1. 2007 INTERNATIONAL ASSESSMENT & RETENTION CONFERENCE
We Matter, Men Change: How the Socially Responsible Leadership Scale Might Impact Retention

2. We Matter, Men Change: How the Socially Responsible Leadership Scale Might Impact Retention at University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Dr. Erin Bentrim-Tapio Assistant to the Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Evaluation and Research Mr. Stanley Gajda Assistant Director for Student Organizational Development Dr. Cathy H. Hamilton Director, Office of Leadership and Service-Learning

3. Overview of Session
Background/Impetus - Convergence of indicators through assessment results
Collaborative Assessment – What secrets of our own institution emerged
Implications – The “so what” of our results as we balance new knowledge with new legislation
Summary –Our response, what might yours be?

4. BACKGROUND / IMPETUS
A significant gap between theory and practice as they relate to college student leadership
An unclear picture of the leadership development needs of college student
Uncertainty regarding the influence of the college environment on theoretically grounded leadership development
Dugan, J. (2004, December). Research & Assessment: Creating a Data-Driven Leadership Program. Paper presented at the Leadership Educators Institute, Greensboro, NC.

5. BACKGROUND / IMPETUS Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership (MSL)
National Clearinghouse of Leadership Programs at
University of Maryland, College Park
Purpose of the MSL is to enhance knowledge regarding college student leadership development as well as the influence of higher education on the development of leadership capacities.
The MSL also examines student leadership values at both the institutional and national levels with specific attention to the environmental factors that influence leadership development in college students.
The purpose of the Multi-Institutional Study of Leadership (MSL) is to improve education and society by enhancing knowledge regarding contemporary youth leadership development as well as the influence of higher education as a context in which building leadership capacity occurs. Purpose of the (MSL) is to examine the current state of college student leadership development as well as the role institutions of higher education play as a context in which leadership development occurs.

6. Socially Responsible Leadership
BACKGROUND / IMPETUS
Socially Responsible Leadership
The dynamic interaction across levels and between values contributes to social change for the common good, the eighth critical value associated with this model (HERI, 1996).
The Social Change Model of Leadership
HERI 1996

7. Astin’s College Impact Model (2001)
BACKGROUND / IMPETUS
Astin’s College Impact Model (2001)
Inputs: students' pre-college characteristics/perceptions
Environment: programs, experiences, relationships, and other factors in the collegiate environment
Outcomes: students' characteristics after exposure to the college environment
Conceptual Framework is drawn from Astin’s 2001 inputs-environments-outcomes (I-E-O) college impact model. Designed to answer the question as to whether or not students grow or change differently under varying environmental conditions. The model

8. BACKGROUND / IMPETUS A Convergence of Assessments & Data…
Multi-institutional Study of Leadership Findings
UNCG African American respondents indicated a statistically significant higher mean score than White respondents on the outcome Change variable associated with the Social Change Model of Leadership Development.
UNCG Retention Data
50% of UNCG African American male college juniors “step out” before graduation and do not return within three years.
National Retention Data
Nationally, only 36% of all male African-Americans graduate (Lapchick, 2006).
Lapchick, I. (2006). Significant Progress for African-American Students. Orlando: The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida.

9. ASSESSMENT COLLABORATION
To support today’s learning outcomes, the focus of education must shift from information transfer to identity development (transformation).
…Such an approach calls for the overall establishment of vibrant educational partnerships and shared responsibility for achieving defined student learning outcomes.
American College Personnel Association and National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (2004). Learning reconsidered: A campus wide focus on the student experience. Washington, DC: authors. Retrieved November 8, 2006 from and

10. ASSESSMENT COLLABORATION
Systematic process for collecting, reviewing, and using evidence/data for the purposes of overall improvement and enhancing student learning; is not static or one-time.
“How do we know that we are doing what we say we are doing?”
“How well are we doing what we say we are doing?”

11. ASSESSMENT COLLABORATION
Academic Context
Social Context
Institutional Context
Behavior
Meaning Making
Cognition/Emotion
Student
Integrated Outcomes
Construction of Knowledge, Meaning, & Self in Society
American College Personnel Association and National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (2004). Learning reconsidered: A campus wide focus on the student experience. Washington, DC: authors. Retrieved November 8, 2006 from and

12. OUR ASSESSMENT
The purpose of this two-phase sequential mixed methods study:
Obtain statistical, quantitative results on a random sample of African American college men’s experiences with social change to determine if UNCG African American men and women equally develop statistically significant higher levels of change constructs.
In addition, the first phase accounted for possible covariates such as on-campus involvement, on-campus leadership, off-campus involvement, and off-campus leadership.
(2) Follow up with a few purposefully selected individuals to probe or explore statistically significant experiences particularly those dealing with social change.

13. OUR ASSESSMENT
A statistically significant interaction between ethnicity and gender in MANOVA (all at the Pr > F <.0001 with Infty F Value) means the extent to which there are differences actually depends on gender.
Contrary to Dugan (2006) who reports generally higher female change efficacy across all ethnicities, descriptive statistics for this MANOVA indicate higher mean scores on the variable of Change for African American and Caucasian men than their female counterparts.
African American Males =4.01 Caucasian Males =3.80
African American Females =3.87 Caucasian Females =3.75
Follow-up ANOVAs show that change variables of influence the interaction at statistically significant levels (.00).
Dugan, J. P. (2006). Explorations using the social change model: Leadership development among college men and women. Journal of College Student Development 47(2), pp

14. OUR ASSESSMENT
Given…
Interaction between ethnicity and gender
Descriptive statistics indicating higher means for men
Significant ANOVA follow-ups for the change variable
One might conclude that change efficacy is a viable starting point for facilitating enrollment management and leadership education and development for African American men at UNCG.

