Developing Culturally Relevant Rubrics to Assess General Education Learning Outcomes

Abstract

Life skills, including oral and written communication, are fostered by institutions of higher education and valued by employers. This university used the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) VALUE rubrics to develop assessment tools that evaluate student work in the General Education (GE) program. Using rubric calibration “best practices,” faculty teams updated program rubrics in alignment with GE outcomes that serve the University’s multicultural student population. The public speaking rubric exemplifies this inclusive process, which stands as a model for faculty engagement—while developing assessment tools that capture institutional uniqueness, facilitate instructional improvement, and yield reporting data for stakeholders.