Content area
Full Text
To articulate the relationship between campus involvement, educational ethos, and college outcomes in traditional and nontraditional college undergraduates, researchers used data from 21,406 students who completed the ACT College Outcomes Survey. Educational ethos accounted for more variance than amount of involvement alone and it also accounted for more variance in academic outcomes with nontraditional students.
Researchers examining a number of personal, intellectual, and social outcomes in college have consistently identified relationships between student outcomes and campus involvement (Kuh, 1992, 1993b, 1995; Pascarella & Terenzini, 1991; Terenzini, Pascarella, & Bliming, 1996). Often, as a matter of practical measurement, the concept of involvement is associated with the number of hours students engage in campus activities (Astin, 1984, 1993, 1996; Pascarella & Terenzini). Although involvement clearly entails dimensions other than time, it is sometimes difficult to track down the exact nature of the intensity and quality of the students' involvement (Astin, 1993; Pascarella & Terenzini). In fact, Kuh (I 993b) described the complex role of involvement for many undergraduates in his qualitative inquiry and identified more than 10 different outcome areas that students associated with campus involvement outside of class. In this study, we tried to expand on this line of inquiry by considering the interaction of both in-class and out-of-class involvement, the instructional or educational ethos, and the student status (traditional and nontraditional).
Kuh (1993b) defined ethos on a university campus as "a belief system widely shared by faculty, students, administrators, and others" (p. 22). According to Kuh, educational ethos involves aspects of college experience such as faculty-student interaction, living-learning environments in residence halls, and the educational vision of the institution. A strong educational ethos is one where the campus culture contributes positively to personal growth and learning; the belief is that students on campuses with stronger educational climates learn and grow more effectively. Kuh (1992) identified three specific characteristics of a college or university with a "positive" or "strong" educational ethos: "a holistic institutional philosophy of learning, an involving campus culture, and a climate encouraging free expression" (p. 25). Kuh included in his description of positive educational ethos a list of statements, which Graham (1998) consolidated into five major characteristics.
1. Students are involved in their school's academic and social life.
2. Accessible officials take...