NSSE 2008
National Survey of Student Engagement

First year students and seniors
Classes of 2008 and 2011

Now in its ninth year, the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)* annually provides comparative standards for determining how effectively colleges are contributing to learning. The fifteen-minute online survey focuses on how first year students and seniors spend their time in college and the extent to which they engage in behaviors associated with the desired outcomes of a college education. The results provide information about the degree to which an institution provides its students with a high level of academic challenge, active and collaborative learning experiences, high-quality student-faculty interactions, enriching educational experiences, and a supportive campus environment. St. Olaf College has participated in NSSE four times since 2001. For the first time, beginning with NSSE 2008, St. Olaf is making its benchmark results and general respondent information available to the public on this website.

General Information:

All links below, with more detailed survey response data, are available internally only. Please note that St. Olaf's detailed NSSE results are confidential and for internal college use only. Results must not be cited in papers, reports or documents disseminated externally or posted on websites which may be accessed from outside the College campus.

Data Summaries:

St. Olaf's detailed survey item response data, in comparison to an aspiration group of 30 Baccaluareate-Arts & Sciences institutions and a peer group of 23 Baccaluareate-Arts & Sciences institutions.

  • Respondent Characteristics: the details of response rates and sampling errors as well as respondents' demographic details of gender, race/ethnicity, etc.
  • Benchmark Comparisons: the benchmark scores as well as the frequency distributions and mean comparisons on all survey items associated with each benchmark.
  • Frequency Distributions: the counts and weighted percentage of students responding to each option in all survey items.
  • Mean Comparisons: the weighted arithmetic average of student responses on all survey items.

 

* About NSSE: A link to the NSSE website at Indiana University, with complete information about the content of the instrument, its development, its theoretical framework, and the ways in which institutions have used its results for institutional improvement. For NSSE's description of the five benchmarks and the survey items that make up the scores, please see this webpage. For more information about the methodology NSSE used for the construction of the 2008 benchmarks, please see this webpage.