8 October 2002

Longwood University among few chosen for national education study

Longwood University is one of only 20 institutions nationwide selected to participate in the Documenting Effective Educational Practices (DEEP) project being launched by the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) and the American Association for Higher Education (AAHE). Basically, the main purposes of the project will be to discover what practices enhance the learning process for college students and then to share that information with colleges and universities throughout the nation.

The DEEP project, under the leadership of George Kuh, Director of the National Survey of Student Engagement, Center for Postsecondary Research and Planning at Indiana University, will examine how high performing colleges and universities promote student success. Under the auspices of the newly-formed NSSE Institute for Effective Educational Practice at Indiana University, Project Deep will contribute to the national effort to improve undergraduate education by discovering the programs, policies and practices of colleges and universities that successfully engage their students in learning activities and have strong graduation rates.

Longwood was selected for the project because it was identified as an "educationally effective institution" based upon NSSE benchmark results and "promising persistence and graduation rates." Additionally, the new U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges Survey ranks Longwood with the 10th highest graduation rate (62 percent) among all master's level universities in the South.

Selection to participate in the study is an honor in itself, according to Longwood University Provost Norm Bregman: "We take very seriously the concept of 'value-added' and being invited to be part of this project is evidence of our success. Our students report that they are gaining more from their college experience because they are engaged--with research projects, internships, field experiences, service learning and close interaction between students and faculty."

Over the next two years Project DEEP researchers will look closely at about 20 high performing colleges and universities to learn what they do to engage students in educationally effective practices and support student persistence and graduation. The schools selected for the study meet two primary criteria: (1) they have higher-than-predicted graduation rates, and (2) they have higher-than-predicted NSSE benchmark scores. The results of the study are expected to identify for faculty members, administrators, and governing board members those policies and practices that are especially powerful in helping students succeed in college and to show how information about the student experience can be used to improve academic programs and support services.

Funding for Project DEEP is being provided by Lumina Foundation for Education and the Wabash College Center of Inquiry in the Liberal Arts which was created with a grant from The Lilly Endowment. The other organizations endorsing DEEP include The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, the Pew Forum on Undergraduate Learning, and the Association of American Colleges and Universities.

Additional information about Project DEEP, NSSE, AAHE, and the other organizations supporting the project may be found at http://www.indiana.edu/~nsse/.