High-Impact Practices What are they? What makes them effective? How can we help?

Definition “an investment of time and energy over an extended period that has unusually positive effects on student engagement in educationally purposeful behavior.” George D. Kuh, “Foreward,” Five High-Impact Practices: Research on Learning Outcomes, Completion, and Quality by Jayne E. Brownell and Lynn E. Swaner, AAC&U, 2010

Identified through research: First-year experiences Common intellectual experiences Learning communities Writing-intensive courses Collaborative assignments and projects Undergraduate research Diversity/global learning Service learning Community-based learning Internships Capstone courses and projects High-Impact Educational Practices: What They Are Who Has Access to Them and Why They Matter by George D. Kuh (AAC&U 2008) Follow-up study: Five High-Impact Practices: Research on Learning Outcomes, Completion, and Quality, by Jayne E. Brownell and Lynn E. Swaner CALT has copies of both publications

What do they need to work? Require purposeful effort Build relationships Engage across differences Provide rich feedback Apply learning Encourage reflection

For whom do they work? Most students benefit Benefits can be dramatic Historically underserved benefit most One size does not fit all (no single HIP will work for ALL students)

Graduation Rates by Ethnicity and participation in High-Impact Practices Do they matter? 55% gap 17 -- 17 points. Now let’s see what happens when everyone -- 38% Latino/a not Latino/a

Graduation Rates by Ethnicity and participation in High-Impact Practices Do they matter? 63% 55% 49% gap 14 -- the gap is three points narrower. Here’s what you get when everyone participates -- 38% 1 1 Latino/a not Latino/a

Graduation Rates by Ethnicity and participation in High-Impact Practices Do they matter? 68% 65% 63% 55% 49% gap 3 -- shrinks to three points. Are you ready for three or more? 38% 1 2 1 2 Latino/a not Latino/a

Graduation Rates by Ethnicity and participation in High-Impact Practices Do they matter? Source: CSU Northridge Institutional Research August, 2010 73% 68% 69% 65% 63% 55% 49% gap -4 -- the gap just flipped upside down. A couple of quick caveats: by the time you’re counting Latinos reporting three or more high-impact practices on NSSE, you’re down to a pretty small N. And while the study author tried hard to control for other variables, like academic performance prior to admission, there’s always the chance that we’re just proving the obvious, students who sign up for the good stuff are the ones who were going to graduate. But I believe there’s something real going on here, a powerful suggestion that when we tune our educational practices away from the traditional lecture and toward the contextualized, the relevant, and the engaging, everyone wins. Big time. This to me is one answer to “toward what.” I want to be in that university. And I want my students to. At the beginning I told you about three dimensions to this project: high-engagement practices and under-represented minorities, aspects of which are both captured in this graph. The third is to explore how state-level action can help us do better in the face of student mobility. To close off this “toward what” section I’m going to share another chart with you. 38% 1 2 3+ 1 2 3+ Latino/a not Latino/a

Do they matter? High-Impact Educational Practices: What They Are Who Has Access to Them and Why They Matter by George D. Kuh (AAC&U 2008)

Do they matter? High-Impact Educational Practices: What They Are Who Has Access to Them and Why They Matter by George D. Kuh (AAC&U 2008)

Do they matter? High-Impact Educational Practices: What They Are Who Has Access to Them and Why They Matter by George D. Kuh (AAC&U 2008)

Barriers to offering them Institutionalization: Most likely to miss historically underserved groups Kuh recommends committing to reach every student at least twice Within the first year Junior or senior year connected to the major Expense: Time commitment Lack of support

How can we help? Foster collaborations Promoting HIPs to students Assist with design of a HIP Explore alternative practices Develop current HIP practices Help with policies Help with assessing Collaborations: faculty and academic staff already active in HIPs Tie curricula and co-curricula together Develop policies: e.g., evaluating placement sites or contracts for community-based experiences Alternative Practices: Other ways to hit more of the “why HIPs work” criteria