Impacts of Good Practices on Cognitive Development, Learning Orientations, and Graduate Degree Plans During the First Year of College

Journal of College Student Development, Jul/Aug 2006 by Cruce, Ty M, Wolniak, Gregory C, Seifert, Tricia A, Pascarella, Ernest T

This study estimated separately the unique effects of three dimensions of good practice and the global effects of a composite measure of good practices on the cognitive development, orientations to learning, and educational aspirations of students during their first year of college. Analyses of longitudinal data from a representative sample of colleges and universities were conducted, and net of a battery of confounding influences, measures of good practices were positively related to a number of first-year outcomes. The magnitude of the effects of these good practices differed by the pre-college characteristics of the students and by the type of institution attended.

In a project sponsored by the American Association for Higher Education, the Education Commission of the States, and the Johnson Foundation, Chickeringand Gamson (1987) synthesized the existing evidence on the impact of college on students and categorized it into seven broad principles for good practice in undergraduate education. These seven principles are: (a) encouraging studentfaculty contact, (b) encouraging cooperation among students, (c) encouraging active learning, (d) giving prompt feedback to students, (e) emphasizing time on task, (f) communicating high expectations, and (g) respecting diverse talents and ways of learning. The influence of Chickering and Gamson's seven principles on the field of higher education has been extensive. In addition to the broad dissemination of the principles to colleges and universities in the U.S. and Canada (Chikering & Ehrmann, 1996; Chickering & Gamson, 1999; Gamson, 1991), there has been widespread assessment of these good practices for policy-making and research. In 1989, Chickering, Gamson, and Barsi, with support from the Johnson Foundation, constructed the "Inventories of Good Practice in Undergraduate Education" as a means for faculty and administrators to assess the extent to which individual practices and campus policies align with the seven principles (Gamson, 1991). These good practices also have been assessed using indicators from previously existing surveys such as the College Student Experiences Questionnaire (Kuh, Pace, & Vesper, 1997; Kuh & Vesper, 1997). More recently, surveys such as the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) and the Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (FSSE) have measured the extent to which students are engaged in these good practices and the extent to which faculty expect students to be engaged in these good practices (Kuh, 2001; National Survey of Student Engagement, 2003).

A large body of evidence exists to support the predictive validity of Chickering and Gamson's (1987) principles for good practice in undergraduate education. Even in the presence of controls for important confounding influences, various measures of these principles for good practice are significantly and positively linked to desired aspects of cognitive and non-cognitive growth during college, and career and personal benefits after college (Astin, 1993; Chickering & Reisser, 1993; Kuh, Schuh, Whitt, & Associates, 1991; Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991, 2005; Sorcenelli, 1991). Recent examples of individual studies supporting the predictive validity of indicators of specific good practices in undergraduate education include the following: studentfaculty contact (Anaya, 1999; Frost, 1991; Kuh & Hu, 1999; Terenzini, Springer, Yaeger, Pascarella, & Nora, 1994); cooperation among students (Cabrera, Crissman, Bernai, Nora, Terenzini et al., 2002; Johnson, Johnson, & Smith, 1998a, 1998b; Qin, Johnson, & Johnson, 1995; Whitt, Edison, Pascarella, Nora, & Terenzini, 1999); active learning (Grayson, 1999; Hake, 1998; Kuh, Pace, & Vesper, 1997; Lang, 1996; Murray & Lang, 1997); academic effort/time on task (Astin; Ethington, 1998; Hagedorn, Siadat, Nora, & Pascarella, 1997; Johnstone, Ashbaugh, & Warfield, 2002; Watson & Kuh, 1996); prompt feedback to students (d'Apollonia & Abrami, 1997; Feldman, 1997); high expectations (Arnold, Kuh, Vesper, & Schuh, 1993; Astin, 1993; Bray, Pascarella, & Pierson, 2004; Whitmire & Lawrence, 1996); and diversity experiences (Kitchener, Wood, & Jensen, 2000; Pascarella, Palmer, Moye, & Pierson, 2001 ; Terenzini et al.; Umbach & Kuh, 2003).

Although collectively these and other studies provide evidence supporting the predictive validity of Chickering and Garrisons (1987) principles for good practice in undergraduate education, there are several limitations to this body of research. First, the effects of a single good practice (e.g., student-faculty interaction) are often studied in isolation, thus potentially biasing the estimates of the effects upward by not accounting for the confounding influence of other good practices. second, studies of the effects of these good practices are often limited to students within a single institution or within a small sample of institutions. Consequently, the generalizability of the results of these studies is limited to students at similar institution types. Finally, studies of the effects of good practices sometimes rely on self-reported gains and do not provide stringent statistical controls for the pre-college background and development of the students. Cautions against the use of self-reported gains in place of pre- and post-measures have been noted elsewhere (Pascarella, 2001). Pre-college measures allow for statistical adjustment for self-selection into college and present a baseline from which to measure gains. Without pre-college measures, one cannot adequately differentiate the effects of an institution's good practices from the effects of the students' pre-college development.