NSSE and the First-Year Experience at CSU, Chico Dennis Rothermel Vice Provost for Academic Affairs...

NSSE and the First-Year Experience at CSU, Chico

Dennis Rothermel

Vice Provost for Academic Affairs and Dean of Undergraduate

Education

Our Vision

California State University, Chico sees its unique residential situation as an opportunity to create an intensive, high quality learning environment. We are able to create a vital and collaborative community of active and involved students.

Our Mission

Our first priority is the education of our students by creating and maintaining selected quality undergraduate and graduate programs. We will be known for the purposeful integration of liberal and applied learning that provides our students with the knowledge, skills, and moral and intellectual virtues that form the basis for life-long learning and contribution.

Strategic Plan for the Future, Item #1

• Believing in the primacy of student learning, we will continue to develop high quality learning environments both in and outside of the classroom. With one of the highest graduation rates in the CSU system, our residential campus has, for many years, attracted and retained students who report high levels of satisfaction with the quality of life they can create while they are students. Opportunities for intellectual, social, emotional, spiritual, and physical growth abound, not only for students, but also for faculty, staff, and the community. Our commitment to education as a way of life, both in and outside of the classroom, and our commitment to developing “systems of learning assessment that enable students to demonstrate learning in both courses and programs” (The Cornerstones Report, Principle 1b, page 6) remains our highest priorities.

What Really Matters in College: Engagement

The research is unequivocal: students who are actively involved in both academic and out-of-class activities gain more from the college experience than those who are not so involved

Pascarella & Terenzini,Pascarella & Terenzini, How College Affects StudentsHow College Affects Students

Another word: Involvement…

Learning, academic performance, and retention are positively associated with academic involvement, involvement with faculty, and involvement with student peer groups.

Astin, What Matters in College

What is NSSE?(pronounced “nessie”)

• National Survey of Student Engagement

• Annual survey that assesses how well first-year and senior students engage in educational practices associated with high levels of learning and development

• 81 different items on the survey, each of which represents a body of research on engagement and learning outcomes

• 206,844 first-year and senior students surveyed nationwide, spring 2002

• NSSE 2002 was first time CSU, Chico participated

• 500 first-year students

• 800 seniors

• Repeat participation in spring 2004, and also the faculty version of the survey

Good Educational Practices

• Student-faculty contact

• Active learning

• Prompt feedback

• Time on task

• High expectations

• Cooperation among students

• Respect for diverse talents and ways of learning

“Seven principles of good practice in undergraduate education” (Chickering and Gamson, 1987)

NSSE Demographic Data

• Questions about age, sex, ethnicity, whether parents are college graduates, etc.

• On some demographic measures the Chico student body is significantly different from the CSU as a whole, and especially in regard to the first-year class.

Age

First-year students – 19 years old or younger

• Chico: 98.6%• CSU:88.3%• Master’s: 85.1%• National: 89.8%

Seniors – 23 years old or younger

• Chico: 45.7%• CSU:37.9%• Master’s: 57.7%• National: 67.1%

Enrolled full-time

First-year Seniors Chico 96.5% 84.5% CSU 94.0% 79.2% Master’s 91.7% 77.9% National 94.6% 82.4%

Began college at this institution


Residence

First-year Seniors

Chico CSU Chico CSU

On-campus 67.7% 21.1% 0.7% 2.1%

Walking distance 13.3% 9.3% 53.9% 10.4%

Driving distance 19.0% 69.1% 44.9%87.2%

Fraternity or Sorority 0.0% 0.4% 0.5% 0.3%

Members of fraternity or sorority


Either or both parents college graduates

First-year Seniors

Chico 55.1% 42.4%

CSU 42.7% 40.6%

Master’s 52.7% 48.7%

National 59.7% 55.3%

Reported ethnic status as white


International students


Most grades have been A, A-, B+


Conclusions from this data• The first-year class at CSU, Chico is uniformly homogenous, and

significantly different from CSU and national norms in this regard: our first-year students come to college directly out of high school, and enroll full-time.

• Dramatically different from the CSU norm, our first-year students are predominantly white, and live on or very near campus.

• More so than the CSU norm, and more so than CSU, Chico seniors, the parents of our first-year students are college graduates.

• There are a few more CSU, Chico first-year students in fraternities and sororities than the CSU norm, and there are slightly fewer international students.

• Although CSU, Chico persistence and graduation rates have been perennially among the highest in the CSU system, significantly fewer of our first-year students report doing well or very well in their course work than is the norm for the CSU as a whole or for CSU, Chico seniors.

