Assessment

The Cardinal Core program assessment continues to build upon the university's long-standing General Education Program assessment. The University of Louisville General Education Curriculum Committee (GECC) first developed and implemented a campus-wide General Education Program in 2005. In alignment with the General Education Program's three overarching competencies, the assessment focused on: critical thinking, effective communication, and understanding and appreciation of cultural diversity. The focus of the Cardinal Core assessment is on critical thinking, effective communication, quantitative reasoning, and understanding of historical, social, and cultural diversity, in alignment with the Cardinal Core program's philosophy and guiding principles.

Assessment Process

The Cardinal Core Curriculum Committee (CCCC) determines a schedule for sampling student artifacts from the Cardinal Core content areas (Arts & Humanities, Natural Sciences, Oral Communication, Quantitative Reasoning, Social & Behavioral Sciences (including Historical Perspective), and Written Communication. The Cardinal Core Office coordinates the collection of these artifacts with each of the designated academic departments.

A panel of university faculty (tenured, tenure-track, term, and adjunct) and graduate teaching assistants are recruited either through past involvement in General Education Assessment/Cardinal Core Assessment or by department chair recommendation. Efforts are made to include faculty involved in the development and teaching of Cardinal Core courses. All assessors participate in a mandatory assessment training in which the foundations for holistic outcomes assessment is covered and readers actively engage in dissection and practice application of assessment rubrics.

The university has adopted the following Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) VALUE rubrics for the assessment of the learning outcomes.

AAC&U Critical Thinking VALUE Rubric (PDF)
Association of American Colleges and Universities. (2009). Critical thinking VALUE Rubric. Retrieved from https://www.aacu.org/value/rubrics/critical-thinking

AAC&U Oral Communication VALUE Rubric (PDF)
Association of American Colleges and Universities. (2009). Oral communication VALUE Rubric. Retrieved from https://www.aacu.org/value/rubrics/oral-communication

AAC&U Quantitative Literacy VALUE Rubric (PDF)
Association of American Colleges and Universities. (2009). Quantitative literacy VALUE Rubric. Retrieved from https://www.aacu.org/value/rubrics/quantitative-literacy

AAC&U Written Communication VALUE Rubric (PDF)
Association of American Colleges and Universities. (2009). Written communication VALUE Rubric. Retrieved from https://www.aacu.org/value/rubrics/written-communication

The CCCC has revised (11.25.19) the university's General Education Natural Sciences rubric for the assessment of student work from courses designated as Science lecture (S), Science Lab (SL), and Science Lecture and Lab (B). This rubric will be piloted in Spring 2020.

University of Louisville Natural Sciences Rubric (PDF)

In 2021-22 the CCCC, developed and piloted a new Diversity rubric to replace the AAC&U Intercultural Knowledge and Competence VALUE Rubric for the assessment of the Cardinal Core program's overarching competency of historical, social, and cultural diversity. The rubric is applied in the assessment of Arts & Humanities, Historical Perspectives, Social & Behavioral Sciences, & Written Communication.

University of Louisville Diversity Rubric (PDF)