The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE, or "Nessie") is gaining increased recognition and prominence as a measure of institutional effectiveness that is more authentic relative to traditional methods that focus on relatively tangential and indirect criteria pertaining to resources and reputation (e.g., those employed by publications like U.S. News and World Report).  The NSSE is currently in its sixth year of administration.  Its development has been guided by decades of empirical research on college student outcomes; the NSSE focuses our attention on aspects of the undergraduate experience that "make a difference" relative to student success.  More specifically, the NSSE measures:

1. The extent to which students engage in activities that are known to be associated with a wide range of desired learning and developmental outcomes including persistence and graduation, and
2. Institutional conditions that are conducive to such engagement.

The NSSE has been administered in the College three times (i.e., during the spring semesters of 2001, 2002, and 2004).  Research briefs were produced by the Office of College Assessment following each of the three administrations:

• NSSE Research Brief, Spring 2004
• NSSE Research Brief, Spring 2002
• NSSE Research Brief, Spring 2001 (abbreviated report for students)
• NSSE Research Brief, Spring 2001

The NSSE Research Briefs focus on five NSSE Benchmarks of Effective Educational Practice.  Those five Benchmarks summarize the most important aspects of undergraduate education in terms of five broad indicators.

Additionally, "item-level data charts" are available from the Office of College Assessment.  Those summarize students' responses to each survey item, separately for freshman and seniors, with comparisons to "all four-year institutions nationally" and to a six-member group of peer institutions.