Resources · Mastery
Mastery rubrics.
One rubric per unit, plus the three demonstration rubrics. Every rubric uses the same three levels — Not yet, Approaching, Mastered — so the bar is identical for every student.
Start here
How the rubrics work
The grading philosophy behind every rubric — decisions not points, a vocabulary published in advance, three tokens that absorb a bad day, and how unit mastery becomes a letter grade.
Unit rubrics
A mastery rubric for each of the eight units. Each one names exactly what a student must be able to do — not how many points they earned — to reach Mastered.
Unit 01
Crime Scene & Evidence Basics
Securing a scene, systematic search, documentation, and chain of custody.
Unit 02
Fingerprints & Impression Evidence
Ridge patterns, developing latent prints, and comparing impressions honestly.
Unit 03
Trace Evidence
Fibers, hairs, glass, and soil — collection, comparison, and the limits of a match.
Unit 04
Chromatography & Chemical Analysis
Separating inks, dyes, and residues, and reading a chromatogram carefully.
Unit 05
Blood & Bodily Fluids
Presumptive tests, blood typing, and spatter interpretation with honest uncertainty.
Unit 06
DNA & Biological Evidence
How DNA profiling works, what a statistical match means, and where it stops.
Unit 07
Ballistics & Toolmarks
Firearms, cartridge cases, and toolmark comparison as probabilistic evidence.
Unit 08
The Case & the Courtroom
Building a case from converging evidence, expert testimony, and the analyst's role.
Demonstration rubrics
The three live demonstrations a student defends in person. These are the AI-proof assessments — you can't paste your way through any of them.
Demonstration
Evidence-analysis defense
Defending an identification, the method behind it, and how sure you can honestly be.
Demonstration
Timed scene processing
Working a mock scene against the clock — documenting and justifying every call.
Demonstration
Oral lab-notebook defense
Standing behind your case notebook — sketch, chain of custody, and reasoning — out loud.