1. High Focus, High Impact:
Charting Intentional Pathways for
New Student Success
AAC&U Institute on High-Impact Practices and Student Success
Burlington, Vermont
June 14, 2011
Carol Geary Schneider

2. A Guiding Vision for Inclusive Excellence and Student Success
Contemporary
Compelling
Transparent
Achieved

3. Two National Dialogues about Student Learning in College
“Underserved Student Success” – U.S. Success
American Capability

4. Our Challenge: Merging the Two Dialogues
Creating a Compelling Guiding Vision
Fulfilling the Promise
Even in the Midst of Economic Contraction

5. The National Dialogue on “Student Success” – U.S. Success
Economic need for higher levels of skill and knowledge
But the U.S. has lost its international leadership in college completion
Most of our growth in enrollment comes from underserved communities

6. Bachelor’s Degree Attainment by Race
Twenty-Five to Twenty-Nine Year Olds
Source: U.S. Department of Education, The Condition of Education 2006.
Postsecondary Education Opportunity, no. 158 (2005)

7. Bachelor’s Degree Attainment by Family Income
8.6%
Source: U.S. Department of Education, The Condition of Education 2006.
Postsecondary Education Opportunity, no. 158 (2005)

8. Markers of “Student Success”
Enrollment
Persistence
Successful Transfer
Degree Completion

9. The Emerging Dialogue on American Capability
Three Locations:
On Campus
Employers
AAC&U – Connecting Educators and Employers
Lumina Foundation – The Degree Qualifications Profile

10. The World Itself is Demanding More…
Disruptive Global and Social Change
Diversity as a Daily Reality
Epochal Choices Facing U.S. Citizens
e.g., Sustainability, Inequality, Energy, Education
Ethical Dilemmas and Decisions

11. Productivity Is Now Tied to Learning…
Half Life of Industries, Companies, Jobs, and Skills Decreasing
Today's Students Will Have Jobs by the Time They Are 38
50% of Workers Have Been With Their Company Less Than 5 Years
25% Less than 1 Year
Breadth, Depth, & Applications of Academic Preparation Are Expanding
DOL-BLS

12. The Growing Demand for Higher Order Skills
Source: Council on Competitiveness, Competitiveness Index

13. Employers Are Raising the Bar
91% of employers say that they are “asking employees to take on more responsibilities and to use a broader set of skills than in the past”
90% of employers say that their “employees are expected to work harder to coordinate with other departments than in the past.”
88% of employers say that “the challenges their employees face are more complex than they were in the past.”
88% of employers agree that “to succeed in their companies, employees need higher levels of learning and knowledge than they did in the past”
Source: “Raising the Bar: Employers’ Views on College Learning in the Wake of the Economic Downturn” (AAC&U and Hart Research Associates, 2010)

14. Key Capabilities Open the Door for Career Success and Earnings
“Irrespective of college major or institutional selectivity, what matters to career success is students’ development of a broad set of cross-cutting capacities…”
Anthony Carnevale, Georgetown University
Center on Education and the Workforce

15. Preparing Students for Twenty-First Century Realities
– Greater Expectations
A National Dialogue About Goals and Effective Practices in College Learning
– Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP)
A Ten-Year Effort to Make
Excellence Inclusive

16. LEAP Frames That Dialogue
The National Discussion About the Quality of Learning—and Whether Students Are Actually Prepared for These New Realities—Is Accelerating
LEAP Frames That Dialogue

17. The Essential Aims and Outcomes
Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical and Natural World
Intellectual and Practical Skills
Personal and Social Responsibility
Integrative Learning
Liberal Education is the Key to American Capability

18. Markers of Liberal Education and American Capability
Evidence that Students Can Apply the Essential Learning Outcomes to Complex, Unscripted Problems – and Real-World Settings

19. How Well Are Graduates Achieving the Essential Learning Outcomes?19

20. Employers Evaluate College Graduates’ Preparedness In Key Areas
Not well prepared (1-5 ratings)*
17%
19%
21%
23%
26%
30%
31%
37%
42%
46%
Very well prepared (8-10 ratings)*
39%
38%
35%
32%
30%
28%
24%
22%
26%
23%
18%
Mean rating*
7.0
6.9
6.7
6.6
6.5
6.3
6.1
5.9
5.7
Teamwork
Ethical judgment
Intercultural skills
Social responsibility
Quantitative reasoning
Oral communication
Self-knowledge
Adaptability
Critical thinking
Writing
Self-direction
Global knowledge
*ratings on 10-point scale: 10 = recent college graduates are extremely well prepared on each quality to succeed in entry level positions or be promoted/advance within the company

