What Matters to Student Success? Lessons for ANAC Institutions George D. Kuh Elon University June 13, 2007

We all want the same thing—an undergraduate experience that results in high levels of learning and personal development for all students.

Overview Overview  Essential learning outcomes  Why engagement matters  Lessons from high- performing institutions

Advance Organizers  To what extent do your students engage in productive learning activities, inside and outside the classroom?  How do you know?  What must you do differently -- or better -- to enhance student success?

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

Association of American Colleges and Universities

Narrow Learning is Not Enough — The Essential Learning Outcomes  Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical & Natural World  Intellectual and Practical Skills  Personal and Social Responsibility  Integrative Learning

Most Important Skills Employers Look For In New Hires Teamwork skills Critical thinking/ reasoning Oral/written communication Ability to assemble/ organize information Innovative/thinking creatively Able to work with numbers/statistics Foreign language proficiency Recent Grads* 38 % 37% 10 % 21% 4% 6% * Skills/abilities recent graduates think are the two most important to employers

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

Foundations of Student Engagement Time on task (Tyler, 1930s) Quality of effort (Pace, s) 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)

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

Good Practices in Undergraduate Education (Chickering & Gamson, 1987; Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005) Student-faculty contact Student-faculty contact Active learning Active learning Prompt feedback Prompt feedback Time on task Time on task High expectations High expectations Respect for diverse learning styles Respect for diverse learning styles Cooperation among students Cooperation among students

National Survey of Student Engagement Community College Survey of Student Engagement 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

NSSE Project Scope  One million+ students from 1,200 different schools  80% of 4-yr U.S. undergraduate FTE  50 states, Puerto Rico  35 Canadian universities  100+ consortia

NSSE Survey Student Behaviors Institutional Actions & Requirements Reactions to People & Environment Student Background Information Student Learning & Development

In your experience at your institution during the current school year, about how often have you done each of the following? 1

Effective Educational Practices Level of Academic Challenge Active & Collaborative Learning Enriching Educational Experiences SupportiveCampusEnvironment Student- Faculty Interaction

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

Does institutional size matter to engagement? Yes, size matters. Smaller is generally better.

Benchmark Scores for All Students by Undergraduate Enrollment

Academic Challenge, Active Learning, Student-Faculty Interaction by Enrollment

Student engagement varies more within than between institutions.

Worth Pondering How do we reach our least engaged students?

Behold the compensatory effects of engagement

What Are Faculty Telling Us?

Faculty Survey of Student Engagement Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (pronounced “fessie”) FSSE measures faculty expectations and activities related to student engagement in effective educational practices

Faculty Priorities and Student Engagement

Figure 1. Average Weekly Research Hours by Institutional Type

Faculty Time on Research with Undergraduates and Probability of Student Participation in Research P robability of Undergraduate Research Faculty Research with Undergraduates (hours)

Faculty View of Importance of Doing Research with Students and Probability of Students Doing Research Probability of Undergraduate Research Importance of Undergraduate Research

What to Make of This? 1.When faculty members emphasize certain educational practices, students engage in them to a greater extent than their peers elsewhere. 2.Good things go together 3.Teacher-scholars matter

What does an educationally effective university look like?

Project DEEP Project DEEP To discover, document, and describe what high performing institutions do to achieve their notable level of effectiveness.

DEEP Selection Criteria Controlling for student and institutional characteristics (i.e., selectivity, diversity, institutional type), DEEP schools have:  Higher-than-predicted graduation rates  Higher-than-predicted NSSE scores  Region, institutional type, special mission type, special mission

Project DEEP Schools Doctoral Extensives University of Kansas University of Michigan Doctoral Intensives George Mason University Miami University (Ohio) University of Texas El Paso Master’s Granting Fayetteville State University Gonzaga University Longwood University Liberal Arts California State, Monterey Bay California State, Monterey Bay Macalester College Macalester College Sweet Briar College Sweet Briar College The Evergreen State College The Evergreen State College Sewanee: University of the South Sewanee: University of the South Ursinus College Ursinus College Wabash College Wabash College Wheaton College (MA) Wheaton College (MA) Wofford College Wofford College Baccalaureate General Alverno College Alverno College University of Maine at Farmington University of Maine at Farmington Winston-Salem State University Winston-Salem State University

