George D. Kuh

1
Data Informed Perspectives on the Undergraduate
Student Experience
George D. Kuh ACHA Professional Development
Workshop Las Vegas, NV November 30, 2006
2
Commission on Future of Higher Education

1. Improve student academic preparation and make
   more financial aid available
2. Simplify restructure student financial aid
   system using incentives to control costs
3. Cultivate a "robust culture of accountability
   transparency invent new student learning
   measures, make comparable information public,
   focus accreditation on outcomes
4. Embrace continuous innovation and quality
   improvement.
5. Target federal investments to critical areas such
   as math, science, and foreign languages.
6. Develop a national strategy for lifelong learning

3
Working Hypothesis

• Student health does not receive the attention it
  deserves on college campuses because it is not
  perceived to be a major factor in student or
  institutional performance

4
Advance Organizers

• What kind of information about student
  learning and institutional effectiveness is
  useful for
• Improving undergraduate education?
• Promoting healthy lifestyle choices?
• How can ACHA-NCHA data be linked with other
  information about the student experience to
  inform efforts to foster student success?

5
Student Success in College

• Academic achievement, engagement in
  educationally purposeful activities,
  satisfaction, acquisition of desired knowledge,
  skills and competencies, persistence, attainment
  of educational objectives, and post-college
  performance

6
Overview

• Assessing the undergraduate experience
• NSSE and ACHA-NCHA
• What we know from NSSE
• Selected lessons from DEEP
• Discussion

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Working Definition

• Assess (v.) to examine carefully
• Assessment is the systematic collection, review,
  and use of information about educational programs
  undertaken for the purpose of improving student
  learning and development
• (Palomba Banta, 1999, p. 4)

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Sampling of Instruments

• ACT/SAT score reports
• Entering student surveys (6)
• Enrolled undergraduates (8)
• Student proficiencies learning outcomes (5)
• Alumni (2)
• http//airweb.org/images/measurequality.pdf

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We value what we measure

• Wise decisions are needed about what to measure
  in the context of campus mission, values, and
  desired outcomes.
• If you dont measure it, you cant manage it
  

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Assessment Tools

• Pre-college characteristics
• Who students are
• Process measures
• Evidence of effective educational activity
  by students and institutions
• Outcomes measures
• Evidence of what students
  learn or can do

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Students Today

• An entitlement mentality

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Trends in High School Grades
UCLA Cooperative Institutional Research Program
(CIRP)
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Students Today

• An entitlement mentality
• Cumulative deficit re attitudes, study habits,
  academic skills

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Student Success Quiz

• What percent of high school seniors have
  college-level reading skills?
• (a) 51 (b) 59 (c) 68 (d) 77 (e) none of the
  above

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Student Success Quiz

• True or false
• 25 of first-year first-time frosh at two-year
  colleges are required to take one or more
  remedial courses in college.

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Student Success Quiz

• True or false
• About 300 million is spent annually on
  postsecondary remediation coursework.

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Student Success Quiz

• What percent of students who take at least one
  remedial course in reading do not earn a
  certificate or degree within 8 years of first
  enrollment?
• (a) 18 (b) 33 (c) 43
• (d) 61 (e) 70

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Students Today

• More diverse than previous cohorts
• Techno-savvy NetGens

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Students Today

• More diverse than previous cohorts
• Techno-savvy NetGens
• Psychologically fragile

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Student Success Quiz

• About what percent of community college students
  return for the second year?
• (a) 29 (b) 33 (c) 50
• (d) 61 (e) 77

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Factors That Threaten Persistence and Graduation
from College

• academically underprepared for college-level work
• gap between high school and college
• part-time enrollment
• single parent
• financially independent
• children at home
• 30 hours working per week
• first-generation college student

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Outcomes Measures

• Standardized, nationally normed
• Locally developed

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Outcomes Data

• National instruments
• Noel-Levitz Student Satisfaction Inventory
• ETS MAPP and Major Field Tests
• ACT Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency
  
• Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA)

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Student Satisfaction Inventory
SSI by Noel-Levitz http//www.noellevitz.com/solu
tions/retention/satisfaction/sample.asp
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WorkKeys Assessments

APPLIED MATHEMATICS Level 5 Sample Question

• Quik Call charges 18 per minute for
  long-distance calls. Econo Phone totals your
  phone usage each month and rounds the number of
  minutes up to the nearest 15 minutes. It then
  charges 7.90 per hour of phone usage, dividing
  this charge into 15-minute segments if you used
  less than a full hour. If your office makes 5
  hours 3 minutes worth of calls this month using
  the company with the lower price, how much will
  these calls cost?
• A. 41.48 B. 39.50 C. 41.87 D. 54.00 E.
  54.54

WorkKeys Assessments by ACT- http//www.act.org/w
orkkeys/assess/ (B)
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WorkKeys Assessments

• APPLIED TECHNOLOGY Level 4 Sample Question
• Your industrial services company has been hired
  to deliver a small but heavy gearbox. The
  container is too small to justify renting a large
  truck and too heavy for the company's pickup
  truck. You decide to rent a heavy-duty utility
  trailer and pull it with the pickup truck. At
  which spot, labeled 1-5, on the trailer shown
  below should you place the container to pull the
  load most easily and safely?
• A. 1 B. 2 C. 3 D. 4 E. 5

WorkKeys Assessments by ACT- http//www.act.org/wo
rkkeys/assess/ (C)
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Collegiate Assessment of Academic Proficiency
(CAAP)
Writing Skills Sample Passage and Items

• Item 1
• In the end, everyone gives up jogging. Some find
  that their strenuous efforts to earn a living
  drains (1) away their energy.
• Item 2
• Others suffering from (2) defeat by the hazards
  of the course, from hard pavement to muddy
  tracks, and from smog to sleet and snow.