NSSE Means Summary Report

• “In the Means Summary Report an asterisk (*) marks those items where you students’ responses differ at a statistically significant level from students at schools in your respective comparison group(s)….”

• “The more asterisks reported for a particular item indicate a smaller probability that the difference noted is due to chance….”

– NSSE 2002 Overview, p. 13

NSSE Means Summary Report

• “The effect size represents the magnitude of the discrepancy in the student or institutional behavior represented by the item.”

• “When the effect size is large, or a pattern of moderate effect sizes exists, it’s likely that the quality of the student experience is appreciably different….”

• “Here are some general guidelines for determining the relative importance of a Cohen’s d effect size:

.20 is a small effect

.50 is a medium effect

.80 is a large effect”

– NSSE 2002 Overview, p. 13

NSSE Mean Comparisons

Important questions to ask about any of the 81 items in the Means Comparisons report:– How do responses to this question provide an indicator

of engagement?• Can one intuitively retrace the research underlying this

question?

– Putting this item information into context, can we readily explain Chico students’ responses in terms of a residential campus, etc.?

– What likely explanatory hypotheses come to mind?• How to test those hypotheses?

First-year Experience

• Using the CSU comparison, there are 35 different items for which – there is positive significant difference for Chico

seniors but negative or no significant difference for Chico first-year students,

– or no significant difference for Chico seniors but negative significant difference for Chico first-year students.

• 3 items where the reverse is true.

First-Year Experience

• Items for which Chico senior responses were significantly higher than first-year students, using the CSU consortium responses as a frame of reference:– Voting, community service, supportive institutional environment, working

with others, relationships with students, relationships with faculty, acquiring work skills, asking questions in class, making a class presentation, writing skills, speaking skills, quantitative analysis, computer skills, learning community experiences, preparedness for class, synthesizing ideas, discussed grades with an instructor, talked career plans with faculty or advisor, prompt feedback, discussed readings with faculty outside of class, number of books read, internships, working for pay on campus, co-curricular participation, received academic advising, hours spent in the library, hours using a computer for class assignments

Time Usage

Item 7.a: Preparing for class (studying, reading, writing,

rehearsing, and other activities related to your academic program)

(1=0 hrs/wk, 2=1-5 hrs/wk, 3=6-10 hrs/wk, 4=11-15 hrs/wk, 5=16-20 hrs/wk, 6=21-25 hrs/wk, 7=26-30 hrs/wk, 8=more than 30 hrs/wk)

CSU, Chico CSUMean Mean Sig Effect Size

First-year: 3.71 3.63 Senior-year: 4.18 4.08

Sig: “* p<.05 ** p<.01 ***p<.001 (2-tailed).”“Effectsize=mean difference divided by comparison group standard deviation.”

Time Usage

Item 7.b:

Working for pay on campus (1=0 hrs/wk, 2=1-5 hrs/wk, 3=6-10 hrs/wk, 4=11-15 hrs/wk, 5=16-20 hrs/wk, 6=21-25

hrs/wk, 7=26-30 hrs/wk, 8=more than 30 hrs/wk)

CSU, Chico CSU

Mean Mean Sig Effect Size

First-year: 1.32 1.44 * -.10

Senior-year: 1.87 1.57 *** .21

Sig: “* p<.05 ** p<.01 ***p<.001 (2-tailed).”

“Effectsize=mean difference divided by comparison group standard deviation.”

Time Usage

Item 7.c:

Working for pay off campus (1=0 hrs/wk, 2=1-5 hrs/wk, 3=6-10 hrs/wk, 4=11-15 hrs/wk, 5=16-20 hrs/wk, 6=21-25

hrs/wk, 7=26-30 hrs/wk, 8=more than 30 hrs/wk))

CSU, Chico CSU


First-year: 1.96 3.29 *** -.53

Senior-year: 3.55 4.42 *** -.32

Sig: “* p<.05 ** p<.01 ***p<.001 (2-tailed).”


