NSSE and Accreditation Self-Study

1. NSSE and Accreditation Self-Study Christopher Cyphers, Ph.D. Provost School of Visual Arts New York, New York

2. SVA at a glance Location: Manhattan Carnegie: Specialized Degrees: BFA, MFA, MTA, MPS Physical plant: 675,000 ft2 Beds: 1,100 UG enrollment: 3,100 GR enrollment: 407 % female: 52.6 % full-time: 93.4 % on campus: 32.8 % international: 13.4 States represented: 45 Countries represented: 47 First-time, full-time freshmen: 661 % female: 56.6 % full-time: 100 % in-state: 34.8 % on campus: 65.4 % international: 10.6 States represented: 36 Countries represented: 14 First-time persistence rate (2005 cohort): 86.4% First-time graduation rate (2000 cohort): 65%

3. Demand for greater accountability

4. . . . but not just from official bodies

5. Greater emphasis on assessment Learning in the major Co- and extracurricular learning Written, oral, critical thinking, analytical skills Foundation for lifelong learning Academic advisement Student support services

6. Theassessmentuniverse

7. Let’s do it You commit to administering NSSE You achieve a healthy response rate You receive your results in a smart and tidy package You proudly take your results binder to your president, and he says:

9. Okay. . . . Now what? “This is great. . . what do we do with it”?

10. Why NSSE? Focused on students’ academic and student life experience, better than comparable instruments. NSSE embraced by Middle States Commission on Higher education. Numerous opportunities to benchmark institution’s data against peer groups. NSSE generated benchmark scores, “standardized” so as to Comparisons over time.

11. Comparative value of NSSE data Institutional Scores Across Time First-Year versus Seniors Institutional Scores Against Peer Groups

12. How does SVA compare to. . . SVA Independent Art Schools (AICAD) NSSE-Selected Carnegie Peers All NSSE Respondents

13. Linking NSSE data to other data sources Institutional Date NSSE Data Other Assessment Data Multidimensional Dataset

14. Use of NSSE for Middle States accreditation Standard 7: Institutional Assessment Standard 9: Student Support Services Standard 10: Faculty Standard 11: Educational Offerings Standard 12: General Education Standard 14: Learning Outcomes Assessment

15. Institutional assessment Using mean scores to make comparisons across peer groups

16. What to consider Effect size Statistical significance Class year

17. Student support services *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001

18. Student life *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001

19. Personal development *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001

20. Faculty

21. General Education *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001

22. General education, II *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001

23. Assessment in the major or general education *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001

24. Overall satisfaction/quality of relationships *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001

25. NSSE benchmark scores Concise summaries of data along five measurement scales

26. Level of Academic Challenge

27. Active & Collaborative Learning

28. Student-Faculty Interaction

29. Enriching Educational Experience

30. Supportive Campus Environment

31. Benchmark scores over time

32. Dissecting benchmark scales Level of Academic Challenge (SVA) Item 1 Item 2 Item 1 Item 3 Item 4 Major Field Gender Item 5 Item 6 Residence GPA First-Year Prgm

33. Differences based on major *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001

34. Differences based on first-year program *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001

35. Differences based on Gender Persistence rates are generally higher for men than women. However, women enjoy a higher 6-year graduation rate. *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001

36. Differences based on local residency *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001

37. Christopher Cyphers School of Visual Arts 209 East 23 Street New York, NY 10010 ccyphers@sva.edu 212-592-2550