Office of Academic Planning & Assessment (OAPA) UMass Amherst

Student Life Cycle Assessment

Pre-Enrollment

Admitted Student Questionnaire (ASQ)

The College Board's Admitted Student Questionnaire (ASQ) focuses on the perceptions, expectations, and college decisions of admitted students. UMass Amherst has periodically administered this survey since 1996.

Entry: The First Year

Entering Characteristics

The American Council on Education's Cooperative Institutional Research Program (ACE-CIRP) Freshman Survey focuses on the high school experiences and college expectations of first-year students prior to entering the University. This survey has been administered to all UMass Amherst first-year students for the past twenty-five years.

Learning Communities

• Student Outcomes: The Impact of Varying Living-Learning Community Models.
  Author: Martha L. A. Stassen, Director of Assessment, University of Massachusetts Amherst
  Research in Higher Education, October 2003, Volume 44, Issue 5, p.581, 33pp
  
  This study explores the effect of three distinct living-learning community models on a variety of student experience and academic performance outcomes. Central to the analysis is an investigation of whether there are differences in outcomes for learning communities with different missions and structures, all three of which fall into the "Linked Course" learning community design. Even in the least coordinated, most basic, learning community model, students show more positive outcomes (first semester GPA, retention, first-year experience) than non-learning community students. The fact that simple structures that facilitate student interaction around academic work (even without coordinated faculty involvement) have a positive effect for students of all preparation levels provides encouragement to campus leaders with limited resources who are working to develop methods for improving the undergraduate educational experience on their campuses.
• Living-Learning Communities: Do They Make a "Difference"?, November 2001
• The Patterson Pilot Program: Evaluation of the First Year (1996-97)

Progress

Advising

• Experiences with Academic Advising: A Survey of First and Second-Year Students, April 2005

Diversity

In Spring 2000 UMass Amherst along with nine other public research universities began participating in a national longitudinal study exploring the relationship between students' experiences with diversity (inside and outside the classroom) and a variety of learning outcomes.

• Preparing College Students for a Diverse Democracy

Outcomes

Retention

• Non-Returning First Year Students: Stability and Change in Reasons for Leaving, October 2007
• Presentation: First Year Student's Reasons for Leaving, Fall 2006
• Non-Returning First Year Students: Why They Leave and Where They Go, Feb. 2001
• Student Retention: Comparing Major Public Universities, Winter 1995

Senior Survey

• Instrument
• Survey Design and Methods

Results

• Campus-wide Summary Report
• All Departments A report for all School/Colleges and departments.
• Departmental Profiles A series of tables reporting trend data at the department level. Profiles include survey data reflecting graduating seniors' experiences.
• Applied Learning Experiences: UMass Amherst and other Doctoral Extensive NSSE Institutions.

Alumni

• Moving Forward . . . Looking Back: An Alumni Survey of the Class of 1993

© 2013 University of Massachusetts Amherst. Site Policies.
This site is maintained by The Office of Institutional Research
Accessibility statement

Topics

Quick Links