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…

The National Study of Student Learning indicated that membership in Greek organizations can have negative effects on students' cognitive development, particularly during freshman year. In contrast, this study at a midwestern research university found Greek students had higher levels of involvement and gains in general abilities than non-Greek…

Examines students' learning and intellectual development while living in formal learning communities in residence halls. Students in residential learning communities had significantly higher levels of involvement, interaction, and gains in learning and intellectual development than did students in traditional residence halls. Participation in…

Although institutional characteristics are assumed to influence student learning and intellectual development, this link has not been empirically confirmed. This study examined whether institutional mission, represented by Carnegie classification, is related to student learning and development. Participants were a stratified random sample of 1,500…

A study at the University of Tennessee Knoxville used mixed-effect structural equation models incorporating latent variables as an alternative to conventional methods of analyzing college students' (n=722) first-year-to-senior academic gains. Results indicate, contrary to previous analysis, that coursework and student characteristics interact to…

This study examined patterns of coursework and levels of involvement of 1,099 adult students to evaluate whether some key factors commonly used to predict undergraduate students' academic performance are appropriate for use with this population. Results suggest traditional models are inappropriate for this large and growing proportion of the…

A study compared three methods for measuring college student growth and development in the course of a college education: (1) gain scores; (2) residual scores; and (3) repeated measures. Analyses indicated that all three are seriously flawed, although repeated measures offer the greatest potential for adequately representing student change.…

Reports psychometric data supporting the development of statewide, norm-referenced guidance competency self-efficacy scales for middle and high school students. Results indicate that the scales provide useful data, meaning that they could be used to assess the impact of guidance curriculum activities on student development. (RJM)

This study attempted to validate the use of academic growth and development items from Tennessee alumni surveys as measures of program quality and effectiveness at the University of Tennessee (UTK), Knoxville. The argument is made that it is essential that the instruments used to assess students educational outcomes be valid measures of the goals…

Two competing models of the relationship between college graduates' perceived learning and satisfaction with the college experience are examined, one representing a true effect and one treating the relationship as an artifact of the halo effect. It is recommended that researchers be cautious in interpreting self-reports of learning and…

Analysis of data on freshman-to-senior developmental gains in 722 University of Tennessee-Knoxville students provides evidence of the advantages of structural equation modeling with latent variables and suggests that the group differences identified by traditional analysis of variance and covariance techniques may be an artifact of measurement…

A study evaluated the feasibility of using students' self-reports of academic development and college experiences as substitutes for standardized test scores (proxies) or policy indicators. Results suggested self-reports should be used with care as proxies for a national test but may be used as policy indicators for improvement of undergraduate…