ERIC ED514983: Improving Undergraduate Learning: "Findings and Policy Recommendations from the SSRC-CLA Longitudinal Project"

2011·3.7 MB·English

by  ERIC

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mprovIng
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Findings and Policy Recommendations
om the SSRC-CLA Longitudinal Project
richard arum, Josipa roksa, and esther Cho
For more information, please visit http://highered.ssrc.org Social Science Research Council
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CKNoWLEdgEMENTS
This research project is organized by site-based data collection and staff
the Social Science Research Council at colleges and universities who
(SSRC) as part of its collaborative supported the fieldwork required for
partnership with the Pathways to this project, as well as to the students
College Network. It was made who volunteered and consented to
possible by generous support participate in this research study.
from the Lumina Foundation for The researchers are also appreciative
Education, the Ford Foundation, the of input from the project’s advisory
Carnegie Corporation of New York, board: Pedro Reyes, professor
and the Teagle Foundation, as well and associate vice chancellor for
as a 2007–08 Fulbright New academic planning and assessment,
Century Scholar “Higher Education University of Texas; Myra Burnett,
in the 21st Century: Access and vice provost and associate professor
Equity” award. of psychology, Spelman College;
William (Bill) Trent, professor of
We are grateful to Roger Benjamin, educational policy studies, University
Alex Nemeth, Heather Kugelmass, of Illinois; and Meredith Phillips,
Marc Chun, Esther Hong, James associate professor of public
Padilla, and Stephen Klein at the policy and sociology, University
Council for Aid to Education for of California at Los Angeles.
technical collaboration in data Support from the Pathways to
collection that made this research College Network and the Institute
possible. Moreover, we would like for Higher Education Policy was
to express our deep gratitude to provided by Cheryl Blanco, Anne
the administrators who coordinated Bowles, Ann Coles, Michelle Cooper,
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Alisa Cunningham, Lorelle Espinosa, coordinating the event, and to the
and Alma Peterson. SSRC program following individuals for providing
coordinators for this project were critical feedback on the earlier draft:
Kim Pereira, Jeannie Kim, and Susan Albertine, Charles Blaich,
Esther Cho. Additional assistance Anne Bowles, Art Coleman,
was provided at the SSRC by Alisa Cunningham, Ashley Finley,
Maria diaz, Carmin galts, Sujung Tina gridiron Smith, Hal Hartley,
Kang, Julie Kellogg, Abby Larson, Charlie Lenth, david Longanecker,
Katherine Long, Jaclyn Rosamilia, Alexander McCormick,
and Nicky Stephenson. Melissa Margaret Miller, david Paris,
Velez served as a primary research Richard Riley, david Shulenburger,
assistant for the statistical analysis. and Edward Smith.
The project as a whole benefited While this research would not
from comments and suggestions have been possible without the
received during presentations in contributions from the individuals
diverse settings. The policy report and institutions identified above,
in particular was greatly improved Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa
by insightful discussions at the are fully responsible for all findings
SSRC-CLA Policy Report Meeting, presented, claims made, and
held in Washington, d.C. in opinions expressed in this report.
September 2010. We are grateful
to EducationCounsel for providing Address correspondence to
meeting space, the Institute [email protected].
for Higher Education Policy for
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UTHoR IoS
Richard Arumis professor of Josipa Roksais assistant professor of
Sociology and Education at New York Sociology at the University of Virginia
University and Program director of and has a courtesy appointment in the
Education Research at the Social Curry School of Education. She is
T
Science Research Council (SSRC). also a Faculty Affiliate at the Center ABLE oF
He authored Judging School Discipline: for Advanced Study of Teaching and
C
e Crisis of Moral Authority(Harvard Learning at the University of Virginia oNTENTS
University Press, 2003) and co-directed and a Fellow of the National Forum
with Adam gamoran and Yossi Shavit on the Future of Liberal Education.
a comparative project on expansion,
differentiation, and access to higher Esther Chois program coordinator for
education in 15 countries, published the Education Research Program of
as Stratification in Higher Education: the Social Science Research Council.
