When Assessment in Student Affairs was first published in 1996, readers found a practical context for viewing the power of assessment across the domain of student services. Since then, John H. Schuh and M. Lee Upcraft have received numerous requests for more specific guidance to assessing and communicating the value of student affairs. This manual continues the work begun in their earlier book and provides a full range of tools for conducting effective assessments. The authors begin with an overview of the assessment process and then detail a range of methodologies, approaches, and issues—explaining how to use them and when to recruit expertise from other campus sources. Drawing from the latest practice and a wealth of case studies, they discuss: Qualitative assessment, including how to conduct focus groups Quantitative assessment, including how to select and design instruments Data collection and analysis, including mailed questionnaires, telephone surveys, and Web-based surveys Assessing diverse needs, satisfaction, outcomes, environments, cost effectiveness, and accreditation Specialized assessment studies, including how to review dropouts, graduates, academic success, and group educational programs Select programs in student services, including first-year programs, recreation programs, financial aid, admissions, residence halls, college unions, health services, career services, counseling services, judicial affairs, and Greek life Organizational and ethical approaches to assessment

A practical, comprehensive manual for assessment design and implementation Assessment in Student Affairs, Second Edition offers a contemporary look at the foundational elements and practical application of assessment in student affairs. Higher education administration is increasingly called upon to demonstrate organizational effectiveness and engage in continuous improvement based on information generated through systematic inquiry. This book provides a thorough primer on all stages of the assessment process. From planning to reporting and beyond, you'll find valuable assessment strategies to help you produce meaningful information and improve your program. Combining and updating the thoroughness and practicality of Assessment in Student Affairs and Assessment Practice in Student Affairs, this new edition covers design of assessment projects, ethical practice, student learning outcomes, data collection and analysis methods, report writing, and strategies to implement change based on assessment results. Case studies demonstrate real-world application to help you clearly see how these ideas are used effectively every day, and end-of-chapter discussion questions stimulate deeper investigation and further thinking about the ideas discussed. The instructor resources will help you seamlessly integrate this new resource into existing graduate-level courses. Student affairs administrators understand the importance of assessment, but many can benefit from additional direction when it comes to designing and implementing evaluations that produce truly useful information. This book provides field-tested approaches to assessment, giving you a comprehensive how-to manual for demonstrating—and improving—the work you do every day. Build your own assessment to demonstrate organizational effectiveness Utilize quantitative and qualitative techniques and data Identify metrics and methods for measuring student learning Report and implement assessment findings effectively Accountability and effectiveness are the hallmarks of higher education administration today, and they are becoming the metrics by which programs and services are evaluated. Strong assessment skills have never been more important. Assessment in Student Affairs gives you the knowledge base and skill set you need to shine a spotlight on what you and your organization are able to achieve.

This unique book is a valuable tool for all student affairs educators. The text opens with an exploration of the history of assessment in higher education, in general, and then student affairs more specifically. Having established a historical perspective, the reader then delves into chapters that align with the Assessment, Evaluation, and Research (AER) competency and accompanying rubric. It provides the reader with a unique approach to learning and understanding AER. It is designed in a format that describes/defines this competency at the foundational, intermediate, and advanced outcome levels; suggests ways to apply this competency in practice through case studies from student affairs; and provides tools for the assessment of competency understanding. All chapters include relevant terminology necessary for understanding, the competency applied to a case study, and an opportunity for self-assessment. While the book is designed for those who are preparing to become student affairs educators and for those who are new to this discipline, it is certainly filled with information and resources for entry-level, mid-level, and senior-level professionals. The text is not only a blueprint but also a global positioning system on assessment, evaluation, and research in student affairs to guide the reader in the process of helping and educating students. The book bridges the gap between who one is today and who one wants to become as a future student affairs educator. As a guidebook, it is a unique and valuable source to aid the student in developing real professional competency.