21. Global Knowledge and Skills
Less than 13% of college students achieve basic competence in a language other than English
Less than 34% of college students earn credit for an international studies class; of those who do, only 13% take more than four classes
Less than 10% of college students participate in study abroad programs
Between 5 and 10% of college students meet all criteria for global competence
Clifford Adelman, “Global Preparedness” of Pre-9/11 College Graduates: what the
US Longitudinal Studies Say,” Tertiary Education and Management 10 (2004): 243

22. Knowledge in the Arts and Sciences
First-generation students take fewer courses than others in mathematics, science, social studies, humanities, history, foreign languages, or computer science.
From National Center for Education Statistics, First-Generation Students in Postsecondary Education: A Look at Their College Transcripts. (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, 2005).

23. ETS Reports the Following on Intellectual Skills:
Seniors “proficient” in critical thinking %
Seniors “proficient” at level 3 writing %
Seniors “proficient” at level 3 math %

24. Personal and Social Responsibility
NSSE 2009 Reports on
Personal and Social Responsibility
Limited*Gains:
Understanding people of other racial and ethnic backgrounds 43%
Developing a personal code of values and ethics: %
Contributing to the welfare of your community 50%
* Some/very little

25. Findings from Academically
Adrift
45% of students did not demonstrate significant improvement in their writing or critical thinking skills during their first two years of college (based on CLA results)
36% of students did not significantly improve on these outcomes over 4 years of college
Half of all students report taking five or fewer courses requiring 20 pages of writing in the previous semester
On average, students spend only about hours per week studying – not 2 or 3 hours for each hour in class
Findings of limited learning gains replicated in Wabash Center study (using CAAP-CT scores)
Sources: Arum, Richard, and Josipa Roksa Academically Adrift (SSRC, 2010); Arum, Richard, Jospia Roksa, and Esther Cho, “Improving Undergraduate Learning: Findings and Policy Recommendations from the SSRC-CLA Longitudinal Project,” (SSRC, 2010); Pascarella, Ernest T., Charles Blaich, et al. “How Robust are the Findings of Academically Adrift,” Change (Taylor and Francis, May/June 2011).

26. Additional Findings from
Academically Adrift
Those scoring in the top 10% (more than 1.5 standard deviation growth) on CLA include students from all backgrounds and students from a wide array of institutions
When students report that their faculty have high expectations, students learn more – as measured by CLA score gains.
When students take courses that require more reading and writing, students learn more – as measured by CLA score gains.
Students focusing their studies in humanities/social science and science/math courses learn more – as measured by CLA score gains.
Sources: Arum, Richard, and Josipa Roksa Academically Adrift (SSRC, 2010); Arum, Richard, Jospia Roksa, and Esther Cho, “Improving Undergraduate Learning: Findings and Policy Recommendations from the SSRC-CLA Longitudinal Project,” (SSRC, 2010); Pascarella, Ernest T., Charles Blaich, et al. “How Robust are the Findings of Academically Adrift,” Change (Taylor and Francis, May/June 2011).

27. The Essential Aims and Outcomes
Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical and Natural World
Intellectual and Practical Skills
Personal and Social Responsibility
Integrative Learning
Liberal Education is the Key to American Capability

28. Our Challenge Merging the Two Dialogues
Creating a Compelling Vision that Makes Inclusive Excellence the Key to “Student Success”

29. Supporting Student Success and Inclusive Excellence
Access/Persistence
The Essential Learning Outcomes
High Impact Practices
Accountability for Assessments That Focus and Deepen Essential Learning

30. What They Are, Who Has Access to Them, and Why They Matter
High Impact Practices:
What They Are, Who Has Access to Them, and Why They Matter
by George D. Kuh
(LEAP report, October 2008,

31. High-Impact Educational Practices
The Crucial Role of
High-Impact Educational Practices
First-Year Seminars and Experiences 
Common Intellectual Experiences
Learning Communities
Writing-Intensive Courses
Collaborative Assignments and Projects
“Science as Science Is Done”/Undergraduate Research
Diversity/Global Learning
Service Learning, Community-Based Learning
Internships
Capstone Courses and Projects 31

32. Impact of Educationally Purposeful Practices on the Probability of Returning for the Second Year of College by Race
**From Kuh, High Impact Practices: What They Are, Who Has Access to Them, and Why They Matter (AAC&U, 2008)

33. Impact of Educationally Purposeful Practices on First Academic Year GPA by Pre-College Achievement Level
*From Kuh, High Impact Practices: What They Are, Who Has Access to Them, and Why They Matter (AAC&U, 2008)

