Recent research has uncovered significant concerns about the validity of some types of college student self-reports. This study examines the extent to which student reports about a critical type of college experience--good teaching practices--may be biased as a function of students' intellectual orientations and cognitive reasoning abilities.…

Using data from the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education (WNS), this study examined the college experiences and cognitive outcomes of non-native English speaking (NNES) students. After an extensive control of precollege and college level influences, results indicate that NNES students had a lower level of participation in collaborative…

In higher education it is sometimes hard to ignore the doom and gloom combination of shrinking budgets and expanding accountability. Education is also in the midst of a conversation about teaching and learning that encompasses a range of innovative pedagogies, assessments, and high impact practices. Organizations such as the Association of…

Analyzing data from the Wabash National Study, we use probit models while adjusting for sample selection to estimate the influence of effective instructional behaviors on graduating from college. Net of a host of potential confounders, we find that exposure to effective instruction significantly predicts graduating from college in four years. We…

This study examined the effects of good teaching practices on post-baccalaureate degree aspirations using logistic regression techniques on a multi-institutional, longitudinal sample of students at 4-year colleges and universities in the USA. We examined whether eight good teaching practices (non-classroom interactions with faculty, prompt…

Regarding collegiate experiences, several studies have examined the effects of diversity experiences on educational, psychosocial, and other college outcomes (Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005). However, there exists a limited body of research, which has focused on the impact of those types of experiences on leadership development among students…

This article reports on a study that explored whether diversity experiences influence students' attitudes toward literary activities during the first year of college. Interactional diversity and attending a diversity workshop had a positive net influence on the outcome measure. Exposure to curricular diversity, however, had only a chance effect on…

Understanding the developmental issues first-time college students face is critical for scholars and educators interested in learning and development. This purpose of this study was to investigate the differential impact of first-year college experiences on the moral reasoning development of 1,469 students in moral transition versus those in moral…

An extensive body of correlational and experimental evidence has demonstrated the positive (and perhaps causal) link between different dimensions of effective postsecondary classroom instruction and both course-level learning and more general cognitive growth. In this chapter, the authors present evidence from a longitudinal study of first-year…

Using the principles of good practice in undergraduate education defined by Chickering and Gamson (1987, 1991), this study examined the role of institutional type in African-American students' experiences. Controlling for confounding influences, students attending historically Black colleges reported significantly greater levels of good practices…

This multi-institution, longitudinal study investigated relationships between various experiences in the second and third years of college and students' openness to diversity and challenges to their beliefs and attitudes. The strongest positive influences on openness to diversity and challenge were precollege openness to diversity, student…

Using multi-institution data and a longitudinal, pretest-posttest design, this study investigated the impact of honors programs on student experiences of good practices in undergraduate education as well as cognitive development in the first year of college. We found students in honors programs advantaged in terms of the good practice measures…

This study examined whether African-American students who attend historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have different experiences and perceive the campus climate differently than African American students who attend predominantly white institutions (PWIs). The study also examined whether differences in experiences and perceptions of…

A high level of informal contact with faculty members by college freshmen was associated with positive views of their academic and non-academic lives and persistence at the institution. (MM)

In the minds of most people, the best colleges are those that are the most selective. The purpose of this document is to discover if students at more selective institutions have or take greater advantage of learning opportunities. Two independent datasets were used to research this idea. The first is the National Study of Student Learning (NSSL),…