Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 70.33
Liaison Enid Cardinal
Submission Date March 3, 2022

STARS v2.2

Rochester Institute of Technology
AC-6: Sustainability Literacy Assessment

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 4.00 Neha Sood
Assistant Director for Campus Sustainability
RIT 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::
A subset of students or a sample that may not be representative of the predominant student body

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:

Sample questions from the assessment are listed below and are continued and discussed in additional detail within an article uploaded separately:
What is the most common cause of pollution of streams and rivers?
Ozone forms a protective layer in the earth’s upper atmosphere. What does ozone protect us from?
Which of the following is an example of sustainable forest management?
Of the following, which would be considered living in the most environmentally sustainable way?


A brief description of how the literacy assessment was developed and/or when it was adopted:

The Assessment of Sustainability Knowledge (ASK) tool, which was developed, tested, and revised by Ohio State, with input from U. of Maryland. It was adopted by Dr. Lisa Greenwood for use in her classroom in 2019 and it has continued to be used in this same way since the adoption of the assessment. In addition, in 2019, students were asked to complete sustainability concept mapping on the first and last days of this same seminar in order to illustrate the concept of sustainable development.


A brief description of how a representative sample was reached (if applicable) and how the assessment(s) were administered :

This assessment is used by Dr. Lisa Greenwood in her Environmental Sustainability, Health and Safety Seminar, both at the beginning and the end of the class in order to track the students’ development of sustainability knowledge and understanding from the first to last day of the seminar.


A brief summary of results from the literacy assessment(s):

In 2019, there was a recorded 5% increase in the average student score from the first administration of the exam on the first day of classes to the second administration on the final class meeting. While this increase was not significant, Dr. Greenwood states that it was much more efficient for her to look at the concept mapping improvements of her students during that same time period, since that project was specifically tailored to the sustainability topics covered in this seminar. The ASK tool, however, is still used to measure the baseline of student knowledge when entering and exiting the seminar.


Website URL where information about the sustainability literacy assessment is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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.