Assessment
Historically, the University of Notre Dame has undertaken a thorough review of its Core Curriculum every 10 years. The most recent of these reviews began in August 2014 when University President John I. Jenkins, C.S.C., and Provost Thomas G. Burish appointed a Decennial Core Curriculum Review Committee to review the current requirements and deliberate possible changes. The committee was co-chaired by John McGreevy, I.A. O'Shaughnessy Dean of the College of Arts and Letters, and Michael Hildreth, professor of physics; it also included 11 other faculty members from across the University.
In 2025, the Core Curriculum Committee initiated a new partnership with the Kaneb Center for Teaching Excellence to develop and conduct ongoing assessment of student learning across the Core Curriculum. This began in the 2025-2026 academic year with a pilot effort focused on surveying faculty who teach two of the Ways of Knowing, Science & Technology and Theology, to better understand how those courses are taught and how well students meet each of the learning goals of the respective Way of Knowing. This pilot prioritized respect for faculty expertise by collaborating with faculty teaching individual courses within the Core Curriculum to incorporate ongoing assessments in each course as the primary source of information about student learning. It had the following goals:
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Develop and implement an assessment process for the Core Curriculum Ways of Knowing that is meaningful, sustainable, and can be clearly communicated to internal and external stakeholders.
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Provide meaningful data about student learning in each of the selected Ways of Knowing to relevant constituents.
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Develop the working relationship between the Core Curriculum Committee and the Kaneb Center.
The collaborating partners will expand this work in the 2026-2027 academic year with three additional Ways of Knowing: Integration, Philosophy, and Quantitative Reasoning. Similar surveys will be conducted in each Way of Knowing over the next three years. The information collected will be reported to the Way of Knowing subcommittees and broader Core Curriculum Committee for discussion, analysis, and planning.