Faculty Advisor Name
S. Jeanne Horst
Description
The goal of the study was to provide an example of propensity score matching techniques within the context of higher education assessment. At our institution, a select number of incoming first-year students participate in major-specific learning communities. Because the decision to join the communities is purely voluntary, one might expect that students who elect to join the program may differ from those who do not. Thus, important covariates related to self-selection into the learning community were identified. Two years of Arts learning community data were analyzed to compare the academic performance and civic-mindedness of learning community students to an arts major comparison group of students using both traditional approaches (e.g., mean comparisons) and propensity score matching. Learning community students and Arts majors did not differ on the outcomes. Although groups did not differ, this study was a thorough evaluation that accounted for numerous variables believed to be related to self-selection into the learning community.
Included in
Birds of a Feather Learn Together: Learning Community Outcomes Assessment Using Propensity Score Matching
The goal of the study was to provide an example of propensity score matching techniques within the context of higher education assessment. At our institution, a select number of incoming first-year students participate in major-specific learning communities. Because the decision to join the communities is purely voluntary, one might expect that students who elect to join the program may differ from those who do not. Thus, important covariates related to self-selection into the learning community were identified. Two years of Arts learning community data were analyzed to compare the academic performance and civic-mindedness of learning community students to an arts major comparison group of students using both traditional approaches (e.g., mean comparisons) and propensity score matching. Learning community students and Arts majors did not differ on the outcomes. Although groups did not differ, this study was a thorough evaluation that accounted for numerous variables believed to be related to self-selection into the learning community.
