The Quality Matters rubric is made up of 8 General Standards and 42 Specific Review Standards used to evaluate the design of online and hybrid courses (and now remote courses as well since the pandemic). The rubric's scoring systems consists of 1-, 2-, and 3-point standards. For a course to meet QM standards and receive QM Certification, it must receive a score of 85% or above.
Within the 8 General Standards, there are three sub-categories of standards: essential, alignment, and specific.
Essential Standards are 23 standards within the rubric worth 3 points each, and all of these standards must be marked "Met" during a course review in order for the course to meet QM standards at the end of a review. If any of these standards are marked "Not Met," then the course will not meet QM standards regardless of whether the overall score is 85% or above. These standards have an impact on overall success that deems them necessary of being marked as "Met" in each instance in addition to a score of 85% or above in order for a course to meet QM standards and receive QM certification.