34. Impact of Educationally Purposeful Practices on First Academic Year GPA by Race/Ethnicity
**From Kuh, High Impact Practices: What They Are, Who Has Access to Them, and Why They Matter (AAC&U, 2008)

35. Percentage Graduating "On Time" (i.e., in 2006-07)
Impact of Participation in High-Impact Practices on Percentage of Senior NSSE Respondents Graduating on Time, by Racial and Ethnic Background
38%
54%
48%
63%
65%
68%
73%
69%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
80.0%
Latina/o Respondents
Other Respondents
Percentage Graduating "On Time" (i.e., in )
None
1 HIP
2 HIPs
3 or more HIPs [
V = .109 (.094)]
V = .255 (.007)]
Source: Does Participation in Multiple High Impact Practices Affect Student Success at Cal State Northridge? by Bettina Huber (unpublished paper, 2010).

36. Do High-Impact Practices Foster Essential Learning Outcomes?

37. Five High-Impact Practices: Research on Learning Outcomes, Completion,
and Quality
Lynn Swaner and Jayne Brownell
(AAC&U, 2010)

38. High Impact Practices Do Foster Gains on Essential Learning Outcomes
The Good News
High Impact Practices Do Foster Gains on Essential Learning Outcomes

39. Practices that Put Students’ Learning at the Center
High Engagement (Peers, Mentors, Unscripted Questions)
High Effort (by Students)
High Reward (for Learning)

40. Mixed News 60
Participation rates (%) for seniors in selected HIPs by race 50 40 30 20 10
Source: “Assessment of High-Impact Practices: Using Findings to Drive Change in the Compass Project,” by Ashley Finley, Spring 2011 forthcoming issue, Peer Review.

41. Charting Intentional Pathways for Student Success

42. Give Students a Compass and Roadmap – and Educators Too
SHARED Responsibility for Essential Learning Outcomes
New Focus on Practices that Foster Persistence AND Learning

43. Scaffold High Impact/High Effort Practices Across the Curriculum
Thematic Learning Communities
Collaborative Projects
Undergraduate Research
Community-Based Learning
Internships – Supervised and Evaluated
Senior Projects

44. Engage the Departments
General Education – Necessary But Not Sufficient
Every Major Plays a Crucial Role in Students’ Achievement of the Essential Learning Outcomes

45. Map the Pathways from Two-Year to Four-Year Study

47. The Lumina Degree Profile – in Brief – Provides a Template of Competencies Required for the Award of Degrees

48. Lumina Degree Profile
Three Degree Levels: Associate, Bachelor’s, and Master’s
Framed as Successively Inclusive Hierarchies of “Action” Verbs to Describe Outcomes at Each Degree Level
Intended as a “Beta” Version, for Testing, Experimentation, and Further Development Beginning This Year

49. Organization of the Degree Profile
Five areas of learning
Specialized knowledge
Broad, integrative knowledge
Intellectual Skills
Applied Learning
Civic Learning

50. Across All These Areas and Levels
Students’ Actual Work Becomes the Focus of Educational Attention

51. The Degree Profile Shifts Our Collective Attention to What Students Actually Do: Research, Projects, Papers, Performances, Creative Work… Applied Learning!

52. The Degree Profile Invites Faculty and Staff to Focus on…
Intentional Assignments that Develop Competence
Integrative Milestone Performances that Provide Evidence of Competence and of Students’ Ability to Tackle Complex Questions and Problems

53. When the Curriculum is Focused, Assessment Can Draw from High Impact Practices
For example: the papers, projects, exhibits, research, internships, capstones, etc. that the Degree Profile emphasizes

54. The Proof is in the Portfolio – and Institutions That Are Rich in High Impact Practices Are Poised to Lead the Way

55. In Sum: Students Need to Know the Outcomes the Degree Represents – and Why They Matter

56. Students Also Need to Know that Their Best Work is Expected
And Their Actual Work is the Most Important Evidence We Have About Whether They Can Integrate and Apply Their Knowledge to New Contexts and New Challenges

57. An Accountability Framework Worthy of Our Mission
Shared Goals – That Build American Capability
High Impact Practices that Support Essential Learning Outcomes and Completion
Disaggregated Data – That Shine a Light on Underserved Students’ Progress and Achievement
Students’ Best Work – Sampled and Synthesized For Public Reporting

58. Campus-Wide Commitment –
Campus-Wide Commitment – and Capacity – to Use Our Evidence to Support Essential Learning And Inclusive Excellence

59. This is Our Crossroads Moment…
Making Excellence Inclusive is Fundamental to Our Future