Pace Paw Print

Out of all of the colleges and universities nation-wide, Pace is one of approximately 257 colleges to respond to the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)'s request to publish the results of their surveys, which measure student engagement in academic activities.

The request was made this year, despite the fact that the organization was established in 2000 with the goal to enhance college searches for students and parents in the U.S. Out of the nearly 1,200 colleges NSSE has worked with, approximately 257 responded as of November.

U.S.A. Today, who partnered with NSSE and published a guide of the organization and its results, reported that surveys have shown that "the more engaged students are, the more they are likely to learn."

NSSE measures student engagement by asking students to fill about an 85-question survey about their school which cover five categories or "benchmarks: "level of academic challenge"," active and collaborative learning", "student-faculty interaction", "enriching educational experiences" and "supportive campus environment".

Two groups of students participate in these surveys: freshman and seniors. The data collected from each group is used to compare a freshman's experience to a senior's. In Pace's case, the percentage of seniors who felt the criteria was being met in each category was higher than freshman in every category except a "supportive campus environment", suggesting an improvement of their engagement as they spent more time at Pace.

The rest of the 1,200 continue to keep the results confidential, using the data collected as a tool to quietly improve in the benchmark areas.

Reasons for not publishing include fear that the data will be misused, according to U.S.A Today. For example, using the data to rank schools or to "somehow penalize schools with scores that are less than flattering to the naked eye."

NSSE was partially established to respond to pressures from Congress, who has "decried" the lack of information about colleges for students and their parents, as well as growing complaints about the way colleges are ranked by organizations such as U.S. News & World Report, according to U.S.A. Today.

Some complaints claim that U.S. News & World Report concentrate too much on factors such as prestige, exclusivity and wealth, U.S.A. Today reported.

Pace also addressed this issue about a year ago with their publication of "A Blueprint for Campus Accountability: Lessons from the Pace University Experience," which examined the increasing trend toward using assessment to hold colleges accountable for what they do and help prospective students and parents judge them.

"Commonly-used measures of colleges and universities are not the best ones," said former Pace President David Caputo, in an Aug. 2006 Pace press release. "Assessment at Pace tries to gauge actual learning rather than counting imprecise proxies like books in the library or the size of the endowment… We're not afraid to try out these new techniques, and think U.S higher education needs to push the boundaries on this. We want to deliver for our students, and we're starting to have the tools to show it."

They continue to address this issue by publishing their survey results (see "Pace's NSSE Results).

Pace has also designed a new web page which outlines Pace's participation in NSSE.

The NSSE project is grounded in the proposition that the frequency with which students engage in activities that represent effective educational practice is a good proxy for collegiate quality," the website states. "Thus the National Survey of Student Engagement fits perfectly with Pace's efforts to continually assess and improve the undergraduate experience for all its students. "

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