A Comparative Study(Stanford Before joining SSRC she worked
University Press, 2007). Arum as a consultant for the Centre for INTRODUCTION 1
also successfully led recent efforts Educational Research and Innovation
LIMITEDACADEMICENGAGEMENT
to organize educational stakeholders at the organisation for Economic ANDLEARNINGOUTCOMES 2
in New York City to create the Co-operation and development.
Research Alliance for New York She received her B.A. from ACADEMICFACTORS
City Schools (an entity loosely duke University and Ed.M. from ASSOCIATEDWITHLEARNING 6
modeled after the Consortium on the Harvard graduate School
VARIATIONACROSS
Chicago School Research, focused of Education.
INSTITUTIONSANDINDIVIDUALS 8
on on-going evaluation and
assessment research to support POLICYRECOMMENDATIONS 12
public school improvement efforts).
METHODOLOGICALAPPENDIX 16
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I
NTRodUCTIoN
Politicians, policymakers, and private complex reasoning, and written disturbing conditions and documented
foundations have united in recent years communication. But what if sending the extent to which many students
around achieving a common goal: students to college did not necessarily show little if any growth over the
college for all. As President Barack ensure that much was learned once first two years of college in their
obama pledged in his first speech to there? What if at the beginning of ability to perform tasks requiring
a joint session of Congress in February the 21st century many colleges and critical thinking, complex reasoning,
2009: “We will provide the support universities were not focused primarily and written communication as
necessary for you to complete college on undergraduate learning, but instead measured by the Collegiate Learning
and meet a new goal: by 2020, America had become distracted by other Assessment (CLA; for more
will once again have the highest institutional functions and goals? information on the CLA see the
proportion of college graduates in Methodological Appendix). This
the world.” At the beginning of the We have systematically investigated report extends findings reported in
21st century, increasing and ensuring the state of undergraduate learning our recent book to document the
individual access to college presents in contemporary colleges and rate of growth on the CLA for the
itself not just as a moral imperative, but universities. Following several thousand full four years of college, academic
an economic necessity. As employment traditional-age students as they enrolled practices associated with improved
opportunities in manufacturing continue in coursework from Fall 2005 to Spring student performance, as well as
to grow scarcer in the United States, 2009, across a wide range of four-year differences across individuals and
both individual and national global colleges and universities, we found a set institutions in the level of learning.
economic competitiveness requires of conditions suggesting that something Moreover, we present recommenda-
mastery of what many commentators indeed is seriously amiss in U.S. higher tions for policymakers, institutions,
have termed “21st century skills.” education. In Academically Adri: and practitioners to consider for
These skills, generally thought uniformly Limited Learning on College Campuses improving undergraduate learning
taught at U.S. colleges and universities, (University of Chicago Press, 2011), at U.S. colleges and universities.
are defined as including critical thinking, we have described some of these
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While higher education is expected Large numbers of students experienced neither of those course
to accomplish many tasks, existing report that they enroll in courses requirements in a typical semester.
organizational cultures and that do not require either substantial over their entire four years of
practices too often do not prioritize writing or reading assignments. college coursework, 50 percent of
undergraduate learning. Large In a typical semester, 32 percent students reported that they had taken
numbers of college students report did not take any courses with more five or fewer courses that required
that they experience only limited than 40 pages of reading per week 20 pages of writing over the course
academic demands and invest only and 50 percent did not take a single of the semester, and 20 percent of
limited effort in their academic course in which they wrote more students reported that they had taken
endeavors. Findings from our than 20 pages over the course of five or fewer courses that required
study document that: the semester. A quarter of students 40 pages of reading per week.
Figure 1. Reading and writing course requirements
100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
Course with Course with Both course Neither course
more than 20 more than 40 requirements requirement
pages of writing pages of reading
per week
Note: Based on Spring 2007 Survey
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on average, students in a typical less than one-fifth (16 percent) of their week studying alone. More troubling
semester spend only between 12 and 14 time each week on academic pursuits. still, 35 percent of students at four-year
hours per week studying (approximately colleges report that they spend five or
50 percent less time than full-time When studying, students attending fewer hours per week studying alone.
college students did a few decades ago, four-year colleges on average spend
according to recent research by labor about one-third of their time studying Students interact with their
economists Phillip Babcock and Mindy with peers in social settings that are not professors outside college classrooms
Marks published in the Review of generally conducive to learning. rarely (on average only monthly), if
Economics and Statistics). Combining Excluding studying with peers from our ever (9 percent of students never meet
the hours spent studying with the hours calculations, college students on average with faculty outside the classroom
spent in classes and labs, students spend spend only between 8 and 9 hours per in a typical semester).
