Assessment Processes

Office of Assessment
226 Anderson Hall
Manhattan, KS 66506
(785) 532-5712
(785) 532-2120 (fax)
assessment@ksu.edu

National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE)

Purpose and Background

Since its inception in 2000, the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE; pronounced "nessie") has been evaluating four-year colleges and universities around the nation to measure the extent to which students engage in effective educational practices that are empirically linked with learning, personal development, and other desired outcomes such as student satisfaction, persistence and graduation (NSSE 2007 overview). The NSSE was developed under the premise that the frequency in which students engage in effective behaviors is an indicator of good educational quality. The College Student Report captures first-year and seniors behaviors to determine an institution's level of engagement. For more information about the NSSE, please view the following link: NSSE Home. To view samples of this survey, please visit the following website at: http://nsse.iub.edu/html/survey_instruments_2009.cfm

Information on Survey Administration, Survey Sample, and Response Rate

2006 - 2007 Academic Year

The NSSE survey was administered electronically to a random sample of first-year and senior students to complete.
A total population of 4,031 first-years and 4,623 senior students information were sent to NSSE; 2,099 first-year and 1,957 seniors were randomly selected to participate.
Completed surveys were submitted by 690 first-year and 802 seniors.
Response Rate:
- First-Year: 33% (NSSE 2007 national response rate:29%)
- Senior: 41% (NSSE 2007 national response rate: 31%)
- Overall: 37% (NSSE 2007 national response rate: 30%)

Use at K-State

The Office of Assessment works with the NSSE organizers each time the survey is administered. Kansas State has administered the NSSE three times since its development, during the spring semester s of 2001, 2004, and 2007. In 2001, K-State was 1 of 321 universities and institutions to use this survey, in 2004, 473 institutions participated, while in 2007 the number grew to 593.

University, College, and Departmental reports are generated showing frequencies, means, demographics, and benchmarks (comparing colleges at K-State and comparing K-State to its peer groups).