The "invisible" colleges - private, often church-affiliated institutions with relatively open admissions policies and enrollments under 2,500 - comprise one-third of the four-year colleges in the United States and enroll almost 500,000 students. The author believes that only these colleges can offer their particular students the kind of…

A fair amount of what we know about college students and how they are affected by their college experience has been learned from the data gathered in the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP). In this article, CIRP's founder surveys the past, present, and future of the thirty-seven-year-old program. (Contains 12 references.) (GCP)

Originally published in March/April 1996, reviews the interconnections between two national reports, "Involvement in Learning," and the "Student Learning Imperative." Focuses on the issue of shared values and demonstrates how student affairs professionals can utilize the most recent research to realize the full potential of the…

The American Council on Education has been conducting a longitudinal research study to assess the impact of different college environments on the student's development and to provide a source of current, readily available, descriptive information about the student population. The findings presented in this paper are based on the followup of the…

This paper is concerned with the impact of faculty attributes on the college environment. The results of this analysis suggest 3 general conclusions of use to future research on college impact: (1) instruments to obtain student-derived assessments of college climate are useful and valid tools for determining intrinsic attributes of college…

Although diversity of college students may be desirable, the mix of widely differing characteristics, needs, and attendance patterns makes it very difficult to create community and strong peer group relations. When colleges create conditions for strong student bonds and involvement, they may contribute to higher retention. (MSE)

The findings suggest that highly reliable estimates of environmental characteristics can be obtained with scales comprising only a few items. Thus it seems that subject time and expense could be greatly saved if future studies of college environmental characteristics utilize factorially derived scales based on small numbers of items. (Author)

The results suggest that the impersonal environments of the large universities may be inherently conducive to the development of disruptive protest, and particularly of protest that involves violence. Furthermore, the large institutions appear to be less responsive than smaller colleges to such protest. (Author)

First of a 2-part series concerned with: different types of inferential errors, single- vs. multi-institutional studies (MIS), longitudinal vs. cross-sectional data, statistical designs, measurement error effects, and measuring student-environment interaction effects. The best data is obtained from longitudinal MIS on student inputs and outputs,…

While any method of data collection is subject to certain unique types of systematic errors, the investigator has available several techniques for detecting such errors or for minimizing their effects on his conclusions. (Author/JB)

An institution that exists primarily for its own sake--that identifies itself primarily in terms of its resources and reputation--compromises its capacity as an instrument for improving society. Colleges need to transcend their institutional egos and concern themselves with their impact on students and society. (MLW)

This investigation was designed to determine the frequency and extent of student unrest during the 1968-1969 academic year and to identify possible causal factors. The sample consisted of 382 colleges and universities which responded to a questionnaire concerned with the incidence of protest, their mode, the issues involved, the immediate…

A national study of 82 college outcome measures on 25,000 students from 1985-89 looked at the relationship of outcomes, institutional environment (emphasis on institutional, student, or faculty diversity), and campus activism. Results suggest emphasis on diversity in all forms is beneficial to student development and also promotes student…