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Academically Adrift

Presentation given by Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa at AAC&U Annual Meeting. San Francisco, CA, January 28, 2011.

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Lodi Hollstein
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441 views

Academically Adrift

Presentation given by Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa at AAC&U Annual Meeting. San Francisco, CA, January 28, 2011.

Uploaded by

Lodi Hollstein
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses

Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa


January 28, 2011 AAC&U Annual Meeting San Francisco, , CA

*We thank the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Lumina, Ford and Teagle Foundations for their generous financial support and the Council for Aid to Education for collaboration and assistance with data collection.

Are students improving their critical thinking, complex reasoning, reasoning and writing skills during college? What specific experiences and college contexts are associated with student learning? How do disadvantaged groups of students fare in college with respect to learning? What are recent graduates graduates experiences after completing college?

Longitudinal Design Fall 2005, Spring 2007, Spring 2009, Spring 2010,

Spring 2011 (planned)

Large Scale 2005-2007: 2005 2007 24 di diverse f four-year i institutions; i i 2 2,341 341 students 2005-2009: 29 diverse four-year institutions, 1,666 students Breadth of Information il b k d and d hi h school h li f i F Family background high information, college experiences and contexts, college transcripts Collegiate g Learning g Assessment (CLA) ( )

Dimensions of learning assessed Distinguishing characteristics

critical thinking, complex reasoning, and written communication

Used in other contexts

Direct measures (as opposed to student reports) NOT multiple choice open ended prompts Holistic assessment based on open-ended representing real-world scenarios One of the measures of learning used by VSA Will be utilized in 2016 by OECD-AHELO project

You are the assistant to Pat Williams, the president of y a ec , a co pa y t at makes a es p ec s o e ect o c company that precision electronic DynaTech, instruments and navigational equipment. Sally Evans, a member of DynaTechs sales force, recommended that DynaTech buy a small private plane (a SwiftAir 235) that she and other members of the sales force could use to visit customers. Pat was about to approve the purchase when there was an accident involving a SwiftAir 235.

Students are provided with a set of materials (e.g. newspaper articles, Federal Accident Report, e-mail exchanges, description and h d i i d performance f characteristics of AirSwift 235 and another model, etc.) and asked to prepare a memo that addresses several questions, including what data support or refute the claim that the type of wing on the SwiftAir 235 leads to more in-flight g breakups, p , what other factors may have contributed to the accident and should be taken into account, and their overall recommendation about whether or not DynaTech should purchase the plane. http://www.collegiatelearningassessment.org/

CLA Analysis Sample Demographics Male White African-American Hispanic Asian Test Scores SAT, 25th percentile il SAT, 75th percentile ACT, 25th percentile ACT, 75th percentile 1052.83 1212.83 22.05 26.29 0.37 0.59 0.19 0.05 0 11 0.11

IPEDS CLA Schools 0.46 0.61 0.14 0.08 0 10 0.10 995.15 1219.02 20.86 25.77

IPEDS All Schools 0.45 0.59 0.13 0.13 0 06 0.06 993.14 1219.23 20.33 25.31

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0% Course with more than 20 pages of writing 40 pages of reading per week Course with more than requirements Both course Neither course requirement

Note: Based on Spring 2007 survey.

Note: Based on Spring 2007 survey.

Note: Based on Spring 2007 survey.

Academic time from 1925-1965 in time diaries relatively constant (39.2 to 34.1)

0.18 standard deviations 7 percentile point gain i No statistically N t ti ti ll significant i ifi t gains i in i critical iti l thinking, complex reasoning and writing skills for 45 percent of the students in the sample

0.47 standard deviations 18 percentile point i gain i No statistically N t ti ti ll significant i ifi t gains i for f 36 percent of the students over four years

Note: Predicting 2007 CLA scores while controlling for 2005 CLA scores, scores student characteristics, and institutions attended.

1180 1160 1140 1120 1100 1080 0 5 10 15 20

studying alone

studying with peers

fraternity/sorority

Note: Predicting 2007 CLA scores while controlling for 2005 CLA scores, scores student characteristics, and institutions attended.

1220 1200 1180 1160 1140 1120 1100 1080

Note: Predicting 2007 CLA scores while controlling for 2005 CLA scores. scores

Faculty expectations Course (reading and writing) requirements H Hours studying t d i alone l College majors (traditional arts and science core)

Model growth in learning over four years of g college Three-level model: test scores nested within students nested within schools 7,142 observations, 3,013 students, 27 institutions Confirm 2005-2007 patterns for parental education and race/ethnicity; new evidence for institutional selectivity

1280 1240 1200 1160 1120 1080 1040 2005 highschool or less 2007 2009

graduate/professional degree

Note: Based on a 3 3-level level HLM model model, controlling for a range of demographic/family characteristics.

1280 1240 1200 1160 1120 1080 1040 2005 2007 AfricanAmerican White 2009

Note: Based on a 3-level HLM model, controlling for a range of demographic/family characteristics.

23 percent of CLA growth between 2005 and 2009 occurs across institutions i tit ti
23%

1280 1240 1200 1160 1120 1080 2005 Highselectivity 2007 Lowselectivity 2009

Note: Based on a 3-level HLM model, controlling for a range of demographic/family characteristics.

College Graduates, Spring 2010 follow-up survey - preliminary findings li i fi di


60 percent reported loans (averaging $26,800) 9 percent are currently unemployed Only 35% earn more than $30,000
x 48% 8% if f working k FT

Only 17% earn more than $40,000


x 23% if working ki FT

31 percent living with parents and relatives

Read print or on-line news


100%

80%

60% 36%

40%

34%

30%

20%

0% Daily Weekly Monthly/Never

Discuss politics/public affairs


100% 80% 60% 46% 40% 20% 0% Daily Weekly Monthly/Never 15%

49%

Gains in student performance are disturbingly low in U.S. U S higher education. education Learning in U.S. higher education is characterized by persisting and/or growing inequality with respect to individual characteristics. There is notable inequality q y in experiences p and outcomes across U.S. institutions associated with college selectivity. S recent college ll h h hd b l d and d U.S. cohorts have h high debt loads are facing difficult transitions.

Federal imposed accountability would be counterproductive (existing measurements are imperfect; unintended consequences likely) Accountability should operate at lower levels in the system Federal resources could p provide incentives for institutional improvement, innovation and assessment d l resources needed d d to d l h Federal develop research infrastructure to advance scientific knowledge of learning in higher education

Institutional leadership to emphasize learning, develop plans for d l l f improvement and d support ongoing assessment of both program quality and student learning outcomes. Faculty collective responsibility for ensuring academic rigor across programs and classes (i (i.e., e course requirements and appropriate grading standards). Promote organizational cultures emphasizing student academic engagement, not just social engagement and student retention

h http://highered.ssrc.org/ //hi h d /
Richard Arum [email protected] y Josipa Roksa j k @ i i i d [email protected]

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