While the Quality Matters K-12 Rubric has, since its inception, been aligned with the National Standards for Quality Online Courses, the recent revision and release of the fourth edition of the National Standards for Quality Online Courses, under the oversight of QM in partnership with the Virtual Learning Leadership Alliance and DLAC, have an even closer relationship.
While the NSQ Online Course Standards contain explanations and examples, the QM K-12 Rubric takes this a step further. Rich annotations throughout the QM Rubric — that address difficult concepts — provide examples of good practice, and guide course reviewers and developers in the application of the Standards. While the NSQ Courses and QM K-12 Rubrics are in tight alignment, they are structured differently.
QM Certification of a course is the official mark of quality for the National Standards for Quality Online Courses. QM can provide a report in the NSQ format based on the correlation below:
Correlation Between NSQ Course Standards & QM K-12 Rubric
NSQ Courses —> QM K-12 Rubric | QM K-12 Rubric —> NSQ Courses | |||
Standard A: Course Overview and Support | General Standard 1: Course Overview and Introduction | |||
A1 | 1.1 T | 1.1 T | A1, A8 | |
A2 | 1.4 T | 1.2 C | C3, E1 | |
A3 | 1.7 C, 5.3 C | 1.3 T | A5 | |
A4 | 1.5 T, 1.6 T, 7.2 T | 1.4 T | A2, B3 | |
A5 | 1.3 T | 1.5 T | A4, B3 | |
A6 | 3.2 C, 3.5 C | 1.6 T | A4 | |
A7 | 7.1 T | 1.7 C | A3 | |
A8 | 1.1 T | 1.8 C | N/A | |
Standard B: Content | General Standard 2: Learning Objectives | |||
B1 | 2.2 C, 2.5 C | 2.1 C | B2 | |
B2 | 2.1 C | 2.2 C | B1 | |
B3 | 1.4 T, 1.5 C, 5.4 C | 2.3 C | D1 | |
B4 | 7.3 T | 2.4 C | C4 | |
B5 | 4.6 T | 2.5 C | B1 | |
B6 | 4.4 C | 2.6 C | D1 | |
B7 | 4.7 C | General Standard 3: Assessment and Measurement | ||
B8 | 4.5 C | 3.1 C | D1 | |
B9 | 7.4 T | 3.2 C | A6, D5 | |
3.3 C | C1, D2, D3 | |||
3.4 C | C6, D2, D4 | |||
3.5 C | A6 | |||
| 3.6 C | N/A | |||
Standard C: Instructional Design | General Standard 4: Instructional Materials | |||
C1 | 3.3 C, 5.2 C | 4.1 C | C2, C9 | |
C2 | 4.1 C, 5.1 C | 4.2 C | C3, C9 | |
C3 | 1.2 C, 4.2 C, 8.1 T | 4.3 C | C4 | |
C4 | 2.4 C, 4.3 C | 4.4 C | B6, C9 | |
C5 | N/A | 4.5 C | B8 | |
C6 | 3.4 C, 5.2 C | 4.6 C | B5 | |
C7 | 5.2 C, 5.4 C | 4.7 C | B7 | |
C8 | 5.2 C, 5.3 C | General Standard 5: Learning Activities and Learner Engagement | ||
C9 | 4.1 C, 4.2 C, 4.4 C | 5.1 C | C2 | |
Standard D: Learner Assessment | 5.2 C | C1, C6, C7, C8 | ||
D1 | 2.3 C, 2.6 C, 3.1 C | 5.3 C | A3, C8 | |
D2 | 3.3 C, 3.4 C | 5.4 C | B3, C7 | |
D3 | 3.3 C | |||
D4 | 3.4 C | General Standard 6: Course Technology | ||
D5 | 3.2 C | 6.1 C | F2 | |
Standard E: Accessibility and Usability | 6.2 T | F2 | ||
E1 | 8.1 T | 6.3 T | F1 | |
E2 | 8.2 C | 6.4 T | F5 | |
E3 | 8.3 C, 8.4 C, 8.5 C | 6.5 T | F3 | |
E4 | 8.6 T | 6.6 T | F4 | |
E5 | 8.7 T | |||
Standard F: Technology | ||||
F1 | 6.3 T | General Standard 7: Learner and Instructor Support | ||
F2 | 6.1 C, 6.2 T | 7.1 T | A7 | |
F3 | 6.5 T | 7.2 T | A4 | |
F4 | 6.6 T | 7.3 T | B4 | |
F5 | 6.4 T | 7.4 T | B9 | |
Standard G: Course Evaluation | General Standard 8: Accessibility and Usability | |||
G1 | N/A | 8.1 T | E1, C3 | |
G2 | A QM Review | 8.2 C | E2 | |
G3 | A QM Review | 8.3 C | E3 | |
8.4 C | E3 | |||
8.5 T | E4 | |||
8.6 T | E5 | |||
Making the Grade Standard by Standard
- QM K-12 “MET” = at least 2 out of 3 reviewers finding the standard being MET at an 85% level.
Making the Grade Overall
- QM K-12 “MET” = Overall Score of 104/128 + All 3 Pt. “Essential Standards”
