Results from Studies of Liberal Arts Education at Gustavus

This site includes reports and data from collaborative studies that Gustavus is participating in.

For more interesting data about the college, including NSSE results, the senior survey, and CIRP data, see the website of the Office of Institutional Research and click on College Data.

Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education

This landmark longitudinal study being conducted by scholars at the Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts at Wabash College is gathering data from 26 institutions, ranging from community colleges through R1 institutions, with many liberal arts colleges included. The study examines which practices lead to the most effective learning (and why) and provides new insights into ways institutions can assess relatively intangiable outcomes, such as developing an inclination to inquire and lifelong learning habits, moral reasoning, and intercultural competence. Results from the first year are in, and Wabash researchers visited campus to discuss them. If you have questions about these data, contact Barbara Fister, on-campus coordinator for this project.

An overview of the study (May 2009, 3 pages, PDF)

Information from the first year (2006-2007) for Gustavus

Full report (155 pages, PDF)

Pages 1-5: Good Practice Scales and Sub Scales
Pages 6-10: Comparisons on Outcome Measures
Pages 11-15: Spring 2007 Outcome Measures
Pages 16-20: Fall 2006 Outcome Measures
Pages 21-32: Comparisons from Student Surveys
Pages 33-53: Spring 2007 Student Experiences Survey (Averages and Standard Deviations)
Pages 54-60: Fall 2006 Student Survey (Averages and Standard Deviations)
Pages 61-98: Spring 2007 Student Experiences Survey (Frequency Report) NEW
Pages 99-124: Spring 2007 National Survey of Student Engagement (Frequency Report) NEW
Pages 125-134: Fall 2006 Student Survey (Frequency Report) NEW

Handouts from Faculty Development Day, August 27, 2008
Previous information from incoming students, Fall 2006

Parsing the First Year of College

In collaboration with the Wabash National Study, Gustavus is participating in a three-year study of the first year of college being conducted by researchers at Penn State's Center for the Study of Higher Education. This study, which include 35 institutions, examines factors that influence learning outcomes and persistence. For further informaiton, contact Barbara Fister.

Teagle Foundation Grant:

Measuring Intellectual Development and Civic Engagement through Value-Added Assessment

This grant funds collaborative assessment work undertaken by a group of colleges: Alma, Augustana, Gustavus, Illinois Wesleyan, Luther, and Wittenberg.

"As selective liberal arts colleges, the collaborating institutions assert that their coursework and co-curricular opportunities help students develop fundamental thinking and communication skills as well as an openness and flexibility of mind that contribute to greater awareness of and participation in the community. The proposed research project seeks to detail more precisely the relationship of students' intellectual growth—measured in terms of two skills central to a liberal arts education, writing and critical-thinking—and students' growth in civic engagement. The study aims to create an empirically based model of civic engagement, by exploring whether such factors as lowered materialism actually correlate with greater civic participation; by tracking actual participation of students and alumni; and by identifying college experiences that lead to greatest improvement. This research will require direct assessment of student work by faculty from the participating consortium schools. Through this collaborative, these six colleges will gain a better understanding of their students' level of achievement as they learn more of best practices in student learning and its assessment for their institutions."
----The Teagle Foundation Website.