Evaluation and Assessment

The Office of Evaluation and Assessment offers a workshop to help academic programs complete their Annual Assessment Reports. 

• Annual Assessment Report Workshop (June, 2025) recording and slides

The Office of Evaluation and Assessment also offers an asynchronous CANVAS course for anyone to gain a strong foundation for assessment. The course only takes a few hours to complete, and all completers will receive an assessment badge. The course covers the following topics:

• Creating Student Outcomes that Guide Experiences
• Mapping Student Experiences
• Using CANVAS for Assessment at Course and Program-level
• Creating Effective Rubrics
• Closing the Loop with Findings and Recommendations

If you would like to enroll in the course, please contact Omar Safie at omar.safie@ucr.edu.

The UCR Assessment Handbook is meant as a guide to help programs move through the entire assessment process associated with the completion of the Annual Program-Level Assessment Report. Using the handbook, the resources on this page, participating in workshops, and collaborating with others is the best way to make the assessment process meaningful.

With multiple parts to the assessment process, managing each step can take some time. Consider the following to help you plan out your program's annual assessment for long-term success.

• The following can help you see the big picture for program-level assessment. Program-Level Assessment Timeline Overview
• The following is a much more detailed version where you can see how the assessment of program-level student outcomes can be broken up over time. Program-Level Assessment Timeline Detailed
• The following will help you plan out your long-term program-level assessment. Program-Level Assessment Planning

Creating Student Outcomes can be challenging, but not impossible with a little time and patience. Consider the following resources to help you create student outcomes at the Course or Program level.

• Creating Effective Student Outcomes
• If you would like direct help, please consider reaching out to UCR Academic Engagement or assess@ucr.edu. 
• Bloom's Taxonomy

Creating a Student Experience Map is a great way to map student outcomes to the experiences (courses, labs, fieldwork, research, internships, projects, displays, etc.) that help students achieve outcomes. The following are a few things to help you create your own for your program:

• Undergraduate Programs
  • Student Experience Map Template with Core Competencies
  • Student Experience Map Example with Core Competencies
  • Student Experience Map Instructions
    • Core Competency Inclusion Instructions can be found in the November 16, 2021 Undergraduate Annual Assessment Workshop recording and slides 
    • AAC&U VALUE Rubric for Core Competencies for additional context
• Graduate Programs
  • Student Experience Map Template
  • Student Experience Map Instructions

Annually, all programs are required to assess, and report on, one Program-Level Student Outcome. Below, you will find the report templates and example reports.

• Program-level Annual Assessment Report Template

All programs must submit their Annual Assessment Reports using the online tool. Annual Assessment Report Submission Tool

• A valuable resource are the American Association of Colleges and Universities' VALUE Rubrics. They were created and tested by faculty across the country. You can find out more about them, click on the following AAC&U Value Rubrics. You can also download them directly from our site in PDF Format and an Editable Word Format.
• You can also download a vast assortment of rubrics from all levels or create your own at iRubric.

The following UC campus web sites provide extensive resources on student learning outcome assessment, with templates, sample learning outcomes, best practices, and detailed how-to guides.

• UC Berkeley Center for Teaching and Learning (Assessment and Evaluation)

• UC Davis Office of Academic Assessment

• UC Irvine Assessment, Research, and Evaluation Group

• UC Merced Assessment

National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA)

Established in 2008, the mission of the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA) is to discover and disseminate ways that academic programs and institutions can productively use assessment data internally to inform and strengthen undergraduate education, and externally to communicate with policy makers, families and other stakeholders.

WASC 2013 Handbook of Accreditation

Newly revised, the WASC 2013 Handbook provides a broad overview of accreditation process and the larger context for the institutional mandate of assessing student learning.