On sabbatical in 2019 I wrote a book which I originally titled, “Practical higher education curriculum and instructional design with the Mastery Rubric“. I am finalizing (still in, 2026!) (sabbatical was only 9 months!) the book – and updating the included Mastery Rubrics to address the use of AI – and hope to have it completed in 2026. After engaging with academic publishing shenanigans for nearly three years to get the other 2 books I wrote on sabbatical published, I reconsidered the title and am leaning toward a shinier one: “Getting students from there to here with the Mastery Rubric”. I prefer the straightforwardness of the first title… maybe one of these will be the subtitle (still under consideration in July 2026!).
The MR is intended to support development, evaluation, and revision (if needed) of the curriculum, and a curriculum-based MR can also help develop, evaluate, and/or revise individual courses as well. Five different curricula are described as MRs in this book, promoting teaching, learning, and the assessment of instruction and learning in stewardship (MR-S; Rios et al., 2019), ethical reasoning (MR-ER; Tractenberg & FitzGerald 2012), statistical literacy (MR-SL; Tractenberg, 2017), scientific thinking (MR-ST; Tractenberg 2025) which replaces the first MR, Tractenberg et al. 2010, so, no link here!). A fifth MR is also discussed, one that supports faculty development, self-directed learning, and preparing future faculty by exploring the Master Level (MR-ML; Tractenberg, 2019) of any Mastery Rubric – or, any teaching <in higher ed>).
Whatever the title ends up being, this book will give all of the background on the MR construct and these five MRs, including the one specifically for teaching and learning. A Mastery Rubric represents flexible, criterion-referenced, definitions of “success” for both individuals and the program itself, promoting alignment between the intended and the actual curricula, and fosters the generation of actionable evidence for learners, instructors, and institutions. The book features these six MRs, so readers can see the characteristics of a MR – or an actionable, evaluable curriculum – in multiple examples for instructors as well as for the self-directed learner. Chapters are included that discuss the creation of learning outcomes tied to the specific MRs, for a single course or for a sequence of courses. Two papers outlining the Assessment and Evaluation Rubric (Tractenberg 2021) and the construct of Catalytic Learning (Tractenberg 2022) are integrated throughout the book (which is part of the reason it wasn’t quite finished in 2019!). Finally, each of the Mastery Rubrics included is being updated so that the use of AI is addressed developmentally in each.
These five specific MRs were chosen because there appears to be interest worldwide in promoting the constructs in each across entire higher education curricula in many other domains. As an example, the MR for Stewardship could be a useful adjunct for any degree program in a 2- or 4-year school where indigenous and first nations perspectives might be needed and valued. A 2022 paper outlined how the MR for Stewardship could be useful in Mathematics degree programs to add ethical considerations when the field does not have a recognized set of ethical guidelines (although see our 2024 paper on proto-Ethical Guidelines for the Practice of Mathematics!). The MR for Ethical Reasoning could be useful in a program where technical advances might be emerging quickly (e.g., with generative AI) and students at all levels need to be prepared to practice their discipline ethically while also cognizant of how to identify and react to ethical challenges that simply cannot be imagined today. A paper with collaborators at the United States Military Academy explores the integration of the MR for Ethical Reasoning throughout three majors in the Mathematical Sciences department, and a follow up more general paper was published in 2025. These papers highlight a paradigm for further leveraging the learning and educational sciences when instructors or curriculum/program want to utilize a Mastery Rubric to evaluate and/or make changes to courses and curricula.
I hope the book (gets finished soon! and) is a useful tool for educators and self-directed learners alike.