Abstract
Abstract: Faculty frustration with poor student writing ability and inconsistency among faculty on grading elements of assigned papers triggered the college administration to appoint a writing task force. The first goal was to develop a writing rubric. To measure the effectiveness of the rubric, faculty designed a research study but encountered failure early. Researchers could not achieve interrater reliability using the rubric and were unable to move forward. However, even a failed research study does not necessarily result in failure. Positive lessons were learned, a rubric contract was implemented, and our processes were innovated for improved faculty/student communication.