NSSE Foundations: An Introduction to the National Survey of Student Engagement

Regional Users’ Workshop

October 6-7, 2005

Agenda

NSSE: What is it?

History of NSSE

NSSE Today

Timeline and Administration

Deliverables

Questions

What is NSSE?

An annual snapshot of student participation in programs and activities that institutions provide for their learning and personal development.

The results will provide an estimate of how undergraduates spend their time and what they gain from attending college.

National Survey of Student Engagement items represent empirically confirmed ‘good practices’; they reflect behaviors associated with desired outcomes of college.

The time and energy students devote to educationally purposeful activities is the single best predictor of their learning and personal development.

History of NSSE

1998 Pew Charitable Trust

Better ways to look at schools than US News? Non-Student Measures of Success (i.e.

endowment, admit rates, external opinions)

Can we look at undergraduate quality? Asking students about their experiences

Survey is conceptually based on the CSEQ, developed by Robert Pace (and still a survey in the NSSE family)

History of NSSE

Goals of the designers of the Survey Instrument Consist principally of items that are known to be related to

important college outcomes.

Be administered to students at both public and private four-year colleges and universities.

Be administered to freshman- and senior-level students who

have attended the institution for at least two terms. Be administered to adequate samples at participating

institutions.

Be flexible.

Be administered by a credible third-party survey organization.

History of NSSE

1999: 2 Pilots (Fall and Spring) were conducted and meetings were held with education leaders, administrators, and faculty

Early concerns by stakeholders a concern that the NSSE might create pressure to

homogenize curricular practices, the need to clarify the NSSE’s purpose and to develop

safeguards against the misuse of survey results, the recognition that institutions might try to

manipulate the results—especially if the survey is used in rankings or other "high-stakes" settings, and

a concern that The College Student Report is really a "reputation/selectivity" measure in another guise.

History of NSSE

0100200300400500600

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005

Year

Nu

mb

er

of

Sc

ho

ols

NSSE Today

The “NSSElings”

The Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (2003)

The Beginning College Survey of Student Engagement (2004)

Additional Surveys

The Law Student Survey of Student Engagement

The College Student Experiences Questionnaire

The College Student Expectations Questionnaire

The High School Survey of Student Engagement*

The Community College Survey of Student Engagement*

*Not administered by the Center for Postsecondary Research

NSSE Today

Additional Research Projects Building Engagement and Attainment in Minority

Students (BEAMS) Documenting Effective Educational Practices (DEEP) Connecting the Dots, American Democracy Project,

Flashlight Group, State Higher Ed Systems Chiropractic School Survey

Additional Resources Accreditation Toolkits Regional Workshops Pocket Guides

NSSE Today

NSSE Around the World

Canadian, French Canadian, Spanish Versions

Administered in Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Italy

In negotiations with more countries

Administered to over 950 different institutions in all 50 states

Institutional Demographics of participants mirror those of the Nation

Core Surveys: NSSE

Research based on effective educational practices

Designed and tested for high validity and reliability

Relatively stable over time

High credibility of self-reported data

Over 200,000 students at 500 institutions annually

Core Surveys: FSSE

Designed to parallel NSSE undergraduate survey

Faculty perceptions of student engagement

Importance faculty place on various areas of learning and development

Nature and frequency of faculty-student interactions

How faculty members organize class time

Catalyst for productive discussions related to teaching and learning

To date more than 34,000 faculty members at 276 four-year institutions

Core Surveys: BCSSE

In 2nd Pilot Stage (70 Institutions)

Provides information for institutions about incoming students

HS engagement

College expectations

What they value from their new institutions

Links to NSSE items

Will have it’s first full administration in 2006

Timelines

May-July

NSSE/FSSE Registration

BCSSE Administration

August

NSSE Institutional Report Sent

BCSSE Combined Report Sent

September

NSSE/FSSE Registration Closes

BCSSE Reports Sent Population Institutional Student Advising

October

NSSE/FSSE Population files /

Materials due Annual Reports Sent

BCCSE Linked Population files due

November-December

NSSE/FSSE Consortia, Oversample Decisions Due

January-April

NSSE/FSSE Administration

BCSSE Registration

NSSE Administration

Administration Mode

Paper: We need accurate addresses, letterhead, signatures

Web+: 4x the paper sample, we need emails and addresses

Web: 5x the paper sample, we need emails

NSSE Administration

Sample Size

Numbers are based on mode and school size

Oversampling can increase sample size or ensure adequate representation of populations of interest

NSSE Administration

Special Groups Consortia

Schools like you Additional Questions

Selected Peers Schools like you

Special Populations Identified in Pop file

Special Analysis Post Hoc Analysis

Experimental Items Web schools only

2005 Consortia American Democracy Project Associated New American Colleges AAUDE California State University Canadian Catholic Colleges & Universities Council for Christian Colleges &

Universities Council of Independent colleges Jesuit Universities Kentucky Council on Postsecondary

Education Private Liberal Arts Universities Urban Universities Women's Colleges State Systems

North Dakota University System Texas A&M System University of Hawaii System University System of Georgia University of Texas System

NSSE Administration

How often? Every Year: Gives you a snapshot of each class

Every Three Years: Gives you a picture of a cohort at the beginning and the end of their college experiences

Every Five Years: Works well with most accreditation cycles (Accreditation and Interim Reports)

Other factors Establishing a baseline Costs (Using all core surveys) Additional Surveys/Sources of Data Time to take absorb results, make changes

NSSE Administration

Things that we need from you

Population File All First-Year and Senior Students Accurate Addresses and/or emails

Letterhead and Signature File (Paper Schools only)

Primary Contact: To answer day to day questions

Administration Plan (incentives, advertising) and broad buy-in

NSSE Deliverables Institutional Report (August)

Institutional data

Respondent characteristics (Demographic Information)

Item averages and response percentages (Means and Frequencies)

First-year students and seniors

Comparisons by consortium, Carnegie, and national

Additional Data (If Applicable)

Experimental items FSSE Report BCSSE Combined Report

NSSE Institute Information Using NSSE Data Accreditation toolkit

NSSE Deliverables

Benchmark Report (October)

1) Level of Academic Challenge

2) Active and Collaborative Learning

3) Student-Faculty Interaction

4) Enriching Educational Experiences

5) Supportive Campus Environment

NSSE Deliverables

You become part of the NSSE Family with your participation

Consulting

Help with making sense of Data

Presentation Assistance

Technical Questions

Updates, Briefs, New information

Special Conference Workshops (Meeting other users)

Feedback for NSSE

NSSE: Only one step

Step #1: Survey Data

• Survey Students• Review Results• Develop Preliminary

List of Strengths and Opportunities for Improvement

Step #2: Feedback

• Share results with Faculty, Administrators & Students

• Identify Themes & Priorities

• Design Action Plan

Step #2: Feedback

• Share results with Faculty, Administrators & Students

• Identify Themes & Priorities

• Design Action PlanStep #3: Action Plan

• Finalize Plan• Share Plan with

Appropriate Groups• Link to Strategic

Plan• Implement Action

Step #4: Follow-up

• Use Results as Benchmarks to Monitor Progress

• Faculty & Student Focus Groups

Step #4: Follow-up

• Use Results as Benchmarks to Monitor Progress

• Faculty & Student Focus Groups

Questions

What more would you like to know?

Thank you for attending.

www.iub.edu/~nsse