| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 67.63 |
| Liaison | Konrad Schlarbaum |
| Submission Date | March 1, 2024 |
University of Colorado Colorado Springs
AC-6: Sustainability Literacy Assessment
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
1.00 / 4.00 |
Phillip
Haisley Assistant Director Compass Curriculum |
"---"
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::
Standalone evaluation without a follow-up assessment of the same cohort or representative samples
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:
Example Sustainability Course Assessment Questions
This quiz helps us to assess your knowledge as you enter the capstone course for the Sustainability Minor. Your score on this quiz will not be part of your course grade.
1. What is your class standing?
a. Freshman
b. Sophomore
c. Junior
d. Senior
2. What is your major?
a. Open-ended response
3. What are the three core subject areas (“three pillars”) of sustainability and sustainable development?
a. Open-ended response
4. What are the likely adverse effects of global warming?
a. Spread of tropical diseases to temperate regions
b. Increased severity of tropical storms
c. Flooding of coastal cities
d. All of these
5. What is the “greenhouse effect”?
a. Any phenomenon that makes plants grow better
b. The natural heating phenomenon of Earth’s atmosphere
c. An unnatural buildup of carbon and methane in the atmosphere
d. The economic benefit that greenhouses and nurseries provide to the community
6. The idea that we should be concerned with the impact of our actions on generations to come is called:
a. Intergenerational equity
b. An ecological footprint
c. Intragenerational equity
d. Sustainability science
7. The processes by which the environment produced resources that we often take for granted such as clean air, clean water, productive soils, habitat for fisheries, and pollination of plants is known as:
a. Social capital
b. Ecosystem services
c. Environmental economics
d. Environmental conservation
8. Truly sustainable businesses need to take into consideration:
a. The triple bottom line: people, planet, and profit
b. Whether or not products can be made more cheaply
c. The availability of migrant workers
d. The single bottom line: profits to shareholders
9. Give a specific example of social inequity related to sustainability
a. Open-ended response
10. According to 2018 data tracked by the U.S. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), which of the following in the economic sector that produces the greatest volume of greenhouse gases?
a. Agriculture
b. Transportation
c. Electricity production
d. Residential activities
11. Which of the following is an example of how the focus of environmental justice activists has differed from and challenged mainstream environmentalism?
a. Identifying landscape-scale corridors for wildlife conservation and habitat connectivity
b. Documenting the links between race or class and exposure to environmental contaminants
c. Creating direct-action campaigns that blockaded timber sales
d. Lobbying Congress to stop all off-shore oil drilling
12. As of 2019, which of the following is the biggest source of U.S. energy?
a. Renewables, including solar, wind, geothermal, hydro, and biomass
b. Nuclear
c. Coal
d. Petroleum, including oil, diesel, and gasoline
e. Natural gas
13. Currently, the world’s population is:
a. Growing at an ever-increasing rate
b. Declining sharply
c. Growing, but the rate of growth is declining
d. Stable, neither growing nor declining
14. Give a specific example of how climate change is affecting the state of Colorado.
a. Open-ended response
This quiz helps us to assess your knowledge as you enter the capstone course for the Sustainability Minor. Your score on this quiz will not be part of your course grade.
1. What is your class standing?
a. Freshman
b. Sophomore
c. Junior
d. Senior
2. What is your major?
a. Open-ended response
3. What are the three core subject areas (“three pillars”) of sustainability and sustainable development?
a. Open-ended response
4. What are the likely adverse effects of global warming?
a. Spread of tropical diseases to temperate regions
b. Increased severity of tropical storms
c. Flooding of coastal cities
d. All of these
5. What is the “greenhouse effect”?
a. Any phenomenon that makes plants grow better
b. The natural heating phenomenon of Earth’s atmosphere
c. An unnatural buildup of carbon and methane in the atmosphere
d. The economic benefit that greenhouses and nurseries provide to the community
6. The idea that we should be concerned with the impact of our actions on generations to come is called:
a. Intergenerational equity
b. An ecological footprint
c. Intragenerational equity
d. Sustainability science
7. The processes by which the environment produced resources that we often take for granted such as clean air, clean water, productive soils, habitat for fisheries, and pollination of plants is known as:
a. Social capital
b. Ecosystem services
c. Environmental economics
d. Environmental conservation
8. Truly sustainable businesses need to take into consideration:
a. The triple bottom line: people, planet, and profit
b. Whether or not products can be made more cheaply
c. The availability of migrant workers
d. The single bottom line: profits to shareholders
9. Give a specific example of social inequity related to sustainability
a. Open-ended response
10. According to 2018 data tracked by the U.S. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), which of the following in the economic sector that produces the greatest volume of greenhouse gases?
