Validating the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) at a Research-Intensive University

Abstract

The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) has been used at universities across the U.S. and Canada to gather information about the quality of engagement of first-year students and graduating students. Institutions use NSSE's five benchmarks of effective educational practice to compare themselves with other schools and to focus in on ways to improve the educational experiences of their students. However, studies indicate that these benchmarks may not be a valid way to convey NSSE information. This study was conducted to investigate whether or not NSSE's five-factor model is the best fit for student engagement data collected at a large, public, research-intensive, land-grant university. The five-factor model did not fit the data for the 2008 sample of senior students at this university. Rather, a revised model using six factors instead of five and 21 of 42 items provided a more valid test blueprint. This new model was then tested and found to fit the 2011 sample of senior students at the same university. Discussion regarding use of a nationally collected data at an individual institution is provided.

The Efficacy of an Online Cognitive Assessment Tool for Enhancing and Improving Student Academic Outcomes

“…An engagement scale was created to assess engagement with the OCAT's built-in cognitive learning strategies. Three items were adapted from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) scale, which measures the quality of engagement of students across universities in the United States and Canada, producing an overall internal reliability of .8 (Tendhar, Culver, & Burge, 2013). All other items were developed based on the theoretical understanding of the engagement construct, which has been defined as the amount of time students devote to a desired outcome (Kuh, 2001) as well as their level of collaboration and communication with staff and peers (Coates, 2007).…”

Development and calibration of the student opportunities for deeper learning instrument

“…After conceptualizing the types of school activities in which student opportunities for deeper learning may occur and organizing them into the contexts or domains presented above, as well as identifying the target population and form (i.e., self‐report) of the SODLI, the particular items were identified or created. SODLI items were adapted from various published sources including the National Survey of Student Engagement (Tendhar, Culver, & Burge, ), Measures of Effective Teaching (Kane, McCaffrey, Miller, & Staiger, ), and the Consortium on Chicago School Research's Survey of Chicago Public Schools (Chicago Consortium on School Research, ). In cases where no previously existing item appeared to fit the research needs of the SODLI, original Likert‐type items with four response categories (with anchors 1 = none of these classes and 4 = three or more of these classes ) were written, in keeping with modern research standards (American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association, National Council on Measurement in Education, & Joint Committee on Standards for Educational & Psychological Testing, ) and the Common Core State Standards.…”

Testing Models and Measurement Invariance of the Learning Gains Scale

“…Some levels of distinctiveness and modifications have been suggested by validation studies of student engagement surveys when used for two years and four year college students [6]. There is also evidence that suggests structural modification for the student engagement scale when used in a single institution study as opposed to large scale study [7][8][9]. Regardless of this, however, in higher education research, development and validation of student engagement and self-reported gains scales and cross-cultural comparisons have been rarely studied [10].…”