Direct Assessment programs run term-based with a census date, and the standing rule is arithmetic: earn six or more competency units in the term to remain Regular, which at three CUs per course means two full courses minimum, every term, no drift allowed. We support the whole motion: assessments drafted to Mastered in 24 to 48 hours with your real-world context folded in, the term's CU map dated from day one so the floor is never a surprise, and transfer-credit conversion, accepted credit applies as CUs here, maximized before the term even starts. The scale and attempt mechanics mirror the CBE tracks; the term floor is the extra wire, and it is the one this desk watches for you.
The CU arithmetic, made visible
Everything in a Direct Assessment term reduces to one number: CUs banked versus CUs required. Six is the Regular-standing floor; your program's pace goal may sit higher. The census date makes early-term activity mandatory, and a course's CUs land only when its assessments clear, which means the real unit of planning is the assessment, not the course. Our term maps decompose the term into dated assessments, each with its draft window and its attempt buffer, so the floor is cleared by design in the term's first half and everything after builds cushion. Students who arrive mid-term below pace get the honest version: what the remaining weeks can actually hold, and the exact assessment sequence that gets there.
What the desk carries, assessment by assessment
- Authentic assessments drafted to Mastered against their rubrics, grounded in the real context you send
- The term CU map: every assessment dated, the 6-CU floor cleared early, census-date activity never left to chance
- Attempt strategy across the MA / ME / NM structure, first submissions built to be final
- NM feedback answered literally in resubmissions, attempts spent, never leaked
- Transfer and prior-learning conversion pushed before enrollment, CUs you arrive with are terms you never buy
Who chooses Direct Assessment, and who should
The format rewards exactly one profile: self-directed adults with real workplace material to assess against and calendars that can hold a steady assessment cadence. For that profile it is the fastest, cheapest shape Phoenix sells, and with the desk carrying drafts it becomes routine to run well past the floor. If you are choosing between models before enrolling, the three-models manual maps the differences honestly, and a five-minute chat with your last two terms' reality attached gets our plain recommendation, including, sometimes, "take the letter-graded version."
The census date does not wait
Send your program, term dates, and open assessments. The CU map and first draft quote come back same-day.