Assessment Review

Principle: Core courses should be subject to rigorous assessment based on established best practices to ensure that students are mastering core learning outcomes. That includes basing assessment on the work students do in their courses and on common rubrics that define the core learning outcomes and levels of performance. The Core Curriculum should also be assessed based on how well it contributes to the success, progression, and graduation of all undergraduate students.

Assessment Core Review

Although the current core assessment program is robust (see below), there is always room for improvement.

Assessment Best Practices

The Task Force has consulted several national organizations that promote excellence in Core assessment:

• AAC&U VALUE Initiative: The American Association of Colleges & Universities promotes excellence in general education assessment through its Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education (VALUE) initiative.
• NILOA: The National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment is a repository for best practices in assessment.

Assessment Working Groups

In Spring 2025, eight working groups of faculty and staff reviewed the proposed Core Learning Outcomes - their definitions and rationales as well as the rubrics by which student performance would be assessed. The working groups suggested revisions that have become part of the recommendations of the Task Force. 

Current Core Assessment Program

Fayetteville State University ensures that students who complete the Undergraduate Core Curriculum master our core student learning outcomes by assessing both courses and students in several ways:

Embedded Course Assessment

Students are assessed in every course that satisfies a core requirement to measure the extent to which they have mastered core student learning outcomes. Every core course has a core assessment plan that specifies how proficiency is defined, what assessments will be used, when they will be administered, and how they will be administered. These plans are reviewed periodically to ensure that assessment is appropriate and measures the core learning outcome under which the course is certified for the core curriculum.

Graduating Senior Assessment

FSU requires all undergraduate students to take a standardized assessment in the senior year. The assessment measures student proficiency in core student learning outcomes such as critical thinking, written communication, information literacy, scientific reasoning, and quantitative reasoning. A standardized assessment ensures that we can measure student proficiency across majors and departments. We can also see how our students stack up against students at other institutions across the country. 

The instrument currently in use is the ETS Proficiency Profile.

National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)

This national survey lets us know how students think about their mastery of critical thinking, communication, and other important skills. It is periodically administered to first-year and senior students. For more about the NSSE, click here.

Assessment Subcommittee

Charge

To recommend standards and practices for the assessment of core learning outcomes in all core courses. Will also recommend standards and practices for assessing student success in the core.

Membership