In reconsidering the three "tiers of institutional intelligence" needed for effective institutional research practice he first offered 20 years ago (Terenzini in "Res Higher Educ" 34:1-10, 1993), Terenzini suggests that those forms of intelligence retain their overall relevance today, but that they also require some important redefinition. The…

Most of the research on the effects of college on students that examines the influences of institutional characteristics--what Pascarella and Terenzini ("How college affects students: Findings and insights from twenty years of research". San Francisco: Jossey-Bass 1991) called "between-college" effects--indicate that the descriptors typically used…

In an effort to identify policies that foster an institutional "culture of teaching," or encourage use of effective pedagogies, this study uses data from 5,612 faculty members at 45 institutions to examine connections between institutional policies and faculty members' perceptions and practices related to teaching and learning. A series of…

Studies of change in colleges and universities often consider faculty support a key influence on the success of academic reform efforts. Scholars, however, have given relatively little attention to the role of disciplinary environments (e.g., culture, values, and habits of mind) on educational innovation and change. Using data from 1,272 faculty…

Decades of research demonstrate that college students benefit from positive interaction with faculty members, although that same evidence suggests that those interactions are far from common, particularly outside the classroom. Moreover, relatively little is known about which, when, how, and why faculty members choose to engage with students…

This article reports the effects of program characteristics and faculty activities on students' experiences and, ultimately, the development of students' analytical and group skills. Data come from nationally representative samples of 4,330 seniors, 1,243 faculty members, and 147 engineering program chairs on 40 campuses nationwide. Findings…

This study examined the unique and joint contributions of engineering students' classroom and out-of-class experiences on the development of two sets of skills central to students' successful performance as engineers: analytical and group skills. Although the study focuses on engineering, the conceptual underpinnings and criterion measures are…

Perhaps two-thirds of the gains students make in knowledge and cognitive skill development occur in the first 2 years of college (Pascarella, E. T., and Terenzini, P. T. (2005). How college affects students Vol. 2. A third decade of research. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass). A significant proportion of the students entering America's colleges and…

Comparison of 825 first-generation college students and 1,860 traditional college students in 23 diverse institutions after completion of 1 year found first-generation students differed from others in both entering characteristics and college experiences. Although traditional students made greater net gains in reading, the groups gained similarly…

The validity of Tinto's (1975) theory of student attrition, which asserts that withdrawal relates most directly to students' integration in the social and academic systems of an institution, is examined. This study supports that theory and also suggests that informal interaction with faculty plays an important role as well. (Editor/LBH)

A study examined whether students' perceptions of their growth are related to their college experiences (after controlling for their precollege characteristics), whether the amount of development varies over the first three years of college, and whether the influences perceived in personal development vary from one year to another. (Author/MLW)

A LISREL analysis indicated that students' academic integration level in each of the four years had a direct effect on reported academic skill development in that year and an indirect effect on reported growth in succeeding years. Social integration was influential only in the junior and senior years. (Author/MLW)

Salient findings of six studies assessing the construct validity of Tinto's model of college student attrition are described. The studies are based on three independent data collections over a three-year period and indicate the students' informal contacts with faculty are consistently related to subsequent persistence/withdrawal decisions.…

A methodology developed as an alternative to conventional institutional classification structures, intended to reduce the limitations of those models, is described. Ways in which the methodology can be used for planning, administrative, and research purposes are discussed, as are the dangers in using "peer groups" for institutional planning and…

The relationship between the frequency of college students' informal nonclassroom contact with faculty for each of six purposes and their generalized perceptions of instructional quality were assessed. The frequency of contacts for discussing intellectual or course-related matters made statistically significant contributions in predicting…