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Standard rubrics have limitations for evaluating success in college students.

Fostering the mental health and well-being of students is an essential component.

A holistic perspective is needed to help students thrive in higher education and future careers.

With the Fall semester rapidly approaching, it’s time for college students to say goodbye to summer and return to campus life. This may entail a combination of anticipation and dread as balancing the pressures of academic success and personal well-being loom large. Studies show that academic stress has a profound impact on the emotional well-being of college students (Barbayannis et al., 2022). Consequently, positive emotions are associated with academic achievement and academic performance (Cao et al., 2024). Research also points to a steady increase in pressure from perfectionism and a fear of failure (Sohn, 2024). Since learning pressure often leads to learning burnout (Gong et al., 2023), it’s important to take a closer look at how college students are being evaluated.

Most colleges and universities use structured rubrics to assess specific components of course expectations in various assignments. In my years as a college instructor, this served as a mechanism for grading and providing formative and summative feedback to enhance learning. Rubrics are designed to help students better understand the course expectations, learning objectives, and track their progress throughout the semester. Although these guidelines aim to improve clarity and structure and decrease anxiety, this is not necessarily the case. Similar to other assessments, rubrics have advantages and limitations that should be taken into account (Ling, 2024).

Students are constantly being critiqued and judged on their level comprehension, organization, critical thinking, and proficiency, but which components for achievement are we neglecting? From a mental health standpoint, more emphasis should be placed on recognizing the following:

Resilience – Psychological resilience is a mitigating factor between learning stress and learning burnout (Gong et al., 2023). Among the most significant factors for psychological resilience are self-esteem, a sense of belonging, subjective well-being, and pro-environmental behavior (Song et al.,........

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