1. College Knowledge: From Information to Expectation Julie M. Williams Ty M. Cruce John V. Moore Indiana University NACAC Conference, October 6 th, 2006, Pittsburgh Beginning College Survey of Student Engagement

2. Overview  Background and Literature  Questions of Interest  Data Sources and Sample  Findings  Implications for Practice

3. Gaps in College Information  Students enter the college search/choice process with a wide range of expectations, information and support for their college dreams.  The quality and quantity of information available, is often contingent in part on demographics and socioeconomics (student, school & community)  Families misperceive costs of college & can be confused/frustrated by the FA process.  Students are unsure of application requirements and important application and ACT/SAT deadlines.  Students and families may start the process too late.

4. Why Information is Important  Information is Powerful  The quality of information, family/school resources, & social networks individual students have access to and can apply toward their educational goals plays an important role in attainment (e.g. Bourdieu, Coleman, Hossler, McDonough)  Information Forms Expectations  In addition to being necessary to navigate the search process, information also helps shape students’ expectations for college experience.

5. Why Do Expectations Matter?  Expectations affect the actual experiences of college students by: 1)Serving as a filter through which students evaluate and select various types of educational opportunities. 2)Predisposing students to seek specific learning activities.  Student expectations and subsequent experience are not always congruent.  Ex: First-generation or low-income students may have less tacit knowledge of what college is like.  May influence students’ overall performance in college and satisfaction with their experience.

6. Questions of Interest  How do the primary information sources that shape entering students’ expectations differ by the students’ backgrounds (e.g., gender, race/ethnicity, parents’ education)?  How does the match between student and faculty expectations about time spent studying differ by the students’ backgrounds (including their primary sources of information)?

7. Data Sources Beginning College Survey of Student Engagement Faculty Survey of Student Engagement  Annual survey of first- year students at baccalaureate degree- granting institutions  2005-2006 pilot administration at 70 institutions  Administered prior to start of classes, usually at orientation or welcome week  Annual survey of upper- and lower-division faculty  2006 administration at 131 institutions  Administered during the spring semester

8. What Does BCSSE Examine?  Experiences (Time on Task, Courses, Grades)  College Expectations (Degree Plans, Time on Task, Grades)  Importance of Activities (College Emphases, Activities)  Baseline Self-Assessment (Knowledge, skills & personal development)  Demographics (HS Size, HS Type, 1st Generation)

9. What Does FSSE Examine?  Faculty perceptions of how often their students engage in different activities  The importance faculty place on various areas of learning and development  Nature and frequency of student-faculty interactions  How faculty organize class time

10. Survey Instrument Histories  Both surveys were designed as companions to the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)  Annual survey of first-year students and seniors at four-year institutions that measures extent to which students engage in educational practices associated with high levels of learning and development.  Documents dimensions of quality in undergraduate education and provides information and assistance to colleges, universities, and other organizations to improve student learning.  Approximately 600 institutions plan to participate in NSSE 2007 in the spring.

11. Study Sample  Student Sample  26,620 entering first-year students  59% female, 41% male  77% white, 23% of color  64% have at least one parent with a bachelor’s degree  Institutional Sample  60 baccalaureate degree-granting institutions  Includes 1 Canadian University  60% private, 40% public  Undergraduate student body 35,000  Range on Barron’s from non-competitive to most competitive

12. Findings Part One: Primary Source of Expectations

13.  BCSSE asks of entering college students:  To what extent have the following influenced your expectations about your experience at this college?  Family members  Friends/students in high school  Friends/students already attending this college  High school guidance counselors  High school teachers/administrators  College recruiters/admissions counselors  College website/materials  Campus visits  College orientation  External publications (e.g., guidebooks) Responses range from ‘Not at all’ to ‘A lot’ Family/Friends High School College

14. Primary Source of Expectations  Using cluster analysis, we identified four student types  Those students who primarily relied on:  Family and Friends 42%  High School 10%  College 22%  All Sources Equally 26%

15. Question of Interest #1  How do the primary information sources that shape entering students’ expectations differ by the students’ backgrounds?  Examples:  Are males more likely than females to rely on family/friends as a primary source of information?  Are private high school students more likely than public high school students to rely on the college as a primary source of information? Have some ideas? Its time to test your knowledge…

16. Primary Source of Expectations Imagine two hypothetical college-bound students… Who are similar in all of the following ways but one: GenderHigh School Grades RaceHigh School Leadership Parents’ EducationHigh School Type Degree AspirationsCollege Selectivity

17. Test Your Knowledge: #1  Females are less likely than males to rely on high school as a primary source of information.  True  False

