Rubrics
Faculty-developed, open educational resources that articulate performance criteria across 16 essential learning outcomes.
Initiative
VALUE: Authentic Evidence of Student Learning
VALUE is a faculty-driven system for assessing authentic student work, used in 160+ countries to generate credible, comparable evidence of meaningful learning—without standardized tests.
Higher education institutions are being asked to show — not just assume — that students graduate with essential skills.
Standardized tests rarely capture complex, applied learning. Locally designed assessments may lack external credibility. Faculty may resist externally imposed metrics that do not reflect real classroom practice.
Institutions must ask:
- Are students truly developing critical thinking, communication, ethical reasoning, and problem-solving abilities?
- Can we demonstrate learning credibly across programs and populations?
- Can assessment strengthen teaching rather than simply satisfy compliance requirements?
Higher education needs an approach that is rigorous, authentic, and faculty-led.
The VALUE Solution
Valid Assessment of Learning in Undergraduate Education, or VALUE, is an integrated system designed to:
- Articulate essential learning outcomes through faculty-developed rubrics
- Assess real student work drawn from actual coursework
- Produce reliable, comparable evidence across institutions and contexts
- Strengthen teaching through intentional assignment design
Developed by faculty experts and used by institutions across the United States and in more than 160 countries, VALUE preserves academic ownership while generating evidence institutions can confidently share.
How VALUE Works
1. Define What Matters: Faculty use VALUE rubrics — open educational resources covering 16 cross-cutting learning outcomes — to clarify expectations for student performance.
2. Gather Authentic Student Work: Institutions collect samples of real assignments completed in courses and programs.
3. Generate Credible Evidence: Certified faculty evaluators score student work through the VALUE Scoring Collaborative, producing reliable data that can be used for institutional improvement and external reporting.
The result: actionable insight into student learning that strengthens both accountability and educational quality.
The VALUE System
Scoring Collaborative
A global network of certified faculty evaluators who assess authentic student work to produce comparable, reliable evidence.
Assignment Design & Diagnostic Tools
Resources that help faculty align assignments with learning outcomes and strengthen assessment validity.
Academy for Professional Development
Workshops, certification training, and customized support to build institutional capacity.
Trusted Around the World
860,000+
Rubric downloads
3,000+
Colleges and universities around the world using VALUE
63,000+
Pieces of student work evaluated through the VALUE Scoring Collaborative
Who VALUE Is For
Presidents and Provosts
Demonstrate institutional effectiveness with credible evidence grounded in authentic student work.
Assessment Leaders
Generate reliable, disaggregated data while strengthening faculty engagement and ownership.
Faculty
Clarify expectations, design aligned assignments, and participate in professional scoring communities.
Systems and Networks
Construct a macro-level understanding of student learning across institutions while respecting local contexts.
Ready to Get Started?
Whether you are exploring authentic assessment for the first time or seeking to scale your institution’s evidence of learning, VALUE provides a flexible, faculty-driven framework.