• Question 1
• A. NO CHANGEB. drainC. has drainedD. is
  draining
• Question 2
• A. NO CHANGEB. sufferedC. sufferD. suffering
  with

CAAP by ACT- http//www.act.org/caap/index.html
( B, C)
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Locally Developed Outcome Measures

• James Madison battery
• IU general education test
• Major field tests (e.g. Coker)
• Capstone projects
• Electronic portfolios

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Process Indicators

• Evidence that students and institutions are
  devoting effort to engaging in educationally
  purposeful activities

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Process Indicators

• National instruments
• Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP)
• Your First College Year (YFCY)
• College Student Experiences Questionnaire (CSEQ)
• NSSE, FSSE, BCSSE

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What Really Matters in College Student
Engagement

• Because individual effort and involvement are
  the critical determinants of impact,
  institutions should focus on the ways they can
  shape their academic, interpersonal, and
  extracurricular offerings to encourage student
  engagement.

Pascarella Terenzini, How College Affects
Students, 2005, p. 602
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Foundations of Student Engagement

• Time on task (Tyler, 1930s)
• Quality of effort (Pace, 1960-70s)
• Student involvement (Astin, 1984)
• Social, academic integration (Tinto,1987, 1993)
• Good practices in undergraduate education
  (Chickering Gamson, 1987)
• Outcomes (Pascarella, 1985)
• Student engagement (Kuh, 1991, 2005)

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Student Engagement Trinity

• What students do -- time and energy devoted to
  educationally purposeful activities
• What institutions do -- using effective
  educational practices to induce students to do
  the right things
• Educationally effective institutions channel
  student energy toward the right activities

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Good Practices in Undergraduate Education
(Chickering Gamson, 1987 Pascarella
Terenzini, 2005)

• Student-faculty contact
• Active learning
• Prompt feedback
• Time on task
• High expectations
• Respect for diverse learning styles
• Cooperation among students

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National Survey of Student Engagement(pronounced
nessie)Community College Survey of Student
Engagement(pronounced cessie)

• College student surveys that assess the extent
  to which students engage in educational practices
  associated with high levels of learning and
  development

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NSSE Project Scope

• One million students from 1,000 different
  schools
• 80 of 4-yr U.S. undergraduate FTE
• 50 states, Puerto Rico
• 35 Canadian universities
• 70 consortia

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NSSE Survey
Student Behaviors
Student Learning Development
Institutional Actions Requirements

Reactions to People Environment
Student Background Information
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Effective Educational Practices
Level of Academic Challenge
Active Collaborative Learning
Student- Faculty Interaction
Supportive Campus Environment
Enriching Educational Experiences
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What Are Students Telling Us?
ACHA-NCHA
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ACHA-NCHA and NSSE Respondents

• NSSE
• 63 female
• 83 lt25 years old
• 72 White
• 7 African Amer
• 5 Hispanic
• 4 Asian Amer
• 2 Amer Indian
• 41 A grades

• ACHA-NCHA
• 63 female
• 80 lt25 years old
• 81 White
• 5 African Amer
• 5 Hispanic
• 6 Asian Amer
• 2 Amer Indian
• 40 A grades

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Health Impediments to Student Success

• Stress (32)
• Cold/flu/sore throat (27)
• Sleep difficulties (25)
• Troubled friends/family (18)
• Depression/anxiety (16)
• Relationships (16)
• Internet/computer games (14)
• Alcohol (8)

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Student Engagement Quiz

• What percent of students nationally study two
  hours or more for every hour in class?
• (a) 13 (b) 27 (c) 41 (d) 60 (e) none of the
  above

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Student Engagement Quiz

• What percent of first-year students relax or
  socialize five or fewer hours weekly?
• (a) 9 (b) 17 (c) 29 (d) 38 (e) none of the
  above

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Student Engagement Quiz

• What percent of first-year students frequently
  exercise or participate in physical fitness
  activities on a weekly basis?
• (a) 20 (b) 32 (c) 43 (d) 52 (e) 61

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Student Engagement Quiz

• What percent of first-year students frequently
  participate in activities to enhance their
  spirituality on a weekly basis?
• (a) 14 (b) 19 (c) 33 (d) 46 (e) 65

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• What else have we learned so far?

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• Grades, persistence, student satisfaction, and
  engagement go hand in hand

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What matters to grades?

• Pre-college achievement
• Female
• African American -
• Part-time enrolled -
• 21 hrs work off campus -
• 21 hrs socializing -
• 6 hrs co-curricular -
• Engagement

53
What matters to persistence?

• Female
• Pre-college achievement
• Part-time enrolled -
• Merit grant
• Transfer status -
• Work off campus 0
• 6 hrs co-curricular
• College grades
• Engagement

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Does institutional size matter to engagement?

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Benchmark Scores for All Students by
Undergraduate Enrollment
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Academic Challenge, Active Learning,
Student-Faculty Interaction by Enrollment
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Behold the compensatory effects of engagement
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