Theoretical Foundations and a Research Agenda to Validate Measures of Intercultural Effort

Abstract

The concept of "student effort" is foundational to such commonly used assessments of institutional effectiveness as the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) and the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE). However, the current measure of student effort omits intercultural effort, which is particularly salient to the academic success of students from underrepresented racial-ethnic groups. The engagement construct thus suffers from construct underrepresentation, and the validity of interpretations based on data from surveys of student engagement is questionable. We illustrate potential starting points for developing student effort measures that include intercultural effort as well as institutional efforts to reduce racial bias.

A Conceptual Model on the Impact of Mattering, Sense of Belonging, Engagement/Involvement, and Socio-Academic Integrative Experiences on Community College Students’ Intent to Persist

“…It should be noted that the survey developers have consistently acknowledged that the five benchmarks of effective educational practice constituting them have been described as "summative indices" of select variables, not of latent constructs (McCormick & McClenney, 2012). Hence some of the calls questioning the construct validation of the instruments (Campbell & Cabrera, 2011;Dowd, Sawatzky, & Korn, 2011;Nora, Crisp, & Matthews, 2011a;Porter, 2003) have been noted by the survey developers and others, as inappropriate (McCormick & McClenney, 2012;Pike, 2012).…”

“…Numerous higher education scholars have recognized Rendón's contributions to the literature, even when her validation theory has not garnered the kind of attention of the likes of Vincent Tinto, for example, in explicating why 52 college students stop attending college or why they may experience difficulties (e.g., Barnett, 2010Barnett, , 2011Crisp & Nora, 2010;Dowd et al, 2011;Gildersleeve, 2011;Hurtado, Cuellar, & Guillermo-Wann, 2011;Nora, Urick, & Quijada Cerecer, 2011b;Rendón Linares & Muñoz, 2011;Tinto, 2012a).…”

“…Common among these constructs is the fact that these are written about in the higher education literature with great frequency; are integrated into various college student success and persistence models; and they are oftentimes conceptualized or defined similarly, yet are given a different "label" (Akin, 2009;Astin, 1984Astin, , 1993Barnett, 2010;Berger & Milem, 1999;Bers & Smith, 1991;Braxton & Hirschy, 2005;Braxton & Lien, 2000;Cabrera et al, 1992a;Crisp & Mina, 2012;Crisp & Nora, 2010;Deil-Amen, 2011;DixonRayle & Chung, 2007;Dowd et al, 2011;Feldman, 1993;France, 2011;Freeman et al, 2007;Hausmann et al, 2007;Hausmann et al, 2009;Hoffman et al, 2002;Hurtado & Carter, 1997;Kodama, 2002;Kuh, 2006;Kuh et al, 2008;Lundberg & Schreiner, 2004;Lynch Ervin, 2010;Maestas et al, 2007;Metzner & Bean, 1987;Nora & Crisp, 2012;Nora et al, 2011a;Nuñez, 2009;Pike, 2012;Rendón, 2006;Rendón et al, 2000;Rhee, 2008;Schlossberg, 1989;Strayhorn, 2008Strayhorn, , 2012…”

Examining the Cultural Validity of a College Student Engagement Survey for Latinos

“…Respeto adds complexity in understanding the way that Latino students may approach faculty, comport themselves in the classroom, and interact one-on-one with faculty. Furthermore, such meaning making of Engagement with Studies domain offers educational researchers an opportunity to assess Latino students' intercultural efforts (Dowd et al, 2011;Nuñez, 2009) enacted in achieving academic success despite their own limited educational preparations by high schools, which failed to teach conceptual understanding skills, their perceptions of faculty and teaching assistants' instruction as impersonal, intimidating, and alienating; and their hesitancy when academically struggling to seek out faculty, teaching assistants, or learning support services for assistance (de Cordova & Herzon, 2007).…”

Unpacking the Black Box of Student Engagement: The Need for Programmatic Investigation of High Impact Practices

“…For example, critics of the SSE initiatives, such as Olivas (2011), focus attention on the rise of national student engagement surveys amidst ''the tidal wave of the NCLB-related ethos'' in higher education ''where assessments matter at all levels'' (p. 2) and raise concerns that perhaps the current discourse on engagement may, in fact, do harm to the reform of community colleges and higher education. Other recent critiques have focused on such concerns as the following: the construct validity of SSE measurement scales, especially as evidenced through alternate analyses at the local level; their level of intercorrelation, suggesting they might not measure distinct aspects of student engagement as they propose to; the extent to which they predict desirable student outcomes; psychometric properties of the survey items; and arguments that SSE measures in general are culturally specific and socially exclusionary (Angell, 2009;Campbell & Cabrera, 2011;Dowd, Sawatzky, & Korn, 2011;Hagel, Carr, & Devlin, 2012;Nora, Crisp, & Matthews, 906 D. K. HATCH 2011;Porter, 2011;Porter, Rumann, & Pontius, 2011;Roman, 2006;Roman, Taylor, & HahsVaughn, 2010;Shinde, 2008).…”