18. Primary Source of Expectations By Gender Family & Friends High School College All

19. Test Your Knowledge: #2  Asian American students are less likely than students of other races to rely on family/friends as a primary source of information.  True  False

20. Primary Source of Expectations By Race Family & Friends High School College All

21. Test Your Knowledge: #3  First-generation students are more likely than other students to rely on high school as a primary source of information.  True  False

22. Primary Source of Expectations By Parents’ Education Family & Friends High School College All

23. Test Your Knowledge: #4  Students with higher degree aspirations are more likely than students with lower aspirations to rely on college as a primary source of information.  True  False

24. Primary Source of Expectations By Degree Aspirations Family & Friends High School College All

25. Test Your Knowledge: #5  Students with lower high school GPAs are less likely than students with higher GPAs to rely equally on all sources of information.  True  False

26. Primary Source of Expectations By High School GPA Family & Friends High School College All

27. Test Your Knowledge: #6  Students who are less involved in leadership activities are more likely than students who are more involved to rely on family/friends as a primary source of information.  True  False

28. Primary Source of Expectations By High School Leadership Family & Friends High School College All

29. Test Your Knowledge: #7  Students who attend private high schools are more likely than their public school peers to rely on high school as a primary source of information.  True  False

30. Primary Source of Expectations By High School Type Family & Friends High School College All

31. Test Your Knowledge: #8  Students who attend more selective colleges are more likely than students who attend less selective colleges to rely on college as a primary source of information.  True  False

32. Primary Source of Expectations By Selectivity of College Attended Family & Friends High School College All

33. Primary Source of Expectations  “Test Your Knowledge” Scores  7-8 Good Job!  5-6 Not Bad!  1-4 This has been educational, No?

34. Summary of Findings  Most students rely on family/friends as a primary source of information to shape their college expectations  Differences in the primary source of information on which students rely seem most pronounced by:  Race  Parents’ education  High school leadership  High school type  Selectivity of the college attended

35. Primary Source of Expectations  Question for Consideration:  (When) Does the source of information matter?  Answer:  When examining the accuracy of student expectations  Example:  Comparing student expectations with faculty expectations about the time per week that students spend studying

36. Findings Part Two: Matching Faculty Expectations

37. Time Spent Studying  BCSSE asks of entering college students:  During the coming school year, about how many hours do you think you will spend in a typical 7-day week preparing for your class (studying, reading, writing, doing homework or lab work, analyzing data, rehearsing, and other academic activities)?  FSSE asks of lower division faculty and instructors:  In a typical 7-day week, about how many hours do you expect your students to spend preparing for your class (studying, reading, writing, doing homework or lab work, analyzing data, rehearsing, and other academic activities)  Student responses were compared to adjusted average lower division faculty responses by college Carnegie Classification

38. Question of Interest #2  How does the match between student and faculty expectations about time spent studying differ by the students’ backgrounds?  Examples:  Are students who primarily rely on family/friends more likely than other students to match faculty expectations?  Are students who attend more selective colleges less likely than other students to match faculty expectations? Have some ideas? Its time again to test your knowledge…

39. Matching Faculty Expectations Imagine two hypothetical college-bound students… Who are similar in all of the following ways but one: Primary Source of Information High School Grades Gender High School Leadership Race High School Type Parents’ Education College Selectivity Degree Aspirations

40. Test Your Knowledge: #9  Students who primarily rely on which source of information have the greatest likelihood of matching faculty expectations?  Family/Friends  High School  College  All Sources

41. Matching Faculty Expectations By Information Source

42. Test Your Knowledge: #10  Females are less likely than males to match faculty expectations.  True  False

43. Matching Faculty Expectations By Gender

44. Test Your Knowledge: #11  Asian Americans are more likely than students of any other race to match faculty expectations.  True  False

45. Matching Faculty Expectations By Race

46. Test Your Knowledge: #12  First-generation students are less likely than other students to match faculty expectations.  True  False

47. Matching Faculty Expectations By Parents’ Education

48. Test Your Knowledge: #13  Students with higher degree aspirations have the same likelihood as students with lower aspirations of matching faculty expectations.  True  False

49. Matching Faculty Expectations By Degree Aspirations

50. Test Your Knowledge: #14  Students with higher high school GPAs are more likely than students with lower GPAs to match faculty expectations.  True  False

51. Primary Source of Expectations By High School GPA

52. Test Your Knowledge: #15  Students who are more active in leadership activities in high school are less likely than students who are less active to match faculty expectations.  True  False

53. Matching Faculty Expectations By High School Leadership

54. Test Your Knowledge: #16  True/False Students who attend public high schools are less likely than students who attend private schools to match faculty expectations.  True  False

55. Matching Faculty Expectations By High School Type

56. Test Your Knowledge: #17  Students who attend more selective colleges are more likely than students who attend less selective colleges to match faculty expectations.  True  False

57. Matching Faculty Expectations By Selectivity of College Attended

58. Matching Faculty Expectations  “Test Your Knowledge” Scores  7-9 Nice Work!  5-6 Not Bad!  1-4 This has been educational, no?

