Faculty and administrators are more likely to take responsibility for student learning and development if they believe that assessment data represent their students and identify specific actions for improvement. An earlier study found that NSSE scalelets provide dependable metrics for assessing student engagement at the university, college, and department levels. Building on the earlier study, the findings of the current research indicate that the NSSE scalelets have greater explanatory power and provide richer detail than the NSSE benchmarks. Assessment has become an integral part of American higher education, and surveys of constituents are an important element in assessment efforts. The National Center for Postsecondary Improvement (NCPI) reported that 96 % of the 1400 institutions responding to its survey had implemented some form of assessment, and 75 % used surveys in their assessment efforts (Peterson, Einarson, Augustine, & Vaughan, 1999). Although assessment is widespread, examples of assessment data, including survey results, being used to effect institutional change are relatively rare (Banta, 2002; Ewell, 2002; Peterson et al.). Pike (2002, p. 147) concluded “there is no greater problem in assessment than our inability to influence decision making with assessment results.” A major barrier to using survey data for improvement is that many campus decision makers, particularly deans and department heads, find the results of institutional surveys to be too general (Kuh, Gonyea, & Rodriguez, 2002). That is, the results do not suggest specific courses of action. Experience indicates that faculty and administrators are more likely to take responsibility for student learning and development if they believe that assessment data represent their students and identify specific actions for improvement. Case studies of effective use of survey results reveal that surveys lead to improvement when the data are broken down or disaggregated at the college or department level and focus on a few highly related items that suggest specific actions

After reviewing the state of student retention research and practice, past and present, the author looks to the future and identifies three areas of research and practice that call for further exploration. These concern issues of institutional action, program implementation, and the continuing challenge of promoting the success of low-income students.

The Carnegie classification system has served as a framework for research on colleges and universities for more than 30 years. Today, the system’s developers are exploring criteria that more effectively differentiate among institutions. One approach being considered is classifying institutions based on students ’ educational experiences. This study explored whether it is possible to create a typology of institutions based on students ’ experiences. Results indicated that such a typology could be created, and the types were somewhat independent of institutional mission (i.e., Carnegie classification). KEY WORDS: student engagement; involvement; Carnegie classification; typology;

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This study compared the experiences of women attending women’s colleges with those of women attending coeducational institutions. Analyses of data from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) from random samples of female first-year and senior students from 26 women’s colleges and 264 other four-year institutions were conducted. Women at single-sex institutions were more engaged in effective educational practices and reported higher levels of feelings of support and greater gains in college. With regard to the effect of different backgrounds on college experiences, transfer students at women’s colleges were as engaged or more engaged than students who start at and graduate from the same school, and students of color tended to be less engaged than White students. Are women’s colleges as rich with educational opportunity for their students as their proponents claim? Or, is the quality of women’s educational experience across institutional types equivalent now that women outnumber and typically outperform men on coeducational campuses? Few question the valuable role that women’s colleges played in the history of American higher education. From its beginnings as an enterprise established by men for men, to early experiments in coeducation marked by isolating women and limiting their participation in university life (Miller-Bernal, 2000; Nidiffer, 2001; Solomon, 1985), women were an afterthought. Given this historical legacy, it is remarkable that today women outnumber and in many respects perform better than their male counterparts. In fact, they have comprised the majority of undergraduates for more than 2 decades (National Center for Education Statistics, 2006). Moreover, women are more likely than their male peers to hold high educational aspirations, to enroll in college, and to persist to degree

This study examines the relationships between student engagement in the first year of college and three desirable outcomes of undergraduate education. Student engagement is a domain of constructs that measures both the time and energy students devote to educationally purposeful activities and how students perceive different facets of the institutional environment that facilitate and support their learning. The three outcomes represent a portion of what is meant by success in the first year experience, namely obtaining good grades, acquiring intellectual skills that are important for future academic achievement and success in the professional world, and gaining knowledge of a general nature in step with the commonly embraced liberal arts mission of the general curriculum. The study is a secondary analysis of existing data utilizing two primary data sources: student responses to the fourth edition of the College Student Experiences Questionnaire and student records maintained by Indiana University Bloomington. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to model the complex relationships between the students ’ precollege characteristics, engagement behaviors and perceptions, and the outcome variables. The findings point to four conclusions: (a) different forms of engagement are precursors to different outcomes, (b) different forms of engagement interact to contribute to desired outcomes, (c) high expectations coupled with adequate support are requisite conditions for learning and development in the first college year, and (d) grades do not necessarily represent how much students believe they have learned. Implications for research, policy and practice are also offered. 2 The Relationship between Student Engagement and Selected Desirable Outcomes

This paper examines the engagement patterns of male and female undergraduates in different types of baccalaureate-granting institutions. Descriptive statistics and hierarchical linear modeling show that on balance, undergraduate women participate more frequently than their male counterparts in educationally purposeful activities. Male first-year and senior students devote less time and effort to academic challenge tasks, such as working hard to meet expectations and spending time studying; senior males also participated less often in active and collaborative learning activities. Institutional type is unrelated to gender differences in engagement. The results point to areas where institutions could focus efforts to enhance the quality of the undergraduate experience for all students. 2 The Relationship between Gender and Student Engagement in College For more than a quarter century, undergraduate women have outnumbered their male counterparts at U.S. colleges and universities (U.S. Department of Education, 2001; Peter & Horn, 2005). Although the number of bachelor’s degrees awarded to men has increased during this period (King, 2006), undergraduate enrollment at most baccalaureate-granting institutions is

This study examines the nature and value of undergraduate students’ experiences with the academic library. The data represent responses from more than 300,000 students between 1984 and 2002 to the College Student Experiences Questionnaire. Although library use did not appear to make independent contributions to desirable outcomes of college, such experiences were related to important educationally valuable activities. Because the emphasis a campus places on information literacy is a strong predictor of students becoming information literate, librarians should redouble their collaborative efforts to promote the value of information literacy and help create opportunities for students to evaluate the quality of the information they obtain. t is hard to imagine a college without a library. A required stop on campus tours, the library is the physical manifestation

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