LEAP (AAC&U)

From the Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U), the LEAP campaign is organized around a robust set of "Essential Learning Outcomes" -- all of which are best developed by a contemporary liberal education. Described in College Learning for the New Global Century, these essential learning outcomes and a set of "Principles of Excellence" provide a new framework to guide students' cumulative progress through college.

Through its VALUE Initiative, AAC&U has developed a set of rubrics to assess many of the following learning outcomes. Beginning in school, and continuing at successively higher levels across their college studies, students should prepare for twenty-first-century challenges by gaining:

Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical and Natural World
• Through study in the sciences and mathematics, social sciences, humanities, histories, languages, and the arts
• Focused by engagement with big questions, both contemporary and enduring

Intellectual and Practical Skills, Including
• Inquiry and analysis
• Critical and creative thinking
• Written and oral communication
• Quantitative literacy
• Information literacy
• Teamwork and problem solving
• Practiced extensively, across the curriculum, in the context of progressively more challenging problems, projects, and standards for performance

Personal and Social Responsibility, Including
• Civic knowledge and engagement—local and global
• Intercultural knowledge and competence
• Ethical reasoning and action
• Foundations and skills for lifelong learning
• Anchored through active involvement with diverse communities and real-world challenges

Integrative and Applied Learning, Including
• Synthesis and advanced accomplishment across general and specialized studies
• Demonstrated through the application of knowledge, skills, and responsibilities to new settings and complex problems