a. Agriculture
b. Transportation
c. Electricity production
d. Residential activities
11. Which of the following is an example of how the focus of environmental justice activists has differed from and challenged mainstream environmentalism?
a. Identifying landscape-scale corridors for wildlife conservation and habitat connectivity
b. Documenting the links between race or class and exposure to environmental contaminants
c. Creating direct-action campaigns that blockaded timber sales
d. Lobbying Congress to stop all off-shore oil drilling
12. As of 2019, which of the following is the biggest source of U.S. energy?
a. Renewables, including solar, wind, geothermal, hydro, and biomass
b. Nuclear
c. Coal
d. Petroleum, including oil, diesel, and gasoline
e. Natural gas
13. Currently, the world’s population is:
a. Growing at an ever-increasing rate
b. Declining sharply
c. Growing, but the rate of growth is declining
d. Stable, neither growing nor declining
14. Give a specific example of how climate change is affecting the state of Colorado.
a. Open-ended response
A brief description of how the literacy assessment was developed and/or when it was adopted:
The rubric was designed by the Compass Sustainability Committee, a team of faculty members who offer sustainability courses on campus. The rubric was tested and improved during our first year of assessment in Summer 2017. Inter-rater reliability measures were high and indicate that with training raters are able to use the rubric to consistently assess student learning about sustainability.
A brief description of how a representative sample was reached (if applicable) and how the assessment(s) were administered :
Once the course has been approved by the Compass Sustainability Committee, each faculty member is responsible for their own course content and assignments. Faculty members are asked to select one or more representative assignments that they believe show evidence of student learning about sustainability. These artifacts are collected and de-identified. Then, a representative sample is drawn and distributed to faculty raters for scoring. As mentioned above, a representative sample was drawn from the work submitted, but not all faculty members are currently submitting work. We hope to move to a campus e-portfolio to assess sustainability literacy in the next two years. All students must take a sustainability-focused course before graduating, so we believe that sampling from all of these courses will provide a representative sample.
A brief summary of results from the literacy assessment(s):
On the whole, scores varied widely by college. Students scored highest in courses in the College of Business and College of Engineering. In most colleges, students scored lowest on Criteria 3: Integration of Pillars of Sustainability.
38 out of 156 (24%) faculty submitted evidence of learning for the assessment. Raters scored a total of 500 examples of student work.
Students in UCCS Sustainability courses averaged a score of 1.57 out of 4.0 across the five criteria, which is below the benchmark level of 2.0, and less than 40% of UCCS courses averaged a final score above the benchmark level.
All UCCS Course Scores across five criteria (see attached rubric)
1. Use and application of sustainability-related evidence = 39%
2. Knowledge of human/environment interaction = 35%
3. Awareness of the interconnection of pillars of sustainability = 25%
4. Knowledge of sustainability-related action/policy = 34%
5. Understanding of pillars of sustainability = 37%
Overall Score = 35%
Engineering courses, with an overall score of 100%, and business courses, with an overall score of 77%, scored the highest across the five criteria.
See the attached report below for more detailed information.
38 out of 156 (24%) faculty submitted evidence of learning for the assessment. Raters scored a total of 500 examples of student work.
Students in UCCS Sustainability courses averaged a score of 1.57 out of 4.0 across the five criteria, which is below the benchmark level of 2.0, and less than 40% of UCCS courses averaged a final score above the benchmark level.
All UCCS Course Scores across five criteria (see attached rubric)
1. Use and application of sustainability-related evidence = 39%
2. Knowledge of human/environment interaction = 35%
3. Awareness of the interconnection of pillars of sustainability = 25%
4. Knowledge of sustainability-related action/policy = 34%
5. Understanding of pillars of sustainability = 37%
Overall Score = 35%
Engineering courses, with an overall score of 100%, and business courses, with an overall score of 77%, scored the highest across the five criteria.
See the attached report below for more detailed information.
Optional Fields
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
UCCS Compass Curriculum Sustainability Course Assessment Rubric (attached).
UCCS Compass Curriculum Sustainability Report 2020-2022 (attached).
We have additional data from MBA students completing the Sulitest literacy assessment upon request (https://www.sulitest.org/).
UCCS Compass Curriculum Sustainability Report 2020-2022 (attached).
We have additional data from MBA students completing the Sulitest literacy assessment upon request (https://www.sulitest.org/).
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.