Figure 2. Student time use
9% Attending class/lab
7%
Studying
9% Working, volunteering,
51% Greek and other clubs
Sleeping (estimated)
24%
Socializing, recreating,
and other
Note: Based on Spring 2007 survey.
Percentages are based on 168 hours - i.e., full seven-day week.
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C
oNTINUEd
our findings on limited collegiate given the limited academic engage-
academic investment and curricular ment shown by many students, it is
demands replicate findings identified not surprising that we find that gains
by the National Survey of Student in student performance are disturbingly
Engagement (NSSE), which over the low. We find in our study that on
past decade has surveyed more than average, gains in critical thinking,
2 million students at more than 1,000 complex reasoning, and writing
colleges and universities. Among skills (i.e., general collegiate skills)
other results, NSSE reveals a limited are either exceedingly small or
amount of time students spend empirically non-existent for a large
studying (13 to 14 hours for full-time proportion of students:
students, 9 to 10 hours for part-time
students) and meager writing Forty-five percent of students
requirements found in contemporary did not demonstrate any significant
undergraduate coursework (for improvement in learning, as meas-
example, 51 percent of college seniors ured by CLA performance, during
reported that they had not written their first two years of college.
a paper during the current academic
year that was 20 or more pages long; Considering all four years of
even at the top 10 percent of schools college, we find that 36 percent
in the NSSE study, 33 percent of of students did not demonstrate
college seniors reported that they any significant improvement in
had not written a paper of this length learning, as measured by CLA
during their last year in college). performance.
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on average, students improved If students’ self-reports of their own
performance on the CLA by only academic engagement were not so
0.18 standard deviations over the limited, one might be tempted to
first two years of college and 0.47 dismiss these findings as a method-
standard deviations for the full four ological artifact associated with
years of college. Students who a limitation of the essay-based,
scored at the 50th percentile of open-ended assessment approach
students in their entering freshman used by the CLA. Related work
cohort would have moved up conducted by a research team led
only to the 68th percentile after by Charles Blaich at the Center of
four years of college (if, when Inquiry in the Liberal Arts at Wabash
graduating college, the students College also puts such objections to
retook the test with a new cohort rest. While we found that students
of entering freshmen). In an on average only gained 0.47 standard
extensive review of the literature deviations on the CLA between
presented in How College Affects their fall freshman and spring senior
Students, Ernest Pascarella and semesters, Blaich found that students
Patrick Terenzini estimated that in participating colleges he studied
students in the 1980s learned at gained only 0.44 on an alternative
twice the current rate—seniors close-ended, multiple choice
at that time had an advantage assessment indicator of critical
of one standard deviation over thinking and complex reasoning
freshmen in critical thinking. (ACT’s Collegiate Assessment of
Academic Proficiency).
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When exploring collegiate experiences
associated with improved student
learning, we found consistent evidence
A F
CAdEMIC ACToRS that certain factors were beneficial
to growth in CLA performance and
A
SSoCIATEd others were not. In general, our
findings suggested that educational
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WITH EARNINg practices associated with academic
rigorimproved student performance,
while collegiate experiences associated
with social engagementdid not.
Specifically, our results identified
the following measures associated
with academic rigor that were
conducive to improved student
performance on the CLA:
Students who spent more hours
studying alone had greater gains
on the CLA.
Students who took courses
requiring both significant reading
(more than 40 pages per week)
and writing (more than 20 pages
over the course of the semester)
Figure 3. Predicted 2007 CLA scores by faculty had higher rates of learning.
expectations and reading/writing course requirements
1200
Students reporting faculty
1180 with high expectations at their
institutions had higher rates
1160
of learning.
1140
1120 Students who had more
advanced coursework in high
1100
school had greater subsequent
1080
High Medium Low Both Either Neither gains on the CLA in college.
Faculty expectations Reading & writing requirements
Note: Predictions based on a model estimating 2007 CLA scores while
controlling for 2005 CLA scores, student characteristics, and institutions attended.

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