Core Curriculum Assessment

The Texas Core Curriculum (general education program) at the University of Texas at Dallas (UTD) ensures that students develop skills vital for academic and personal success. The Office of Institutional Success and Decision Support (OISDS) and the Core Curriculum Committee assess student artifacts (course-based assessment) to determine if students successfully demonstrate the achievement of learning outcomes. The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) mandates evaluating skills in communication, critical thinking, empirical and quantitative skills, personal and social responsibility, and teamwork. The Comets to the Core project, which ran from 2017 to 2023, is no longer used to assess Core Curriculum objectives. Students are no longer expected to complete the Comets to the Core project. This change was approved by Senate on April 17, 2024.

Starting Fall 2025, we will assess core objectives using artifacts created by students in their courses. The artifacts will be scored by a group of volunteer faculty, teaching assistants, graduate assistants, and staff members. The scoring team will use rubrics to evaluate the artifacts. After the assessment process is completed, the results will be shared. Our approach is to collaborate with all schools to incorporate best practices to provide the best education for our students.

Faculty, teaching assistants, graduate assistants, and staff members can volunteer to help us score student work in January each year, but this is not mandatory. If you are interested, please email core@utdallas.edu

For more information go to https://core.utdallas.edu/.