Development and Initial Validation of the Student Strengths - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Development and Initial Validation of the Student Strengths Inventory: A Measure of Non-cognitive Variables that Impact Student Performance and Retention Wade Leuwerke, Ph.D. Elma Dervisevic, BS Drake University

Graduation and Retention Rates 34% - Four-year graduation rate at two-year institutions • (Swail, 2004) 53% - Six-year graduation rate at four-year institutions • (Carey, 2004) First to second year retention rates • (ACT, 2009) Selective 82.2% Traditional 71.5% Open 65.1% Two-Year 53.9%

Student Success Models  Primary focus on cognitive factors (ACT, HSGPA)  Pre-enrollment situational (e.g., SES)  Post-enrollment situational (e.g., Housing)  Non-cognitive/motivational (e.g., engagement)  10 non-cognitive variables that are strong predictors of student outcomes  Different predictors for retention vs. performance  Approximately 4 – 6 of these offer significant incremental validity over standardized tests and HS GPA  Robbins et al., (2004)

SSI Development  Rational and factor analytic methods  Homogeneous and objective measures of six factors • Academic engagement • Social comfort • Academic self-efficacy • Resiliency • Campus engagement • Educational commitment  Initial pool of 243 items developed by team of 6 researchers  Reduced to 81 items through consensus  10 – 14 items for each construct  1 – 6 (strongly disagree – strongly agree)

Methods  Administered to N = 760 first-year college students at two large western universities (one urban commuter and one rural residential)  45% men and 55% women  Caucasian (65%), Mexican/Chicano (9%), multiracial (5%), Asian American (5%), American Indian (5%), Puerto Rican/Cuban/Other (3.4%) and African American (2.6%)  Over 8,000 students included in predictive modeling analysis

Analysis  Factor Analysis  Principal axis factoring with oblique rotation  6 factor structure converged in 11 iterations  Accounted for 45% of variance among items  Reliability  Internal Consistency  Construct Validity  Correlation with Student Readiness Inventory  Predictive Validity  Prediction of retention and first semester GPA

Factor Correlations Factor 1 2 3 4 5 6 1 Educational Commitment 1 2 Social Comfort .150 1 3 Resiliency .052 .217 1 4 Campus Engagement .329 .302 .114 1 5 Academic Engagement .320 .090 .142 .178 1 6 Academic Self-Efficacy .376 .186 .177 .316 .336 1

Reliability and Construct Validity  Cronbach’s alphas ranged from .81 to .90  Cross measure correlations SRI CC SA EC SC AD ASC 1 Educational Commitment .58 .11 .09 .23 .38 .10 2 Social Comfort .22 .67 .18 .51 .08 .10 3 Resiliency .04 .14 .50 .05 .03 .27 SSI 4 Campus Engagement .30 .18 .13 . 39 .22 .05 5 Academic Engagement .34 .01 .18 .10 .58 .14 6 Academic Self-Efficacy .41 .13 .18 .23 .39 .37

Reliability and Construct Validity  Scale relations with ACT scores and High School GPA ACT HSGPA 1 Educational Commitment .13 .13 2 Social Comfort .06 .10 3 Resiliency .02 .06 4 Campus Engagement .10 .14 5 Academic Engagement .06 .23 6 Academic Self-Efficacy .10 .28

Predictive Validity 18% ACT + HSGPA Academic Engagement First Semester 28% Academic Self-efficacy GPA Resiliency 20% ACT + HSGPA Academic Engagement First Year GPA 29% Campus Engagement Resiliency

Predictive Validity Educational First to Commitment Second Year Campus Engagement Retention

Predictive Validity Prediction of Academic Outcomes Aturitjon Percent Accurately Identjfjed Random 28.5 ACT Composite Score 28.7 ACT + HSGPA 50.9 HSGPA + SSI Risk 65.5

SW Large Rural Residential

SC Medium Rural Regional Comp

Small MNT West Rural State

Large MW Urban

Student Strengths Inventory Student Strengths Inventory Scales and Sample Items Scale Definition Sample Item Academic The value an individual places on academics and I turn my homework in on time. Engagement attentiveness to school work. Academic Self- An individual’s confidence in his or her ability to I will excel in my chosen major. Efficacy achieve academically and succeed in college. Educational An individual’s dedication to college and the value I see value in completing a Commitment placed upon a college degree. college education. Resiliency An individual’s approach to challenging situations I manage stress well. and stressful events. Social Comfort An individual’s comfort in social situations and I am comfortable in groups. ability to communicate with others. Campus Involvement in campus activities and attachment Being active in extra-curricular Engagement to the college/university. activities in college is important to me.

SSI Summary  Strong reliability and validity  Brief measure of non-cognitive factors  Measures 6 factors critical to student success  Customizable individual student report  Training to support data use models and individual interpretation strategies  Questions: wade.leuwerke@drake.edu www.studentstrengthsinventory.com

References ACT, Inc. (2009). National collegiate retention and persistence to degree rates . Iowa City, IA: Author. Carey, K. (2004). A matter of degrees: Improving four-year colleges and universities . Washington, DC, Education Trust. Swail, W. S. (2004). Legislation to improve graduation rates could have the opposite effect. Chronicle of Higher Education, 50. Robbins, S., Lauver, K., Le, H., Langley, R., Davis, D., & Carlstrom, A. (2004). Do psychological and study skill factors predict college outcomes? A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 130, 261-288.