VALUE: Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education

VALUE Rubrics

Thank you for your interest in the VALUE rubrics. To better help AAC&U understand both the functionality and utility of the rubrics for colleges and universities nationwide, we are asking visitors to this site to provide us with some brief information about themselves and their interest in the VALUE rubrics before accessing these documents. This information will be used strictly for internal data collection and to allow AAC&U to collect future follow-up information on rubric use. No individual information will be released or published at any time. After providing your email address and completing the brief questionnaire, you will have unlimited access to this site. Questions or comments may be directed to: value@aacu.org. Thank you for your cooperation.

As part of the VALUE project, teams of faculty and other academic and student affairs professionals engaged in an iterative process over eighteen months wherein they gathered, analyzed, synthesized, and then drafted institutional level rubrics (and related materials) for 15 of the AAC&U Essential Learning Outcomes, creating the set of  VALUE rubrics that appears below. The rubric development teams relied on existing campus rubrics when available, other organizational statements on outcomes, experts in the respective fields and faculty feedback from campuses throughout the process.  Each VALUE rubric contains the most common and broadly shared criteria or core characteristics considered critical for judging the quality of student work in that outcome area.

The VALUE rubrics reflect faculty expectations for essential learning across the nation regardless of type of institution, mission, size or location. In several cases, outcomes that AAC&U paired in the Essential Learning Outcomes (e.g., written and oral communication) have been separated with the intent of developing individual VALUE rubrics for each.

The VALUE Initiative was funded for two years and in that time fifteen rubrics were created, tested and revised extensively with the help of over 100 rubric development team volunteers and over 100 testing campuses. We invite users of the rubrics to let us know how and when you are using specific rubrics and feedback on your experience in using them. Additional funding is being sought to continue the work of the Initiative and to continue to refine the rubrics in the future. Contact us at value@aacu.org.