Survey of Entering Student Engagment Initiative
The SENSE instrument, developed by the Community College Leadership Program at The University of Texas at Austin, is administered during the fourth and fifth weeks of the fall semester in randomly selected classes consisting of first-college-level English and math courses and developmental education courses (excluding ESOL courses). Dual credit high school and distance learning classes were excluded from the sample. Table A compares the demographic breakdown of the SENSE respondents to Richland’s fall 2007 credit demographics and to the 2007 SENSE cohort colleges.
Richland |
Richland Returning Respondents |
Richland Student Body |
SENSE Cohort Colleges Population |
|
Male |
45% |
43% |
44% |
40% |
Female |
55% |
57% |
56% |
60% |
Race or Ethnicity |
|
|
|
|
Native American |
1% |
1% |
0% |
0% |
Asian |
8% |
10% |
13% |
5% |
African American |
18% |
20% |
19% |
16% |
Anglo |
34% |
27% |
40% |
42% |
Hispanic, Latino |
24% |
23% |
20% |
30% |
Other |
3% |
6% |
5% |
3% |
International Student |
12% |
14% |
2% |
4% |
Age |
|
|
|
|
18 to 19 |
69% |
24% |
16% |
21% |
20 to 21 |
10% |
23% |
20% |
20% |
22 to 24 |
6% |
18% |
19% |
17% |
25 to 29 |
7% |
19% |
16% |
15% |
30 to 39 |
5% |
11% |
15% |
15% |
40 to 49 |
2% |
5% |
7% |
8% |
50 to 64 |
0% |
1% |
4% |
3% |
65 and over |
0% |
0% |
4% |
1% |
Enrollment Status |
|
|
|
|
Part-Time |
40% |
51% |
69% |
66% |
Full-Time |
60% |
49% |
31% |
34% |
Table A
The demographics for Richland’s entering respondents demonstrated an under-representation of Asian and Anglo students and an over-representation of international students compared Richland’s fall 2007 student population. Due to the SENSE’s course-based sampling method, full-time students were over-represented in the entering respondent group (60%) versus the overall Richland population (31%). Comparing Richland’s entering respondents to the SENSE cohort shows that Richland had fewer Anglo and Hispanic students and more international students. The greater representation of Hispanics in the SENSE cohort can be attributed to the number of Texas colleges that participated in the pilot. Younger students, age 18 to 19 years old, comprised the great majority of Richland’s entering respondents (69%). Following are successes and opportunities for improvement from the 2007 SENSE results. Additional details can be found in Attachment I and are organized to mirror the path students take as they enter college: first impressions, entry processes, orientation and student success courses, and classroom experiences and academic support.
Successes:
Of Richland’s entering respondents:
Opportunities for Improvement:
Of Richland’s entering respondents:
Richland College also participated in the national field test involving 109 colleges in fall 2008. Benchmark data will be available on the college web site mid-spring 2009.
The link to the student surveys page is http://intranet.dcccd.edu/intranet/dcccd/rlc/student/ . For additional information contact Bao Huynh at BHuynh@dcccd.edu.
Additional General Information About the Survey
As community and technical colleges focus on improving student outcomes, they need a way to systematically understand the earliest experiences of their students. CCSSE’s Survey of Entering Student Engagement (SENSE) provides this information. Developed by national experts in the field of community and technical college research and practice, SENSE is designed to provide a clear picture of both student behaviors in the earliest weeks of college and the institutional practices that affect students during this critical time. SENSE is a research-based tool with multiple uses:
Diagnosis — identifying the areas in which entering students are thriving and those in which they are struggling, so colleges can target improvement efforts.
Benchmarking — examining college results in light of national benchmarks for effective educational practice with entering students.
Monitoring — documenting and improving institutional effectiveness over time and helping colleges examine the impact of interventions aimed at improving students' earliest collegiate experiences.
Accountability — demonstrating institutional results and progress in supporting entering students. Institutions may choose to use SENSE data to respond to accrediting agencies’ calls for institutional self-study and quality improvement strategies.
Survey Instrument
The SENSE survey includes items eliciting information from students about their first impressions of the college; intake processes such as admissions, registration, assessment, placement, orientation and financial aid; how they spend their time as they begin college; how they assess their earliest relationships and interactions with instructors, advisors, and other students; what kinds of work they are challenged to do; how the college supports their learning in the first few weeks; and so on.
In addition to the core SENSE survey, member colleges can elect to add up to two sets of special focus items (10-12 items per set). For the fall 2008 field test, three sets of special focus are available.
A databank of special focus item modules will be available to SENSE member colleges focused on a variety of topics beginning with the first national administration in fall 2009.