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Presidents play a key role in establishing a climate of engaged
learning on campuses, said George Kuh, Chancellor’s Professor
of Higher Education and director of the Center for Postsecondary
Research at Indiana University, in his Presidents Institute plenary
address.
Kuh discussed findings from the National Survey of Student Engagement
(NSSE), which has become the most widely used instrument to assess
educational practices in colleges and universities, and Documenting
Effective Educational Practices (DEEP), a recent, in-depth study
of learning activities at 20 high- performing institutions, including
a number of private colleges and universities. This DEEP study
resulted in a book, Student Success in College: Creating Conditions
that Matter (2005) that describes practices and policies
that promote student success.
High-performing colleges and universities (those that have scored
well in assessments such as NSSE) promote student success by creating
conditions to permit and challenge students to do better work,
Kuh said. The six conditions that matter most include:
1. “Living” the mission and “lived” educational philosophy.
The institution’s mission, values, and aspirations are transparent
and understandable; the operating philosophy focuses on students
and their success; and there is widespread understanding and
endorsement of education programs, along with complementary
policies and practices.
2. Unshakable focus on student learning. These
colleges hold students to high standards, provide timely feedback,
and encourage students to actively engage with course content
and faculty and peers, inside and outside of the classroom.
3. Environments adapted for educational enrichment.
These institutions have adapted their environments for educational
advantage—they are connected to the local community; the buildings,
classrooms, and other physical structures are adapted to human
scale; and their psychological size fosters engagement while
their physical space promotes collaboration.
4. Clear pathways to student success. The DEEP
colleges make plain to students the resources and services available
to help them succeed; they require enriching experiences such
as study abroad and research with faculty members; and they
have redundant early warning systems for underachievers and
built-in safety nets.
5. Improvement-oriented ethos. These institutions
stress a self-correcting orientation—they continually question
whether they are performing as well as possible and what they
can be doing better; they are confident and responsive but never
quite satisfied.
6. Shared responsibility for educational quality and
student success. Campus leaders articulate and use
core operating principles in decision-making; student and academic
affairs officers collaborate; and all personnel foster a caring,
supportive community.
How can presidents foster student success? Kuh urged presidents
to:
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Feature student success in the mission and vision statements.
Revisit the mission to determine whether it is being used
most effectively.
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Make student success everybody’s business, so that a variety
of groups are all pushing in the same direction to challenge
and support students to perform at high levels.
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Put someone in charge. Some individual or group must coordinate
and monitor the status and impact of institutional student
success initiatives.
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Scale up policies, programs, and practices that work. If
the first-year program works, do it for everyone. If a learning
community works, scale it up—put money where it will make
a difference to student success.
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Recruit, socialize, and reward faculty and staff committed
to student success.
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Stay the course. Colleges and universities do not become
high-performing institutions overnight. The good-to-great
transformations never happened in one fell swoop. There is
no single defining action. Be prepared for some backsliding.
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