Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 67.57
Liaison Juliana Goodlaw-Morris
Submission Date Dec. 18, 2020

STARS v2.2

California State University, San Marcos
AC-6: Sustainability Literacy Assessment

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 4.00 / 4.00 Juliana Goodlaw-Morris
Sustainability Manager
Safety, Risk and Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution conduct an assessment of the sustainability literacy of its students?:
Yes

Which of the following best describes the literacy assessment? The assessment is administered to::
The entire (or predominate) student body, directly or by representative sample

Which of the following best describes the structure of the assessment? The assessment is administered as a::
Pre- and post-assessment to the same cohort or to representative samples in both a pre- and post-test

A copy of the questions included in the sustainability literacy assessment(s):
A list or sample of the questions included in the sustainability literacy assessment or the website URL where the assessment tool may be found:
See attached file

A brief description of how the literacy assessment was developed and/or when it was adopted:
The literacy assessment was developed for Fall 2020. It was developed after reviewing a variety of other assessments within STARS and talking with Arizona State University. We reviewed with them how they conduct their literacy and culture assessments, and decided to use the same strategy as them. We combined our literacy and culture survey and will be conducting every other year, to determine progress and gain longitudinal knowledge.

A brief description of how a representative sample was reached (if applicable) and how the assessment(s) were administered :
We conducted our survey using a representive sample of our student body. The total number of students surveyed was 8412.
For students, we ensured there was a diversity in who received the survey. This included: year to graduation, gender breakdown, etc. All participants received an email and then two follow up emails. The survey was open for 3 weeks.

A brief summary of results from the literacy assessment(s):
We recieved a 10% response rate from students, for the survey. The following is a break down of responses by percentage of accurate answer:

Q: Which of the following dimensions is NOT
included in the most widely used concept of sustainability? 26% correctly answered this question

Q: Which of the following is the most commonly used definition of sustainable development? 53% correctly answered this question

Q: The term circular economy refers to which of the following?
40% of respondents answered correctly

Q: What is the difference between weather and climate?
81% of respondents answered this question correctly

Q: The term carbon footprint is a measure of which of the following?
45% answered correctly

Q: Which food has a higher carbon footprint?
71% answered this question correctly

Q: What is a food desert?
38% of respondents answered this question correctly

Q: The majority of endangered species are at risk due to:?
82% answered this question correctly

Optional Fields 

Website URL where information about the sustainability literacy assessment is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.