Evaluation and Assessment

Improving Learning at UCR

Institutional Level Assessment FAQs

  • What are the WASC Core Competencies?

    The WASC Core Competencies are:

    • Critical Thinking
    • Information Literacy
    • Quantitative Reasoning
    • Written Communication
    • Oral Communication

    Please click on the following for more information WASC Core Competencies FAQs

  • Why do we assess WASC Core Competencies?

    In addition to program-level assessment, campuses are expected to review institutional-level outcomes. Our regional accreditor (WASC) expects member institutions to systematically review five Core Competencies: Oral Communication, Written Communication, Critical Thinking, Quantitative Reasoning, and Information Literacy.

  • Why are only certain courses selected for participation in any given institutional-level assessment?

    A combination of a program’s Annual Program-Level Assessment Report and Curriculum Map is used to identify which courses are aligned to a specific WASC Core Competency or Institutional-Level Outcome. Please refer to the Institutional-Level Assessment General timeline to see when a specific WASC Core Competency is assessed.

  • Who participates in the assessment?

    Faculty can participate in two ways:

    • Faculty can provide samples of student work from identified courses for use in the assessment. For more information, please contact the Director of Evaluation and Assessment at assess.ur.edu.
    • Faculty can participate on the Institutional-Level Assessment team. If interested, please contact the Director of Evaluation and Assessment at assess.ucr.edu.

    Staff with subject matter expertise in any of the WASC Core Competencies can participate:

    • By joining the Institutional-Level Assessment team. If interested, please contact the Director of Evaluation and Assessment at assess.ucr.edu.
  • What happens to the student work?

    First, all identifiers are removed. The samples of student work are kept within our password protected internal IT assessment management system. Second, the Institutional-Level Assessment team of faculty and staff subject matter experts from across UCR use a common rubric to evaluate student work samples. This is known as a “juried assessment.”

  • Why are we using a juried assessment approach?

    Juried assessment removes the workload from the individual programs. It also allows us to produce a clearer picture of institutional learning outcomes by applying a single standardized evaluation process to all of the collected data. Juried assessment is considered a “best practice” and is used by many other universities.

  • What happens to the assessment findings from the “juried” assessment?

    UCR’s Office of Evaluation and Assessment summarizes the results in a report and discusses action steps with administrative and Academic Senate leaders. The goal is to create actionable recommendations for improving campus-wide student achievement of institutional-level outcomes.