In the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, students entering college in fall 2021 had an unprecedented culmination to high school and transition to college. This chapter explores the experience of entering college students following these unprecedented circumstances, examining high school disruptions, including changes in the learning…

Attention to undergraduate research (UGR) is not surprising given its widespread appeal and evidence of educational benefit. Tracking participation and identifying equity gaps in UGR are important markers of access to and equity in educationally beneficial experiences. Information about students' exposure to elements of quality in UGR and how this…

The chapter considers student engagement to discuss the use of assessment evidence to advance evidence-based practice and to illustrate a scholarship of practice.

High-impact practices (HIPs), such as learning communities, undergraduate research, internships, study abroad, and culminating experiences, are lauded as transformative and particularly beneficial for historically underrepresented students. This article responds to the call to focus on racially minoritized student experiences in HIPs. The authors…

Critics of traditional, residential, liberal arts colleges and universities contend that this form of higher education is outmoded, too costly, and no longer educationally relevant for 21st century students. Economies of scale, large classes taught by contingent faculty members and graduate students, and increasing reliance on technology and…

Over the past decade, the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA) has been documenting what colleges and universities are doing to gather evidence about student learning and helping institutions to productively use assessment data to strengthen undergraduate education. NILOA also has been monitoring how institutions communicate…

Assessing the quality of undergraduate student learning continues to be a priority in U.S. postsecondary education. Although variations in outcome assessment practices have long been suspected, they have not been systematically documented. To follow up the 2009 National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment (NILOA) report on institutional…

This paper uses time series data from a widely used assessment to identify colleges and universities that demonstrate positive trends on a range of educational effectiveness measures, describe observed patterns of improvement, and examine informants' accounts of factors that contributed to the improvements. This study informs broad questions about…

The author introduces her critical and feminist perspective, elaborates on her critical approach, and discusses how this influenced the development of her research questions, methodology, data analysis, interpretation, and presentation of findings.

This study aims to determine the relationships between key student behaviors and the institutional practices and conditions that foster student success. To do so, student-level records from different types of colleges and universities are merged to examine the links between student engagement and two key outcomes of college: academic achievement…

"Thriving in Transitions: A Research-Based Approach to College Student Success" represents a paradigm shift in the student success literature. Grounded in positive psychology, the thriving concept reframes the student success conversation by focusing on the characteristics amenable to change and that promote high levels of academic,…

Used hierarchical linear modeling and longitudinal data from the first three waves of the National Education Longitudinal Study to examine achievement and growth rates in precollege science by racial, ethnic, and gender subgroups. Findings show socioeconomic status and previous grades to be strongly related to eighth-grade achievement across all…

This report is an abridged version of work performed for the National Postsecondary Education Cooperative to synthesize the relevant literature and emerging findings related to student success, broadly defined (Kuh and others, 2006). The author's purpose is to provide an informed perspective on policies, programs, and practices that can make a…

The college-choice process is complex and affects many high school students, family members and public policy-makers, as well as institutions of higher education. This report provides an overview of the college-choice process for traditional-age students and examines how it has evolved during the last half of the 20th century. Material from the…