A rubric is a set of criteria and standards linked to learning objectives that is used to assess student performance on papers, projects, essays, and other assignments. Rubrics allow for standardized evaluation according to specified criteria. The rubrics listed in the left hand column of this page are used to assess Urban Studies assignments; however, the two rubrics are used for very different types of assessment. Click on each link for further description.

You are not required to make all of your assignment conform to these rubrics. However, by the end of a semester, all Urban Studies instructors should have two assessment-ready assigments completed: one for critical literacy, and one for Urban Studies.

Make sure you have at least one assignment in your class that can be evaluated according to the critical literacy rubric. This is the assignment you should have each student place in the assessment area of ePortfolio at the end of the semester.

Also, as an instructor in an Urban Studies course, you may be asked periodically to provide examples of student work (a set of papers responding to one assignment) to be evaluated according to the Urban Studies rubric. This will happen whenever there is an assessment of the Urban Studies program. These assessments are conducted to measure the student learning outcomes of Urban Studies courses. 

It is perfectly fine, but not required, to share these rubrics with your students. Some professors like to share their rubrics with student in order to make the goals of a course or assignment more transparent.