Selective Liberal Arts Colleges Research Articles

Student Evaluations of Teaching as a Predictor of Teaching Effectiveness in a Selective Liberal-Arts College

Previous research has shown mixed results regarding the relationship between Student Evaluations of Teaching (SETs) and teaching effectiveness. Although the literature on this topic is extensive, it appears that none of the scholarship was conducted at small, selective, undergraduate institutions in which teaching is prioritized. In the current research, we explored the association between student evaluations and teaching effectiveness at such an institution. Data were collected at a selective liberal-arts institution of approximately 2200 students in the Northeastern United States. Participants were 139 students who had enrolled in both Calculus I and Calculus II. Seven different professors taught Calculus I, while seven different professors taught Calculus II. Linear regression analyses indicated that, for one of the three subscales of the College’s SET, there was a positive association between SET scores of the faculty member in Calculus I and student grades in Calculus II. Machine-learning analyses confirmed this association and indicated that the relationship was strongest for students with overall grade-point averages near the cohort’s mean. Our research thus adds to the scholarship broadly but also suggests that assessment of SETs in smaller, selective teaching-oriented institutions is an important direction for future scholarship.

The Pleasures and Perils of Staying in Paradigm: A Bourdieusian Take on the Selective Liberal Arts College

The Pleasures and Perils of Staying in Paradigm: A Bourdieusian Take on the Selective Liberal Arts College

“We Don't Know How to Do This”: Rural Parents' Perspectives on and Roles in Enrollment at a Private, Selective Liberal Arts College

AbstractRural youth trail their non‐rural counterparts in college enrollment and attainment, especially for degrees from selective schools; these gaps further spatial inequality in the United States. Much research has focused on rural parents as impediments to rural college‐going: many rural parents did not attend college, and their educational aspirations for their children are lower than those of urban parents. However, every year, thousands of rural students do head to college, even to selective schools, and little is known about their parents' influence on their enrollment. This qualitative study focuses on rural parents without a bachelors degree, investigating the roles they play in their children's aspirations and enrollment at a private, selective liberal arts college and examining their perspectives on this type of school. The results suggest that parents are an important source of social capital, supporting aspirations and enrollment. They also show that these parents see a liberal arts education as a path to a remunerative and rewarding career, and, in supporting their children's college choice, they value factors—financial aid, proximity, and a welcoming school culture—that mitigate the social, cultural, and moral boundaries separating home from college.

Measuring the Effect of Blended Learning: Evidence from a Selective Liberal Arts College

We compare introductory microeconomics courses that employ a blended learning approach to more traditional control courses at a selective liberal arts college. The blended learning courses required students to complete online homework and watch video lectures before problem-based class sessions, while the control courses used paper homework and primarily traditional lecturing. We use the Test of Understanding in College Economics to measure improvement and use the Student Opinion Survey to control for students' self-reported effort and amount of importance placed on the test. We find that students in the blended courses improve more than those in traditional courses.

The Test-Optional Movement at America’s Selective Liberal Arts Colleges

The test-optional movement in the United States emerged largely in response to criticism of standardized admissions tests as inadequate and potentially biased measures of postsecondary promise. Although anecdotal reports suggest that test-optional policies have improved campus diversity, empirical research has not yet confirmed this claim. Consequently, this study employs quasi-experimental techniques to assess the relationship between test-optional policy implementation and subsequent growth in the proportion of low-income and minority students enrolling at adopting liberal arts colleges. It also examines whether test-optional policies increase institutional standing through greater application numbers and higher reported Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores. Results show that, on average, test-optional policies enhance the perceived selectivity, rather than the diversity, of participating institutions.

Examining Factors Influencing Attrition at a Small, Private, Selective Liberal Arts College

Despite a diverse body of literature on college student retention, studies focusing on small, private, selective liberal arts colleges are limited. This study utilized a mixed methodology beginning with logistic regression analyses and followed with a qualitative inquiry that included interviews with students who had not persisted. While variables impacting persistence at selective institutions may differ from other types of institutions, the role of student affairs in student success remains critical.

Young Alumni Donations to a Selective Liberal Arts College: Who Gives?

We examine the factors behind young alumni donations to a selective liberal arts college. Coming from a wealthier background and having less financial need increases giving, but there is no definitive pattern to the effect of differing financial aid on giving. Alumni who majored in economics or government, studied abroad, were 4-year athletes, were members of the Greek system, or had higher GPA’s, contribute more. Students with closer connections to the institution as alumni (living closer, marrying a fellow alum, or through employment) are larger contributors. International and minority American graduates donate less. Giving is higher in key reunion years. A better academic ranking or higher endowment per student leads to lower giving, while athletic team success has little effect. These findings can assist college administrators in their solicitation of donations from alumni and in determination of which programs to protect or enhance during times of budget cutbacks.

Diverse Colleges of Origin of African American Doctoral Recipients, 2001–2005: Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Beyond

The contribution of HBCUs as “colleges of origin,” i.e., where Black doctorates earned their bachelors’ degrees, remains of interest, given the historical role of HBCUs and the current desire to increase the percentage of doctorates awarded to African Americans in all fields. Using national survey data from multiple sources, we estimated which college characteristics predicted later doctoral degree attainment in all fields. We took into account the large number of Black graduates from HBCUs, which make them likely to be colleges of origin, and controlled for standardized test scores, Carnegie classification, and student/faculty ratio. HBCUs were associated with doctorate production more than twice the expected level based on their other average characteristics. In addition, colleges with low student/faculty ratios, higher SAT scores, and historical Carnegie classifications of research universities and selective liberal arts colleges were also associated with a higher percentage of Black graduates later earning doctoral degrees.

