Evaluation and Assessment

Improving Learning at UCR

Assessment Core Competencies 

There are five Core Competencies that have been identified as key to the long-term success of any undergraduate student. There are a total of Five Core Competencies:

  1. Oral Communication

    1. WASC defines oral communication as “communication by means of spoken language for informational, persuasive, and expressive purposes. In addition to speech, oral communication may employ visual aids, body language, intonation, and other non-verbal elements to support the conveyance of meaning and connection with the audience” (WASC Handbook 2013, p 53). Oral communication will look very different in, say, the performing arts and social sciences. Even where disciplines may not think of their majors as likely to "take the stage," the articulation of discipline-specific knowledge -- either in explaining important concepts to non-specialists or in the presentation of research to peers -- may be important

  2. Written Communication 

    a. Written communication is defined by WASC as “communication by means of written language for informational, persuasive, and expressive purposes. Written communication may appear in many forms or genres. Successful written communication depends on mastery of the conventions of the written language, facility with culturally accepted structures for presentation and argument, awareness of audience, and other situation-specific factors” (WASC Handbook 2013, p 58). Written communication is important in a number of disciplines and, perhaps more than the other core competencies, central to what it means to be an educated person. Effective communication of complex ideas in written form is key to exchange ideas at the center of the academic enterprise; employers state effective written communication is a key qualification for many jobs.

  3. Critical Thinking 

    1. WASC defines critical thinking as “the ability to think in a way that is clear, reasoned, reflective, informed by evidence, and aimed at deciding what to believe or do” (WASC Handbook 2013, p 47). While the ability to think critically about particular issues and topics is a key goal for undergraduate education in every discipline, in some cases critical thinking may be directed at points beyond one's immediate social or cultural environment while in others it may be directed to process at the micro or macro-level of the physical world around us. For some disciplines imparting the ability to think critically, in the broadest sense, is the defining characteristic of their intellectual enterprise. Departments are free to assess students' abilities to think critically at any level.

  4. Information Literacy 

    1. WASC defines information literacy as “the ability to recognize when information is needed and have the ability to locate, evaluate, and use the needed information for a wide range of purposes” (WASC Handbook 2013, p 51). Undergraduate students today can access an amount and variety of information today that is unparalleled in human history. It is less clear if they know how best to access it, how to judge the relative quality of information from various sources, and fully understand when and how to bring evidence into a discussion. Information literacy, then, encompasses a variety of skills from making the judgment that more information is needed, to searching the academic literature and web for more information, and then documenting what information was used.

  5. Quantitative Reasoning 

    1. WASC defines quantitative reasoning as “the ability to apply mathematical concepts to the interpretation and analysis of quantitative information in order to solve a wide range of problems, from those arising in pure and applied research to everyday issues and questions. It may include such dimension as the ability to apply math skills, judge reasonableness, communicate quantitative information, and recognize the limits of mathematical or statistical methods” (WASC Handbook 2013, p 55).

As part of the institutional level annual assessment process, three out of the five core competencies will be in at least one stage of the assessment process during a five year period. At UCR, we have divided the core competency assessment process in three stages: 

  1. Planning and Data Collection 
  2. Assessment and Analysis 
  3. Recommendations, Reflections, and Next Steps         
Three out of the five Core Competencies will be in at least one of the three stages of assessment during a five year period. The following overview will demonstrate the assessment timeline for each of the Core Competencies over the next six years:[OS2] 

A more detailed view of what will happen during each of the next six years for each Core Competency being assessed is available here:[OS3] 

Overall, the goal of Core Competency assessment is to make sure that we capture the successes of UCR in promoting educational achievement and identifying areas of campus-wide improvement.