15. OUR ASSESSMENT
Furthermore, according to the MANCOVA, the covariates On-Campus Involvement, On-Campus Leadership, Off-Campus Involvement , and Off-Campus Leadership all make a significant difference (Wilks’ Lambda and F Value Infty, Pr > F <.0001) towards these ends.
In other words, on- and off-campus involvement and leadership opportunities, especially those addressing change efficacy, promise attraction and relevance for African American men.
A variety of the eight Socially Responsible Leadership Scales, most notably citizenship (for all covariates) and secondly collaboration and common purpose (for three of four covariates) are significant for the involvement / environmental covariates.

16. OUR ASSESSMENT
2. Through follow-up narrative analysis, UNCG African American college men credit peer-mentor support with
Helping overcome previous challenges with masculine stereotypes,
Search for self definition,
Desire more opportunities.
Subsequently, informants directly and indirectly reflect interdependent meanings of socially responsible leadership on their persistence at UNCG.
Perhaps the greatest discovery and emphasis of the informant’s insights lie in how activism and focus must be informed by racial and ethnic reflection.

17. OUR ASSESSMENT
Peer mentors are largely credited with overcoming previous challenges with masculine stereotypes, obtaining economic and social capital, mediating majority-minority concerns, and building academic capacity.
The following sample domains with numerical codes illustrate how Spradley’s (1980) semantic structural analysis may substantiate a conceptual framework and guide assessment.
Means – End: Finding and following a peer mentor as a means to [1]
Discern masculinity – (“I realized asking for help…”) [1-1]
Obtain economic capital – (“Showed how to eat for $1.50”) [1-2]
Obtain social capital – (“I became a walking bill board for myself”) [1-3]
Mediate majority-minority concerns – (“I am starting to know people”) [1-4]
Build academic capacity – (“how to party Saturday, study Sunday”) [1-5]

18. OUR ASSESSMENT
Taxonomic analysis engages a search for relationships among domains and terms.
The following domains and terms appear inherent in each of the peer impacted ends.
Domain Terms (and examples) students attribute to each domain
Challenge – Adversity, Bureaucracy, Climate (“don’t want to be a statistic”)
Support – Formal/Informal, Proactive/Responsive (“check-in”, “advise”, “answer”)
Search – Indifference to Dissatisfaction to Efficacy (“spark questions”)
Definition – Identity & Gaps (“this is who I am, who I want to be”)
Opportunity – Co-Curricular (“with positive African American”)
Reflection – Cultural, Personal Meaning (“cultural significance”)
Interdependence – Social Responsibility (“solidarity with other”)
Activism – Proactive & Reactive Cultural Stance (“responsibility”, “just asking”)
Focus – Immediate vs. Future Relationships (“about interaction”, “when retire”)

19. IMPLICATIONS
Change efficacy (followed by citizenship) appears to be the most desired learning outcome for African American college men, more than any other college outcome and for more than any other student demographic, studied here.
These findings imply educators should actively engage our African American college men in conversations about and opportunities to impact change within their communities and organizations, particularly for and with other African American college men.

20. IMPLICATIONS
As Proposition takes hold, potentially exclusive campus programming from Black Student Visitation Day to Women In Science and Engineering (WISE) are being reviewed across the country (Citizens Research Council, 2006).
Such political movements jeopardize the empowerment, mentoring, and programs our African American men say that they need most.
By presenting findings here, we aim to bring our students’ call for increasing not “rethinking” programs for African American men to the attention of colleagues and policy makers.
Citizens Research Council (September 2006). Proposal Michigan Civil Rights Initiative. CRC Memorandum 1082, Livonia, Michigan: Author. Retrieved April 1, 2007 from

21. IMPLICATIONS Discussion:
How do we achieve and execute cross institutional responsibility for learning and assessment, particularly for targeted populations in the fallout of affirmative action cases (Grutter v. Bollinger, 2003; Gratz v. Bollinger, 2003)?
Grutter v. Bollinger, No (6th Cir. June 23, 2003). Retrieved July 15, 2006, from
Gratz et. al., v. Bollinger, et al., No (6th Cir., Decided June 23, 2003). Retrieved July 15, 2006, from

22. IMPLICATIONS Some examples of our response…
SVL Research Methodology Classes
Urban Architecture & Interior Renewal
Community IMPACT Project
Others? (Audience Participation!)

23. IMPLICATIONS Basic Elements of Assessment Mission Goals Objectives
Evaluation Methods/Assessment Tools
Implementation of Assessment
Results
Recommendations/Use of Results

24. IMPLICATIONS Questions to ask when writing outcomes
Why are you assessing?
Is it measurable?
Is it useful and meaningful?
How will it be measured?
If you can answer these questions, then chances are you have written a good outcome
Bresciani, M., Zelna, C. L. & Anderson, J. A. (2004). Assessing student learning and development: A handbook for practitioners. Washington DC: National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA).

25. SUMMARY Are we doing what we say we are doing? Together we matter.
What are you trying to achieve?
How will you know if you are successful?
How successful were you?
What do you do with the results?
Together we matter.
• Men (and women) change.
PS: Remember to explore the uniqueness of your own institution (like we did!)
© Dr. Erin Bentrim-Tapio
Dr. Cathy Hamilton
Mr. Stan Gajda