Assignment 5-1

HEA 620 Module Five Assignment Guidelines and Rubric

Overview: This module covers the importance of managing and adjusting current operating budgets to address shifting priorities. In a two- to three-page short paper, you will review the article Ashland University Taking Steps to Deal With Budget Deficit, which addresses the importance of managing operating budgets to address and/or avoid budget deficits. Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:

a. Identify three major causes, from the article, for the operating budget deficit b. Address whether these causes are relevant and can exist today c. Based on readings and research, describe what strategies might be employed to deter such causes in the future. Consider the following questions: Are

certain causes inevitable and assured and, if so, should they be built into the budget during the initial planning process? Guidelines for Submission: Your paper must be submitted as a two- to three-page Microsoft Word document with double spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, one-inch margins, and at least three sources cited in APA format.

Critical Elements

Proficient (100%) Needs Improvement (70%) Not Evident (0%) Value

Identification Clearly identifies three major causes of operating budget deficit as noted in the article

Not all required causes are identified and/or are clear in their identification

Identification of causes is not evident

30

Relevancy Relevancy of causes is addressed, providing connections between past and current implications

Relevancy of causes is addressed, but lacks connections between past and current implications

Relevancy of causes is not addressed

30

Employment Strategies

Describes concrete strategies based on course research and readings on how to avoid identified causes of operating budget deficit

Describes strategies but lacks context to readings and research

Strategies are not provided 30

Articulation of Response

Submission has no major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization

Submission has major errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that negatively impact readability and articulation of main ideas

Submission has critical errors related to citations, grammar, spelling, syntax, or organization that prevent understanding of ideas

10

Earned Total 100%