Research Approach Case study method Team of 24 researchers review institutional documents and conduct multiple-day site visits Team of 24 researchers review institutional documents and conduct multiple-day site visits Observe individuals, classes, group meetings, activities, events Observe individuals, classes, group meetings, activities, events 2,700+ people, 60 classes, 30 events 2,700+ people, 60 classes, 30 events Discover and describe effective practices and programs, campus culture Discover and describe effective practices and programs, campus culture

Worth Noting Many roads to an engaging institution  No one best model  Different combinations of complementary, interactive, synergistic conditions  Anything worth doing is worth doing well at scale

Six Shared Conditions  “Living” Mission and “Lived” Educational Philosophy  Unshakeable Focus on Student Learning  Environments Adapted for Educational Enrichment  Clearly Marked Pathways to Student Success  Improvement-Oriented Ethos  Shared Responsibility for Educational Quality

DEEP Lessons: First things first… Organizations that improve… create and nurture agreement on what is worth achieving, and they set in motion the internal processes by which people progressively learn how to do what they need to do in order to achieve what is worthwhile. Elmore in Fullan, 2001, p. 125) (Elmore in Fullan, 2001, p. 125)

1. Get the ideas right Focus on a real problem  Persistence  Fragmented gen ed program  Tired pedagogical practices  Poor first-year experience  Low academic challenge  Connections to real world  Capstone experiences  Under-engaged students

2. Lay out the path to student success

a.Draw a map for student success b.Front load resources to smooth the transition c.Teach newcomers about the campus culture d.Create a sense of “specialness” e.Emphasize student initiative f.Focus on underengaged students g.If something works, maybe require it?

Lessons from National Center for Academic Transformation If doing something is important, require it (first-year students don’t do ‘optional’) If doing something is important, require it (first-year students don’t do ‘optional’) Assign course points to the activity Assign course points to the activity Monitor and intervene when necessary Monitor and intervene when necessaryhttp://

Teaching the Culture Macalester College students, faculty and staff understand and articulate the College’s core values of academic excellence, service, multiculturalism and internationalism. These values are enacted in the curriculum and co-curriculum (e.g., “Into the Streets”).

High challenge, high support  68% first yr & 70% seniors report “working harder than thought they could”  Cannot miss class (or WF)  Demanding grading scales requires faculty to engage struggling students  Commitment to teaching & availability – enhances mentoring relationships  Comprehensive exam senior year  10:1 student to faculty ratio  Honor code: Emphasis on academic integrity & strict student enforcement Academic rigor at Sewanee

S ocialization to academic expectations Wofford first-year students read a common novel and write a short essay connecting it to their own lives. The eight best essays are published and distributed to all new students, creating the first class celebrities.

Redundant early warning systems: “Tag Teaming”  Wheaton first-year student advising team includes faculty, student preceptors, librarians and administrative staff.  At Ursinus, Miami, and Wheaton representatives from both academic affairs and student affairs serve as academic advisors.

3. Align initiatives with: a.Student preparation, ability, interests b.Existing complementary efforts Gen ed reform Carnegie SOTL/CASTL Service learning/Campus Compact Internationalization and diversity LEAP AAC&U: “Greater Expectations,” “Inclusive Excellence,” LEAP

Association of American Colleges and Universities

Fayetteville State  Faculty members “teach the students they have, not those they wish they had”  Center for Teaching and Learning sponsors development activities on diverse learning needs Cal State Monterey Bay  “Assets” philosophy acknowledges students’ prior knowledge “Meet students where they are”

Something Else That Really Matters in College The greatest impact appears to stem from students ’ total level of campus engagement, particularly when academic, interpersonal, and extracurricular involvements are mutually reinforcing … Pascarella & Terenzini, How College Affects Students, 2005, p. 647

It Takes a Whole Campus to Educate a Student

4. Promote and reward collaboration a.Tighten the philosophical and operational linkages between academic and student affairs –Peer tutoring and mentoring –First year seminars –Learning communities b.Harness available expertise c.Make governance a shared responsibility d.Form partnerships with the local community

Connect campus and community California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB) requires all students to complete both a lower and upper- level service learning experience as a means to apply knowledge and connect with the local community.

