Issue 26(2)
Assessing
Conditions to Enhance Educational Effectiveness: The Inventory
for Student Engagement and Success. (2005).
George D. Kuh, Jillian Kinzie, John H. Schuh, and Elizabeth J.
Whitt. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 112 pp., $27.00. ISBN # 0-7879-8220-2.
Review
by: Brandi Timmerman
Coordinator
of Academic Advising , College
of Business
Administration
Valparaiso
University
George
Kuh and associates' provide a useful tool for conducting an assessment
of student engagement and success. This book provides a framework
for assessing the on-campus conditions associated with student
success. It also shows the reader how to energize institutional
improvement efforts, inform self-studies for accreditation and
program reviews, and obtain information pertinent to student learning
outcomes. The authors' companion book, Student Success in
College: Creating Conditions That Matter (2005) is a recommended
read before conducting the Inventory for Student Engagement and
Success outlined in this book.
This
text focuses on student engagement and its two key components:
the amount of time and effort students put into studies and the
ways an institution allocates its resources and organizes learning
opportunities. It important to note that readers must determine
if they are ready for the Inventory for Student Engagement and
Success (ISES) before attempting to complete the assessment. The
ISES is "a guide for colleges who wish to examine their educational
effectiveness and a comprehensive, responsive template for scrutinizing
an institution's policies, programs, and practices (9)."
There
are eight guiding principles for using the ISES. These include:
context is everything, the whole is greater than the sum of the
parts, evidence is essential: the more the better, test prevailing
assumptions, cast a wide net, use outsiders to ask hard questions,
focus on what matters to student success, and stay the course.
While these principles are discussed referred to at length, the
reader must reference the authors' original book for in-depth
explanation. It is important that those using the ISES "reinterpret
and adapt the conditions and practices from Student Success
in College to your setting (17)." It is also important to
use the best evidence available and keep the goal in sight.
There
are two halves to the actual assessment. The first half of the
inventory is comprised of diagnostic queries. The second half
of the inventory is benchmarks. These two sections are the most
useful part of the book because they provide vignettes and actual
applications toward completing the assessment. When it comes to
the inventory "ultimately, it's about the culture (39)." Culture
is the tie that binds a university together. The culture must
be integrated into the inventory in order to make it successful.
The
final part of the book discusses logical issues for using the
ISES and ways it can be used to support institutional improvement
efforts. The authors provide examples and applications used to
support research. The ISES should be used as a framework for "probing,
self-regarding queries (79)." Each institution will use the information
presented in different ways and the examples in the book should
be used as a jumping off point.
Overall
Assessing Conditions to Enhance Educational Effectiveness:
The Inventory for Student Engagement and Success is
helpful for institutions seeking to assess student engagement
and success. The book's biggest weakness is that readers must
be familiar with the authors' previous book ( Student Success
in College: Creating Conditions That Matter ) if they are
to really understand and complete the inventory. However, the
examples provided make the book worthwhile if one is willing to
read the previous book.
Reference
Student Success
in College: Creating Conditions That Matter . (2005). George
D. Kuh, Jillian Kinzie, John H. Schuh, Elizabeth J. Whitt, and
Associates. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
