Rubrics

Careeer Connect selected and adapted 8 rubrics from the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) and UNT’s core rubrics. Career Connect chose these rubrics because they represent the key student learning outcomes “that educators, employers, and policy makers agree are essential for student success in the workplace and in life.” (AAC&U, 2013a, 2013b, 2017; Burger & Starbird, 2012; Nunez, 2013) and are aligned with the goals for UNT’s strategic plan, UNT’s Core Values and the State of Texas’ 60x30TX strategic plan for higher education.

Career Connect also chose these rubrics because:

  • AAC&U already established their face validity and inter-rater agreement, which are the initial steps for validating a measures
  • UNT will be able to complete the measurement validation process with the assessment data we collect

Faculty and staff who participate in Career Connect will use one or more of Career Connect's rubrics to assess students on one of the following eight marketable skills: Written communication, oral communication, teamwork, critical thinking, leadership, empirical and quantitative skills, personal responsibility, and social responsibility. Each rubric contains four to five questions and provides a proficiency rating for each question on a scale of 1 (beginning) to 4 (distinguished). Training on using these rubrics is available through our office and online.

Rating Scale: 1=beginning, 2=developing, 3 = proficient, and 4=distinguished, NA=not applicable

Written Communication 1 2 3 4 NA
Main idea is well-developed and thought provoking.          
Organization includes topic sentence, intentional transition, and content cohesion.          
Content is thoroughly developed.          
Disciplinary conventions are applied with no errors.          
Evidence is high quality, credible, and relevant to main idea.          
Oral Communication 1 2 3 4 NA
Central message is compelling.          
Posture, gestures, and vocal expressiveness enhance the message.          
Language (e.g., vocabulary, sentence structure) supports effectiveness of the message.          
Explanation and examples support the clarity and credibility of message.          
Teamwork 1 2 3 4 na
Benefits the team by contributing ideas and work that advance the project.          
Contributes to project planning and management.          
Fosters collaboration by valuing the contributions of all team members.          
Supports and motivates the team and helps to create a constructive team climate.          
Responds to feedback or conflict in a way that reflects mutual respect.          
Critical Thinking Skills 1 2 3 4 na
Describes the problem, question, or issue comprehensively.          
 Examines and questions the accuracy, relevance, and thoroughness of evidence.          
Considers context, assumptions, other perspectives, and credibility and authority of sources.          
Justifies own argument, position, or hypothesis.          
Presents conclusions and outcomes that are logical.          
Leadership 1 2 3 4 na
Collaborates with team members to set goals, create and implement project plans, delegate project tasks, and accomplish the majority or most project work.          
Listens to and builds on team members’ ideas; provides support and constructive criticism; fosters trust; encourages creativity; and inspires them to accomplish project goals.          
Seeks out and evaluates team members’ opinions before making decisions; applies work expectations consistently; and treats team members equitably.          
Solves problems proactively and collaboratively with one or more team members.          
Evaluates own work behavior or feedback from team members about project and makes corresponding changes to own behavior or project work.          
Empirical and Quantitative Skills 1 2 3 4 na
Constructs a clear and insightful problem statement with evidence and detail for the relevant contextual factors.          
Develops comprehensive, rigorous, and appropriate analysis plan that includes and addresses important and relevant quantitative and qualitative information. Analyzes each step of the plan for feasibility.          
Gathers or identifies non-biased and relevant quantitative or qualitative (or both) information.          
Organizes and synthesizes evidence to reveal insightful patterns, differences, or similarities related to work or project focus.          
Provides accurate, clear, and comprehensive explanations or analysis of information to solve a data or numerical problem and makes appropriate inferences.          
Personal Responsibility 1 2 3 4 na
Describes key ethical issue(s) when presented with a complex, multi-layered context and, if applicable, recognizes relationships among the issues.          
Analyzes and synthesizes relevant and diverse perspectives to address complex, ethical subjects, or in the face of multiple or conflicting positions. (i.e., cultural, disciplinary, and ethical).          
Develops a logical and comprehensive plan that will address most or all of an ethical problem and includes supporting materials for plan development.          
States specific solution with strong support and that addresses the ethical complexities of an issue.          
Discusses the key consequences in a clear and logical manner that reflects the ethical complexities of an issue.          
Social Responsibility 1 2 3 4 na
Recognizes and articulate insights from diverse cultural/intercultural perspectives including one’s own cultural rules and biases.          
Applies a perspective other than one’s own to social situations and expresses empathy for diverse perspectives.          
Demonstrates knowledge, experience, skills, commitment, and motivation related to civic responsibility and affairs of regional, national, and/or global communities.          
Demonstrates independent experience and leadership in one or more complex civic engagement activities, accompanied by multiple and advanced reflective insights about civic engagement and one’s own accomplishments.          
Changes self-description by articulating insights about personal attitudes, behaviors or cultural beliefs and seeking complexity and understanding, and recognizing cultural biases.