5. Recruit, socialize and reward competent people a.Recruit faculty and staff committed to student learning b.Emphasize student centeredness in faculty and staff orientation c.Make room for differences d.Reward and support competent staff to insure high quality student support services

“Difference Makers” Student success is the product of thousands of small gestures extended on a daily basis by caring, supportive educators sprinkled throughout the institution who enact a talent development philosophy.

6. Put money where it will make a difference in student engagement “…in professional baseball it still matters less how much you have than how well you spend it”

6. Put money where it will make a difference in student engagement a. Align reward system with institutional mission, values, and priorities b. Sunset redundant and ineffective programs c. Invest in activities that contribute to student success

Effective Educational Practices  First-Year Seminars and Experiences  First-Year Seminars and Experiences  Common Intellectual Experiences  Learning Communities  Writing-Intensive Courses  Collaborative Assignments and Projects  “Science as Science Is Done”; Undergraduate Research  Diversity/Global Learning  Service Learning, Community-Based Learning  Internships  Capstone Courses and Projects

Common Intellectual Experience Ursinus College’s Common Intellectual Experience (CIE) is a two-semester course for first-year students. Common readings and “Uncommon Hour” give students a shared intellectual experience outside the classroom that complements class activities.

Required Enriching Experiences All Ursinus students complete an Independent Learning Experience (ILE), such as an independent research or creative project, internship, study abroad, student teaching, or summer fellow program or comparable summer research program.

Effective Educational Practices Increase Odds That Students Will: Effective Educational Practices Increase Odds That Students Will: Invest time and effort Invest time and effort Interact with faculty and peers about substantive matters Interact with faculty and peers about substantive matters Experience diversity Experience diversity Get more frequent feedback Get more frequent feedback Discover relevance of their learning through real-world applications Discover relevance of their learning through real-world applications

6. Put money where it will make a difference in student engagement a. Align reward system with institutional mission, values, and priorities b. Sunset redundant and ineffective programs c. Invest in activities that contribute to student success d. Document performance through assessment!

Triangulate multiple data sources ACT/SAT score reports ACT/SAT score reports BCSSE BCSSE NSSE NSSE FSSE FSSE CIRP/CSS CIRP/CSS Noel Levitz Noel Levitz CLA CLA ACT CAAP ACT CAAP Campus audit (Inventory for Student Engagement and Success) Campus audit (Inventory for Student Engagement and Success)

DEEP Practice Briefs Available: Download the series!

7. Focus on culture sooner than later Ultimately, it’s all about the culture… a.Identify cultural properties that impede success b.Expand the number of cultural practitioners on campus c.Instill an ethic of positive restlessness

Positive restlessness “We know who we are and what we aspire to.” “We know who we are and what we aspire to.” Confident, responsive, but never quite satisfied… Confident, responsive, but never quite satisfied… Self-correcting orientation Self-correcting orientation Continually question, “are we performing as well as we can?” Continually question, “are we performing as well as we can?”

8. Put someone in charge When everyone is responsible for something, no one is accountable for it… a.Senior leadership is key b.Some individual or group (high profile ‘think force’) must coordinate and monitor status of initiatives c.Those ‘in charge’ not solely responsible for bringing about change

9. Stay the course The good-to-great-transformations never happened in one fell swoop. There was no single defining action, no grand program, no one killer innovation, no solitary lucky break, no miracle moment. Sustainable transformations follow a predictable pattern of buildup and breakthrough… (Collins, 2001, p. 186)

9. Stay the course  Scale up effective practices  If it works, consider requiring it  Beware the implementation dip

Last Word Institutions cannot change the lineage of their students. Campus cultures do not change easily or willingly. But we can do far more to shape the way students approach college and what they do after they arrive. Do we have the will to more consistently use promising policies and practices to increase the odds that more students “get ready,” “get in,” and “get through?”

Reality Check: The Expert Panel  Gerry Francis, Elon University  Linda McMillan, Susquehanna U  Greg Stinson, Valparaiso U

Questions & Discussion