Time Usage

Item 7.d: Participating in co-curricular activities (organizations,

campus publications, student government, etc.) (1=0 hrs/wk, 2=1-5 hrs/wk, 3=6-10 hrs/wk, 4=11-15 hrs/wk, 5=16-20 hrs/wk, 6=21-25



First-year: 1.83 1.68 * .12Senior-year: 2.00 1.57 *** .39


Time Usage

Item 7.e: Relaxing and socializing (watching TV, partying,

exercising, etc.) (1=0 hrs/wk, 2=1-5 hrs/wk, 3=6-10 hrs/wk, 4=11-15 hrs/wk, 5=16-20 hrs/wk, 6=21-25



First-year: 4.48 3.91 *** .31Senior-year: 3.95 3.47 *** .30


Time Usage

Item 7.f: Providing care for dependents living with you

(parents, children, spouse, etc.) (1=0 hrs/wk, 2=1-5 hrs/wk, 3=6-10 hrs/wk, 4=11-15 hrs/wk, 5=16-20 hrs/wk, 6=21-25



First-year: 1.44 2.14 *** -.41Senior-year: 2.11 2.87 *** -.31


Time Usage

Item 7.g:

Commuting to class (1=0 hrs/wk, 2=1-5 hrs/wk, 3=6-10 hrs/wk, 4=11-15 hrs/wk, 5=16-20 hrs/wk, 6=21-25


CSU, Chico CSU


First-year: 1.97 2.32 *** -.31

Senior-year: 1.99 2.37 *** -.40

Sig: “* p<.05 ** p<.01 ***p<.001 (2-tailed).”


Comparative Time Usage for Studying, Work, Commuting, etc. for

the Average Chico vs. CSU First-Year students

Hours spent per week Chico CSU

Studying 8.8 8.5

Working on campus 1.0 1.3

Working off campus 3.0 7.2

Co-curricular 2.5 2.0

Providing care 1.3 3.3

Commuting 2.9 3.6

Total accounted for 19.5 25.9

Conclusions from this data• Chico first-year students spend 8.2 hours a week working, caring for

dependents and commuting, compared to 15.4 for their CSU counterparts.• Chico first-year students spend 12.9 hours relaxing, compared to 9.6 for

their CSU counterparts.• Chico first-year students spend 2.5 hours in co-curricular activities,

compared to 2.0 for their CSU counterparts.• Chico first-year students have more time on their hands than their CSU

counterparts, which does not increase the amount of time they spend studying.

• An ominous combination: a pattern of lower levels of engagement for Chico first-year students, combined with more unstructured time and more time devoted to relaxing and partying.

• Add to this picture: Chico first-year students come to college directly out of high school, they are uniformly young, they live on or near campus, they are enrolled full time and not working off campus, they have significantly less ethnic diversity as a group, and fewer of them have perceptions of high levels of academic achievement in their first year.

First-Year Experience

• 29% of First-year students enrolled in CourseLink Fall 2003

• 52% of Chico First-year students reported participating in a learning community in the spring 2002 NSSE responses

• Preliminary retention data study on first-year programs, 1999-2003:– Percent non-continuing for:

• CourseLink 19.77%

• UNIV 001C 18.97%

• GST 7.87%

• CourseLink & UNIV 001C 8.91%

• All others 21.34%

• Similar data, 2000-2002, for the Honors program: 9% non-continuing.

Persistence rates

• Hard to say what persistence rates mean– GST and Honors are programs with selective enrollment of students and

also for which students apply for inclusion– CourseLink and UNIV 001C are also programs which students choose

explicitly.– But these programs may also share structures that encourage higher levels

of engagement.– At least we can see that it is possible to have an influence on persistence

rates. – One can take persistence rates as symptomatic of engagement levels.– That is, if the academic experience is successful, if there is good

intellectual engagement, this will likely help prevent or overcome those aspects of the environment or experience that will work against a student making good academic progress and continuing to the second year.

Foundations of Excellence in the First College Year

“The Foundations of Excellence™ in the First College Year project was launched on September 5, 2003 with funding from The Atlantic Philanthropies and Lumina Foundation for Education.”

“Phase I (January, 2003 - August, 2003) of the project asked members of the AASCU and CIC sectors to join in the preliminary work of defining characteristics of excellence and delineating the ‘Sources and Forms of Evidence’ that might be examined to validate those characteristics.”

“We are now ready to enter Phase II, in which we will refine those characteristics—or, more precisely, those Foundational Dimensions™ statements— and use them to lay the foundation for a grand design on which the entire first year, and, by extension, the entire undergraduate experience, will rest.”

CSU, Chico is participating as an affiliate institution in Phase II of The Foundations of Excellence.

The positive NSSE results for CSU, Chico

• Very strong responses on these items, compared to CSU and nationally:

• How would you evaluate your entire educational experience at this institution?

• If you could start over again, would you go to the same institution you are now attending?

• I am pleased with my overall experience on this campus.

NSSE and the First-Year Experience at CSU, Chico Dennis Rothermel Vice Provost for Academic Affairs...

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