Reference Sets, Identities, and Aspirations in a Complex Organizational Field: The Case of American Four-Year Colleges and Universities

This article introduces cluster analysis and reference set analysis as tools for understanding structure, identity, and aspiration in complex organizational fields. Cluster analysis is used to identify the structure of the organizational field in American four-year colleges and universities. The article shows that presidential choices of reference institutions closely parallel the major locations in this structure. By contrast, several widely used classifications of higher education institutions fail to correspond either to the “objective” or to the “perceived” structure of the field. The article also identifies the major locations of presidential discontent within the field, measured as differences between presidents' current and aspiration reference sets. This analysis shows that only presidents in research universities and highly selective liberal arts colleges are content with their current locations. Finally, the article shows that aspirations for change are conditioned by location in the field and that presidents of the stronger institutions within each major category are more likely to indicate mobility aspirations.

Where do the children of professors attend college?

To judge whether better-informed consumers of higher education, the families of faculty, make different choices than other similarly endowed consumers, we compare the pattern of colleges chosen by 4742 children of college and university faculty with the pattern chosen by the children of non-faculty families of similar socio-economic status. The patterns are remarkably different. The children of faculty are more likely to choose research universities and even more likely to choose selective liberal arts colleges. Available evidence does not explain why the differences occur.

Black Student Graduation Rates at the Nation's Selective Liberal Arts Colleges Are Much Higher than the Nationwide Average

Black Student Graduation Rates at the Nation's Selective Liberal Arts Colleges Are Much Higher than the Nationwide Average

Where Are the Liberal Arts

Responses to the College Student Experiences Questionnaire at each of five types of institutions (Selective Liberal Arts, General Liberal Arts, Comprehensive Colleges and Universities, Doctoral Universities, and Research Universities) and at four time periods (1983–86, 1990–91, 1993–96, and 1997–98) show that the percent of students majoring in the basic disciplines that are the foundation fields of liberal education (sciences, humanities, and social sciences) has decreased in the Selective Liberal Arts colleges and has recently increased in the Research Universities. As the gap in the percent of basic field majors has become smaller, so correspondingly student reports of activities and progress toward liberal education outcomes at Research Universities have become more similar to students' responses at Selective Liberal Arts colleges. Two questions are raised and discussed. How do these results relate to widespread critiques of liberal arts colleges and research universities? Are the results of this study representative of an important trend, or might they be due to a limited and possibly unrepresentative sample of students and institutions?

Unraveling the Complexity of the Increase in College Grades From the Mid-1980s to the Mid-1990s

To determine the factors contributing to the widely reported increase in average undergraduate grades, data were analyzed from students from two different time periods: 22, 792 students in the mid-1980s and 29,464 in the mid-1990s. After controlling for student background characteristics and institutional characteristics, it appears that undergraduate grades increased across different types of institutions and major fields, but the increases were not of the same magnitude or due to the same factors. Evidence of grade inflation was found only at research universities and selective liberal arts colleges, while grade deflation occurred at general liberal arts colleges and comprehensive colleges and universities and in the humanities and social sciences. Also contributing to the increase in grades were changes in student characteristics and subtle adjustments in grading reward structures at all institutional types and for all major field clusters. In general, grading reward structures favored White students, female students, and upper-division students. Equally important, students 'academic effort was rewarded consistently across time at all institutions and major fields, with students who invested more time and effort in their studies reporting higher grades.

Tuition and enrollment yield at selective liberal arts colleges

This paper investigates the effect of changes in tuition and fees on the matriculation rate of applicants admitted to a group of selective liberal arts colleges. Our sample is drawn from a detailed data base for 82 liberal arts colleges over the 1988 to 1990 period, compiled by the Higher Education Data Sharing (HEDS) Consortium. We find that an increase in the level of tuition and fees charged by a college causes d significant reduction in the share of admitted applicants who choose to enroll. The elasticity of this relationship is in the neighborhood of one-third, and is somewhat larger for financial aid recipients than for students who did not apply for or did not qualify for aid.

The undergraduate experience: Commonalities and differences among colleges

Item and scale responses of students in 42 colleges to the College Student Experiences Questionnaire were examined to determine the frequency with which students had engaged in a wide variety of college activities. Results suggested that students most commonly attended and carried out activities related to studying and classwork, but typically did not engage in a great many intellectual and extracurricular activities. Students in selective and general liberal arts colleges were more active and involved in their colleges' lives than students in doctoral universities or comprehensive colleges and universities. Community college students were just as active as other students in academic areas, but were far less involved in out-of-class activities.

The Distinctive Scholarship of the Selective Liberal Arts College

(1987). The Distinctive Scholarship of the Selective Liberal Arts College. The Journal of Higher Education: Vol. 58, No. 2, pp. 205-222.

The Distinctive Scholarship of the Selective Liberal Arts College

The Distinctive Scholarship of the Selective Liberal Arts College

Selective Liberal Arts Colleges

(1985). Selective Liberal Arts Colleges. The Journal of Higher Education: Vol. 56, No. 5, pp. 538-554.