With the recognition of the integral role of student affairs in student education, and with stakeholders requiring increasing accountability at a time of tight resources, it has become imperative that staff be familiar with and competent in undertaking assessment. This book provides student affairs staff with the grounding they need to integrate assessment into how they design and monitor the programs, services, and activities they create to contribute to students’ development. This book is intended both as a text for student affairs and higher education master’s programs, and as a practical guide for early career staff who have had little formal preparation in assessment. It can be used for self-study or in professional development workshops. For divisions, departments, or units getting started with assessment, the discussion questions at the end of the chapters can engage staff in the process of developing an effective assessment culture. This book provides a thorough introduction to all aspects of assessment, assuming no prior knowledge, and illustrated throughout with examples of application in student affairs settings. Key elements include: • Takes into account the latest standards and competencies defined by AAC&U, ACPA, AER, CAS, NASPA, and others • Introductory and comprehensive • Provides essential background and theory • Covers preparation, planning and design • Describes the full range of assessment methods • Introduces principles and methods of qualitative and quantitative analysis • Guidance on using and sharing results • Addresses cultivating and sustaining a culture of assessment • Considers ethical and political concerns • Covers use of technology • Illustrated throughout by examples of practice in student affairs.

Co-published with ACPA, College Student Educators International and NASPA, The National Association of Student Personnel Administrators, Inc. img width="118" height="50" src="/sites/stylus/images/imgACPA.jpg" img width="118" height="40" src="/sites/stylus/images/imgNASPA.jpg" The need for the new role of student affairs assessment coordinator has emerged in response to the increasing demand for outcomes information, the proliferation of data, and the recognition that coordinating this work within divisions is of paramount importance. For those taking on this role, this book constitutes a practical guide to leading and implementing an assessment program – whether doing so full- or part-time, as an individual or in a multi-person office, or whether reporting to or being in positional leadership. Recognizing that this function that is new to student affairs, and that those who take it on frequently find themselves in an in-between world, being both embedded with, but also distinct from, their divisional colleagues, this book first addresses the common challenges and issues related to defining and implementing the role and cultivating a culture of assessment. It then deals with the practicalities of creating systems and structures; developing assessment skills throughout the organization; and creating an integrated model for measuring progress towards strategic planning goals, and for informing decision-making and resource allocation. The book concludes with guidance on leading and maintaining ethical standards related to data collection, storage and sharing for the division, and on navigating the dynamic political environment that assessment professionals will encounter.

To be effective managers, student affairs professionals must understand the structures and processes that form the organizational context in which they work, and must be able to work within them. These structures are often characterized by a rigid division of labor and an expectation that good managers can predict the outcomes of their efforts and can and should exercise control over the inputs. However, to be effective leaders, they must be able to perceive new possibilities beyond those structures and expectations. How can they do both? Rethinking Student Affairs Practice offers an answer to that question. Love and Estanek challenge their readers to perceive their responsibilities, institutions, and relationships through multiple lenses. They have developed a model for change based in four concepts that will help their readers do this. The four concepts are valuing dualisms, transcending paradigms, recognizing connectedness, and embracing paradox.

The landscape of student affairs in American higher education has increasingly become multidimensional due to more diversity of student population and more complex issues students bring to campus. This new fifth edition is designed to equip student affairs professionals to understand and know well not only the philosophy, history, mission of student affairs, and that their practice is theory-based and outcome-oriented but also that their role and function are influenced by the shifts in philosophy, mission and strategies, theories, and nature of American higher education. With most chapters substantially rewritten, this edition has included three brand new chapters which cover functional areas of fraternity and sorority life, collegiate recreation, and assessment and student learning. These three chapters are very unique in that student affairs mission, values, and organizational structure are clearly presented about these functional areas. In addition to the new chapters, the text has also expanded its content to international students, adult students, veteran students, and students with disabilities. This edition has been integrated with the most recent literature, professional standards, and critical issues in student affairs that have occurred since publication of the previous edition in 2010. The book is designed for both Master’s- and Doctoral-level students in need of an overview of student affairs functional areas. It can also be used as a teaching tool by middle- and high-level administrators who supervise interns or staff for professional development. Additionally, the text will also be useful to experienced student affairs administrators who wish to keep abreast of the current trends and issues. In the past 25 years, four editions of this book were published and each edition has been a valuable tool to serve as a primer for students, faculty, and professionals in their learning, teaching, and practice. This outstanding fifth edition is not only inheriting the wisdom of the original contributors but also flourishing the essence of the mission and values of student affairs in American higher education.

