Evaluating Student Success in Higher Education: A Plea for Needs Assessment

Abstract Information: The concept of student success in higher education is still a relatively new phenomenon. Its historical origins stem from federal legislation increasing higher education access, such as the 1944 Servicemen’s Readjustment Act (G.I. Bill), that provided higher education access to veterans, and the Higher Education Act of 1965, that established guidelines for access and financial assistance for postsecondary education. Discussions of student success in the literature began in the 1970s, focused on institutional retention rates (Astin, 1975), and the Federal Student Right-to-Know and Campus Security Act of 1991 brought student success fully to life with its emphasis on institutional requirements to publish data on educational program quality. Since then, there have been a plethora of additional legislation, amendments, programs, and research on the topic of student success in higher education, including amendments to the Higher Education Act and Pell Grant programs. Research has included pinnacle articles from Tinto and Bean (1993) providing theoretical models on student development and retention and recent studies on motivation, mindset and self-efficacy, just to name a few (Dweck, 2006; Moore, Armstrong & Pearson, 2008; van Dinther, Dochy, Segers, 2011). One area of student success research that has been lacking is understanding what students truly need. There have been a few studies to address this, but most focus on specific student populations (Mirzoev 2014; Tuononen et. All 2019), and very few postsecondary institutions spend enough time considering who their students are, what they need, and how best to serve those needs on the individual level. A potential low-cost, low effort method to assess student needs exists in Altschuld’s (2015) Asset and Capacity Building Needs Assessment. This model is well suited for current higher education contexts focused anti-deficit and strengths-based frameworks and could be implemented in institutions of higher education to gain a better understanding of student needs in relationship to institutional assets and capacities. With relatively minimal time and personnel, institutions can adopt simple needs assessment methods, such as two-way focus groups, five minute interviews, and pulse surveys, to gain a better understanding of their students and how to meet their needs. Armed with this information, institutions can make better choices and create programs more likely to help students succeed. This session will provide a brief overview of the literature on evaluating success in higher education, followed by the ways in which evaluating student needs through asset and capacity building models can shore the gap between what students need and what institutions provide. Included in this discussion will be an overview of the most effective methods and methodologies to effectively and efficiently evaluate student needs.

Relevance Statement: Hybrid approaches to needs assessments began in the late 1990’s and has become increasingly common over the last two decades (Altschuld, 2015). Though, in some fields, needs assessments may be less commonly used today, they serve a critical role in understanding the relationship between program participant needs and program offerings and capacity. In the field of higher education, this tool is underused and can provide a plethora of much needed information when it comes to designing higher education programs and offerings, particularly within the realm of student success. Additionally, 2ithin the last 50 years, access to higher education has increased, particularly through improved funding sources, and the ways in which success is measured have shifted (United States Department of Education [USDOE], 2020). Previous to this, funding was tied primarily to enrollment metrics; however, state and federal funding has continued to shift more toward measures of attainment, particularly through retention and graduation rates (USDOE, 2020). The confluence of these characteristics led many institutions of higher education to focus on academic success and academic support. Subsequently, many studies have attempted to gain a better understanding of the levers to success, with analysis ranging from quantitative, statistical analysis of variable predictors to success to theoretical underpinnings of student engagement and relationship building (Anderson, 2014; Arendale, 2004; Beal, 1980; Chism & Banta, 2007; Dansereau, 1985; Grillo & Leist, 2014; Ryan & Glen, 2004; Tinto, 2004; Wells & Henry-Darwish, 2019; Zhao & Kuh, 2004). That said, few of these studies focus on understanding student needs or providing relevant information to institutions on how to design programs or provide supports that meet student needs. This paper will provide answers to those questions, shoring the gap between what we know about student needs and the resources provided to help students succeed.