Two new reports from Student Affairs Assessment
Two new reports are available from assessment analysts in the Division of Student Affairs. Both reports are posted at left in pdf format.
Leadership Development at Purdue describes student participation in various on-campus programs. We find that involvement in leadership programs is extensive, but still far from universal. Leadership is embedded in Purdue's Core Curriculum, and Vice President for Student Affairs Dr. Melissa E. Exum has stated that every Purdue students should have a significant leadership experience: we aren't meeting that objective.
Purdue students who are engaged in leadership development efforts (especially those sponsored by the Office of the Dean of Students) tend to outperform their national peers by significant margins. But Purdue students overall barely match the national benchmarks in a battery of important traits relating to leadership.
The report includes a census of more than 80 programs that provide leadership opportunities to students.
The second report, CIRP 2012 Review, looks at the habits and attitudes of incoming first-year students. The CIRP was administered during summer 2012 and targeted students who had committed to attend Purdue but not yet arrived on the campus. The data show that the top reasons for choosing Purdue over other colleges were "Purdue's academic reputation" and "Purdue graduates get good jobs." Nevertheless, we find that Purdue was not the first-choice college for many students. About one in four white students wanted to go somewhere else but settled on Purdue as a second (or lower) choice. Fewer than half of Asian and Asian-American freshmen rated Purdue their top choice, as did slightly more than half of black students.
The CIRP Review also looks back at an earlier survey, taken in summer 2008. The assessment correlates answers that incoming students gave at that time to their enrollment/graduation status at the end of four years. We find that the habits students reported at the outset of their college careers were effective predictors of how they would perform: those who reported the habit of taking notes in class or asking questions "very often" were significantly more likely to persist. Also, students who were equivocal about graduating in four years tended not to, while those who saw little or no chance of needing extra time were significantly more likely to graduate.
Purdue's Division of Student Affairs does assessment on its progdams, and on learning outcomes in general. Contact Andy Zehner at alzehner@purdue.edu or 46743 to find out more.