The bestselling student affairs text, updated for today's evolving campus Student Services is the classic comprehensive text for graduate students in student affairs, written by top scholars and practitioners in the field. Accessible and theoretically grounded, this book reflects the realities of contemporary practice in student affairs. This new sixth edition has been updated throughout to align with current scholarship, and expanded with four new chapters on student development, crisis management, programming, and applications. Twenty new authors join the roster of expert contributors, bringing new perspective on critical issues such as ethical standards, campus culture, psychosocial development, student retention, assessment and evaluation, and much more. End-of-chapter questions help reinforce the material presented, and unique coverage of critical theoretical perspectives, counseling and helping skills, advising, leadership, environmental theories, and other useful topics make this book a foundational resource for those preparing for a student affairs career. The student affairs staff has the responsibility for a vast array of services and support roles for students on every type of campus. This book provides a thorough overview of the field's many facets, with invaluable real-world insight from leading practitioners. Understand the theoretical bases of development, learning, identity, and change Delve into the organizational frameworks vital to any institution Learn the historical context of higher education and the student affairs role Master essential competencies including professionalism, supervision, crisis management, and more As colleges and universities offer more and more services to an increasingly diverse student population, the responsibility for these programs falls to student affairs educators. The role requires a broad skill set, and conceptual grounding in a number of disciplines. Student Services provides the most complete overview of the foundations, philosophies, ethics, and theories that guide today's student affairs professional.

While there is consensus that institutions need to represent their educational effectiveness through documentation of student learning, the higher education community is divided between those who support national standardized tests to compare institutions’ educational effectiveness, and those who believe that valid assessment of student achievement is based on assessing the work that students produce along and at the end of their educational journeys. This book espouses the latter philosophy—what Peggy Maki sees as an integrated and authentic approach to providing evidence of student learning based on the work that students produce along the chronology of their learning. She believes that assessment needs to be humanized, as opposed to standardized, to take into account the demographics of institutions, as students do not all start at the same place in their learning. Students also need the tools to assess their own progress. In addition to updating and expanding the contents of her first edition to reflect changes in assessment practices and developments over the last seven years, such as the development of technology-enabled assessment methods and the national need for institutions to demonstrate that they are using results to improve student learning, Maki focuses on ways to deepen program and institution-level assessment within the context of collective inquiry about student learning. Recognizing that assessment is not initially a linear start-up process or even necessarily sequential, and recognizing that institutions develop processes appropriate for their mission and culture, this book does not take a prescriptive or formulaic approach to building this commitment. What it does present is a framework, with examples of processes and strategies, to assist faculty, staff, administrators, and campus leaders to develop a sustainable and shared core institutional process that deepens inquiry into what and how students learn to identify and improve patterns of weakness that inhibit learning. This book is designed to assist colleges and universities build a sustainable commitment to assessing student learning at both the institution and program levels. It provides the tools for collective inquiry among faculty, staff, administrators and students to develop evidence of students’ abilities to integrate, apply and transfer learning, as well as to construct their own meaning. Each chapter also concludes with (1) an Additional Resources section that includes references to meta-sites with further resources, so users can pursue particular issues in greater depth and detail and (2) worksheets, guides, and exercises designed to build collaborative ownership of assessment. The second edition now covers: * Strategies to connect students to an institution’s or a program’s assessment commitment * Description of the components of a comprehensive institutional commitment that engages the institution, educators, and students--all as learners * Expanded coverage of direct and indirect assessment methods, including technology-enabled methods that engage students in the process * New case studies and campus examples covering undergraduate, graduate education, and the co-curriculum * New chapter with case studies that presents a framework for a backward designed problem-based assessment process, anchored in answering open-ended research or study questions that lead to improving pedagogy and educational practices * Integration of developments across professional, scholarly, and accrediting bodies, and disciplinary organizations * Descriptions and illustrations of assessment management systems * Additional examples, exercises, guides and worksheets that align with new content

Foundations of Student Affairs Practice is an essential resource that explores the purposes of higher education, the theories that provide a foundation for student learning and growth, and the experiences that contribute to student learning. Florence Hamrick, Nancy Evans, and John Schuh—three preeminent leaders in the field—show how student affairs professionals can provide a more meaningful and holistic educational experience for their students.