective item assessment process. These ratings are expected when course grades are due at the end of the semester. OIE staff collect and analyze the ratings each semester, creating Summary Reports which are given to the Faculty Senate and the THECB. Every five years, Core curriculum assessments are also shared with our accrediting body, the Southern Association of Colleges & Schools- Commission on Colleges (SACS-COC). The assessment of student achievement in the Core Objectives is conducted, and records are maintained to satisfy THECB and SACS-COC state and institutional accreditation requirements.