Student satisfaction, learning and success; why outcomes matter

Since I started in student affairs assessment nearly a decade ago, I’ve seen our focus shift from student satisfaction and needs assessment to student learning outcomes assessment.

These assessment tactics aren’t mutually exclusive, but they each take a distinctly different level of collective focus and effort on our campuses.

In recent years student affairs professionals have done a convincing job of identifying the impact that our programs, services and activities have on our students’ educational experience while in college.

The final frontier, I believe, is drawing a clearer connection between our work in student affairs and our students’ success metrics (ex: retention, graduation, career placement, and life skills) during college and following their graduation.

Of Gallup’s “Big Six” college experiences, student affairs contributes to at least one third of them. The recently released Gallup-Purdue Index 2015 Report highlights whether college graduates think their education was worth the cost, whether they were well-equipped to find good jobs and whether they were prepared to lead healthy, fulfilling lives after college.  Student affairs is an important steward of an enriched college experience, full of high impact practices for today’s student.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Lumina Foundation have been championing efforts on college campuses that contribute to greater retention and improved graduation rates, especially among historically disadvantaged or “at-risk” students. 

In much the same way that we leverage assessment findings to reinforce the efficacy of our programs and services, connecting these same programs and services to success metrics like the ones identified by the Gates and Lumina Foundations further underscores the important role of student affairs professionals as educators and partners in our institutions’ teaching and learning enterprise.

Student affairs assessment professionals have a unique opportunity to provide important insight and leadership at the intersection of our own program-level data and outcomes that contribute to our student’s success.

If student affairs programs, services and activities really do create “life-long learners,” let’s prove it!

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