59. Summary of Key Findings  Family/friends were by far the most often cited source of college expectations, yet students who relied primarily on this source were least likely to match faculty expectations.  Students who relied on all sources equally had the greatest likelihood of matching faculty expectations.

60. Summary of Key Findings  Regardless of information sources that were used, differences in entering students’ ability to match their expectations with the expectations of their faculty differed substantially by:  Race  Degree aspirations  High school leadership  Selectivity of the college attended

61. Implications What does all of this mean for practice?

62. NACAC- Statement of Principles of Good Practice  Core Values - Include  Education-Committed to educating students, their families, the public, fellow education professionals, and ourselves about the transition to and within postsecondary education.  Fairness and Equity-Have a responsibility to treat one another and students in a fundamentally fair and equitable manner.  Social Responsibility-have a duty to serve student responsibly, by safeguarding their rights and their access to and within postsecondary education.

63. Implications for Practice  #1: Heavy Role of Family/Friends  Focus on availability of quality and comprehensive information for all  Do information sessions include “ what to expect” conversations? Academics? Extra-curriculars?  Is information provided at different levels of specificity?  Do we help all families (FG, low income, various races) develop accurate expectations of college?  Do we help students ask questions during campus visits that lead to accurate expectations?

64. Implications for Practice  #2: More Info Sources = Better Information  Review information sources available to students  Timely  Accurate from reliable sources  Easy to understand  In what format are resources offered?  Materials in office only  Website  Mailings to homes  Local paper  How can students get information about college from you without meeting in person in your office or on campus?

65. Implications for Practice  #3: Who Can Help Us in These Efforts?  “ What to expect in college” classroom sessions enlisting teachers and former students  Network with colleagues  Ask/offer to help develop new college info sessions and ideas for getting to know student needs  Have current college students review admission materials and websites to see if messages portray actual campus experience accurately.  College/High School Partnerships  External sources of data on entering students (CIRP, BCSSE, SAT/ACT profiles)

66. Take-Home Message  We can better understand our students and more effectively help them transition to and be successful in college  We can shape student expectations, which increases student persistence and college success  Collaborating with others and using student data and other info sources can help us to assist all students more effectively by confirming or challenging our perceptions

67. Participating Institutions Bethel University Brigham Young University-Hawaii Brigham Young University Case Western Reserve University Clayton College and State University Denison University Drake University Edgewood College Elon University Fort Lewis College Goucher College Hanover College Harvey Mudd College Henderson State University Heritage University Holy Family University Illinois Wesleyan University Indiana University-Bloomington Indiana University-East Indiana University-South Bend John Carroll University Loyola University Chicago Lynchburg College Mcneese State University Morningside College Mount Saint Mary's University New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology Northwest Christian College Paul Smiths College of Arts and Science Pennsylvania State University-Berks Queen's University Radford University Rider University Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Saint Ambrose University Saint Xavier University Siena College Southern Connecticut State University Southwestern Assemblies of God University Southwestern College Syracuse University The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey The University of Tennessee-Martin Thiel College Trinity Western University University of British Columbia University of Guelph University of Maine at Farmington University of Missouri-Kansas City University of San Francisco University of South Dakota University of South Florida St. Petersburg University of St Francis University of Toronto University of Windsor University of Wisconsin-La Crosse University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point University of Wisconsin-Stout Ursinus College Utah State University Virginia Commonwealth University Viterbo University Voorhees College Wabash College Washington & Jefferson College Washington State University Western Illinois University Western Kentucky University Western New Mexico University Worcester Polytechnic Institute

68. Contact Information  Email: Julie Williams williaj4@indiana.edu williaj4@indiana.edu Ty Cruce tcruce@indiana.edutcruce@indiana.edu John Moorejmooreii@indiana.edujmooreii@indiana.edu Presentation materials from this session are available on the NSSE website: www.nsse.iub.edu NSSE efforts have been supported by The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, The Pew Forum on Undergraduate Learning, The Lumina Foundation, and the Center for Inquiry into the Liberal Arts at Wabash College.