UK Core Assessment
About UK Core
The University of Kentucky’s general education program – the UK Core – is foundational to a university education at the University of Kentucky. A university education is more than simply learning a set of skills in a specific area in preparation for a job or career. A university education is designed to broaden the students’ understanding of themselves, of the world we live in, of their role in our global society, and of the ideals and aspirations that have motivated human thought and action throughout the ages. It must help individuals effectively put into action their acquired knowledge, to provide the bases for critical thinking and problem solving, and to develop life-long learning habits. The UK Core is composed of the equivalent of 30 credit hours in 10 course areas that address four broad learning outcomes. Depending on choice of major or courses, some students may take more than 30 credit hours to complete the UK Core.
Please click here to watch a video from Trey Conatser, Assistant Provost from Teaching & Learning and Director of CELT, about the role of UK Core assessment in supporting student learning and the importance of aligning course assignments with UK Core outcomes.
UK Core Overview Video
Why Do We Assess the Core?
Measure Student Learning: Provide evidence of student achievement of UK Core learning outcomes.
Support Continuous Improvement: Use assessment results to strengthen undergraduate teaching and learning.
Promote Consistency and Coherence: Ensure a shared understanding of learning expectations across UK Core courses and sections.
Demonstrate Accountability: Document student learning and support institutional accreditation expectations.
What It's Not: The purpose is not to evaluate individual courses, sections, or faculty/instructors.
Assessment Cycle
UK Core Assessment Process
Departments offering UK Core courses are expected to complete a UK Core action plan survey each fall. The survey results will assist OSPIE with institutional accreditation and Kentucky's Council for Postsecondary Education reporting. The link is in the department's UK Core Departmental Report.
Need assistance mapping your course in Canvas?
Please refer to the mapping instructions file for step-by-step guidance. |
A video tutorial is also available below to walk you through the process. |
UK Core Mapping Instructions (PDF) |
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If you are unable to map your UK Core course to the applicable UK Core Student Learning Outcomes, please submit an exemption request.
UK Core Area Rubrics & Student Learning Outcomes (Old & New)
UK Core Area Rubrics |
UK Core Student Learning Outcomes (Old & New)** |
| Community, Culture & Citizenship | Community, Culture & Citizenship |
| Composition & Communication | Composition & Communication |
| Global Dynamics | Global Dynamics |
| Intellectual Inquiry | Intellectual Inquiry |
| Quantitative Foundations Math* and Non-Math* | Quantitative Foundations |
| Statistical Inferential Reasoning | Statistical Inferential Reasoning |
*Note: Quantitative Foundations instructors teaching math courses (courses listed as MA) should use the Math rubric while instructors teaching other Quantitative Foundations courses should use the non-Math rubric.
**Note: The University of Kentucky began implementing updated UK Core Student Learning Outcomes (SLOs) in Fall 2025. During this transition period, some courses may still be using the previous SLOs currently reflected in Canvas. You can find both the new and old SLOs here.
Please note that the new SLOs were written to streamline the content of the old SLOs. Therefore, OSPIE's UK Core assessment rubrics align with both the previous and updated SLOs. Instructors may continue to use the OSPIE rubrics regardless of which version of the SLOs is currently associated with their course.
Questions regarding which UK Core SLOs should be used for a specific course should be directed to your department or college leadership.
Ready to Get Started?
The UK Core Assessment SharePoint is a resource hub provides everything you need to support assessment activities, including guidance documents, mapping resources, sample assignments, rubrics, timeline, checklist and FAQs. Instructors can submit student artifacts, leadership can monitor mapping progress, and evaluators can complete scoring activities within their assigned evaluation workspaces.
Don't have access? Please request access to the SharePoint here.
UK Core SharePoint Entry
