How is STARS Different?

Over the last decade or so, the number of higher education sustainability ranking, rating and assessment tools has grown markedly. While the increased attention to higher education sustainability performance is generally positive, the proliferation of tools can also be a source of confusion and stress for sustainability practitioners tasked with determining which tools are best suited for their institutions. To help you evaluate whether STARS is right for your institution, this article highlights some key features of STARS that distinguish it from other tools:

• Developed by and for the higher education sustainability community – STARS is maintained by AASHE (a membership-based nonprofit association of higher education institutions working towards sustainability) with broad participation from the higher education sustainability community. All decisions about the STARS indicators and scoring methodology are made by the STARS Steering Committee, which is composed of 7-12 representatives from AASHE member institutions. Additionally, AASHE’s ~100 member Advisory Council is consulted for all substantive changes and the general public is invited to comment on the most significant changes. This unique governance structure ensures that STARS is shaped by and responsive to the needs of higher education. Indeed, all STARS credits and indicators are designed specifically for higher education, which avoids the challenges that often emerge when trying to apply sustainability indicators designed primarily for corporations to a higher education context.
• Ratings not rankings – STARS reports are rated according to the methodology detailed in the STARS Technical Manual. Institutions know what rating they will receive before their report is published and there is no limit to the number of institutions that can earn a given STARS rating. This is in contrast to ranking systems in which the number of institutions that can achieve high ranks is inherently limited, small differences in scores can result in significantly different rankings, and the requirements to achieve a certain ranking can’t be known in advance.
• Transparent and detailed scoring methodology – The STARS Technical Manual provides the full scoring criteria and thorough guidance to help ensure that participants report data consistently. This methodological transparency means stakeholders generally have greater confidence in the meaning of a STARS rating compared to other forms of recognition based on opaque methodologies.
• Sophisticated indicator design – STARS relies on a mix of quantitative and qualitative indicators to provide a deeper and more nuanced perspective on an institution’s sustainability performance than the relatively simple indicators often used in other higher education sustainability assessment tools. The STARS indicators are also regularly refined and clarified based on the experiences of and feedback from the hundreds of institutions that participate in STARS. This results in a more meaningful assessment overall.
• Broad topical scope – STARS takes a whole-campus approach to sustainability and, accordingly, includes a wide variety of indicators covering teaching, research, public engagement, campus operations, and institutional governance. Consistent with the multi-dimensional nature of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals, STARS also includes indicators related to an institution’s social, economic and environmental performance. The comprehensiveness of STARS means that completing a STARS report can generate much of the data and materials needed for other sustainability assessments.
• Context-sensitive scoring – STARS incorporates several approaches to adjust the scoring methodology to account for contextual differences among participating institutions. For example, if a feature assessed by a STARS credit is not present (e.g., an institution doesn’t award graduate degrees) or is present in such a limited way as to be de minimis (e.g., grounds comprise less than one percent of the total campus area), participants may mark that credit as “Not Applicable” and have the points associated with that credit removed from scoring calculation. Additionally, the points available for certain indicators vary to reflect their relative importance in different contexts (e.g., indicators related to water use are weighted more heavily for institutions located in areas with high levels of water quantity risk).
• Points for innovation – STARS has multiple open-ended innovation credits to encourage creative solutions that aren’t covered by the pre-defined credits. This allows institutions to more completely tell their sustainability story and ensures that innovative approaches are recognized and rewarded in STARS.
• Mechanisms to ensure data quality – STARS includes a number of quality assurance mechanisms to enhance the accuracy of public reports, protect the credibility of the system, and provide a fair and transparent means for resolving questions about the accuracy of STARS data. For example, STARS awards points to institutions that complete a pre-submission review of their report. In addition, AASHE staff review a portion of each rated report before it is published and work with submitters to address any identified issues.
• Multiple levels of recognition – In contrast to binary assessment programs with only a single classification or level of recognition, STARS reports are rated as Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum. This gives institutions at all points on the journey to sustainability an opportunity to participate and get recognition for their efforts. It also means that STARS can recognize and support participants in making improvements over time.
• Transparent and accessible data – The full contents of published STARS reports are available on the STARS website. This makes it easier for institutions to learn from each other and facilitates stakeholder engagement. Through resources like the STARS content display and benchmarking tool, participants and researchers can access data from thousands of STARS reports for research, analysis and planning.
• Large, increasingly global user base – Hundreds of institutions have published STARS reports. While many of these institutions are based in the US and Canada, efforts to make STARS globally applicable and relevant in recent years have resulted in significantly greater participation from institutions in other countries. There are STARS registrants in over 50 different countries and the number continues to grow.
• Robust participant support – AASHE offers an expansive suite of resources to help participants. These include: cohorts that guide participants through the reporting process as a group; a help center with detailed guidance, frequently asked questions, and examples for every credit; an online community that participants can use to ask questions of other STARS participants, a variety of spreadsheet-based tracking sheets and worksheets to facilitate data collection; review templates to help participants check their submission before submitting; outreach materials to share information about STARS with campus audiences; a press kit to promote their institution’s rating; a data quality training and certificate program; and a benchmarking tool to enable participants to compare their performance with other participants.
• Flexible participation options – To help ensure that STARS is accessible to all institutions, basic participation (which includes the ability to submit an unscored report) is free. Prices for a subscription (which is required to earn a STARS rating) are heavily discounted for institutions in middle and low income economies, and there is a pay what you can program for any institutions whose financial circumstances make it unable to afford the subscription fee. Another form of flexibility is provided by the three year length of a STARS rating, which allows institutions to decide how often they wish to resubmit (as opposed to being required to resubmit annually to be included in most rankings).

These features are why we believe STARS provides the strongest and most meaningful assessment of a higher education institution’s sustainability performance available. They also help explain why so many independent researchers have reviewed STARS favorably.

If you are curious to give STARS a try, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at stars@aashe.org.