As a utilization-focused evaluator, my ultimate aim for the rubric is that it be useful for the end-user (busy physics faculty members). Faculty need the rubric results to point to the gaps and strengths of local programs, to help them in action planning.

People are used to a rubric “score” but I refused to assign points to the rubric levels (e.g., Not Present = 0, Developing = 1) as the items are not independent, levels are not equally spaced, and I found “scoring” programs across such diverse items to be meaningless at best, and unethical practice at worst (e.g., could a program with a poor score be faced with funding cuts?).

Read about my approach in a two-part blog series on American Evaluation Association “AEA 365” blog. Full text post 1 and post 2.