Built On Harvard's Making Caring Common Project
The attributes IMPACTER measures were not invented in-house. They are drawn from the Making Caring Common project of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, a research framework defining eight character and non-cognitive competencies, and crosswalked to the CASEL taxonomy districts already trust.
The Definitions Come From the Research
Making Caring Common's framework defines eight empirically validated character competencies. IMPACTER's rubrics are drawn from and aligned to these research definitions — select any attribute to see its definition and the school outcome it connects to.
How A Skill Becomes A Score
Every attribute is scored against a rubric that defines observable developmental levels. For example, in the dual-axis rubric below for Compassion, Empathy and Prosocial Motivation are evaluated as separate but complementary dimensions of behavior.
Note on dual-axis rating: Empathy and Prosocial Motivation are evaluated as separate but complementary dimensions. Each score represents a point along a developmental continuum, and should be interpreted alongside qualitative student exemplars.
Mapped To The Frameworks
Districts Already Trust
Every rubric is aligned to both the Harvard Making Caring Common attributes and the CASEL competency taxonomy. Thirteen distinct rubric-aligned scoring pipelines in total (Harvard's eight plus CASEL's five). Districts working in either framework get crosswalk coverage.
Hover the outer ring for a quad, the inner wheel for a skill
CASEL® is a registered trademark of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional
Learning. Crosswalk mappings shown are representative; each attribute maps to combinations
of CASEL competencies.
Read The Original Research
The two foundational documents from Harvard's Making Caring Common project: the research definitions that IMPACTER's rubrics are drawn from, and the dual-axis rubric that operationalizes them into developmental analysis.
Definitions of Key Character and Non-Cognitive Terms and Skills for Use in Admission
Written by Samantha Wettje, Trisha Ross Anderson, and Richard Weissbourd. Defines the eight competencies (Compassion, Curiosity, Gratitude, Grit, Growth Mindset, Perspective-Taking, Purpose, and Self-Control) with research rationale, outcome connections, and application examples.
Read The Definitions (PDF) →The Dual-Axis Rubric
The rubric that operationalizes Compassion into two scorable dimensions, Empathy and Prosocial Motivation, each with five developmental levels (Absent through Exemplary) and key linguistic markers. This is the scoring framework the interactive rubric above is drawn from.
Read The Rubric (PDF) →From Definitions To Proof
The framework tells you what to measure. The evidence tells you why it matters and how well the measurement holds up.
What the science says about their predictive power for attendance, graduation, and adult outcomes.
MCC's definitions of key character and non-cognitive terms and skills, the machine learning research white papers, and our latest model card.