The Tripod

Trinity College, along with six other liberal arts colleges in New England, is currently participating in a research-based assessment of student life after matriculation called the New England Consortium on Assessment and Student Learning (NECASL). Working only with the Class of 2010, 36 students were selected in the fall of 2006 to take part in a series of interviews on a variety of topics. Each semester students at Bates College, Bowdoin College, Colby College, Middlebury College, Smith College, Wellesley College, and Trinity are questioned about a different aspect of college life in the hopes that their feedback will better equip the faculty and administration to teach and provide a healthy living environment. According to Social Sciences Data Services Coordinator Rachael Barlow, there is a different theme to the interviews each year. Questions asked of First-years pertain primarily to transitioning from high school to college. Sophomore year interviews are focused on how students are choosing their major, and juniors are asked about the study abroad process. "The interviews are especially interesting because when you're abroad you really want to share your experiences," she explained. "One really cool part about this study is that faculty are not conducting the interviews themselves, the idea being that the student respondents are most likely to be comfortable talking about their college life with other students," said Barlow. Not a great deal of data sharing has occurred yet between the participating colleges, and so there is no definitive answer yet as to how Trinity compares to its peers. However, Barlow said that students' descriptions of their experiences are mostly positive. In particular, participants enjoy the classes they have taken. One area in which there has been negative feedback is the process of registering for classes. "Some students said they were overwhelmed by the process," said Barlow. "Others who had their roommate or awho had their roommate or an older friend show them how said they had no problem at all." Representatives from the schools meet approximately twice a year to discuss what they are finding and how the research is going. According to Barlow the data from the longitudinal study is "a rare kind of data to have because it's expensive and time consuming." "Because we're talking to 36 students over four years so often, the data is very revealing," she said. Of the 36 students that were originally tapped as First-years, 29 are still participating. Some students have transferred or have asked not to be involved anymore. "[We don't] always get the remaining 29 interviews completed each semester. Sometimes life circumstances on the part of the respondents and those managing the interviews get in the way," said Barlow. "Last semester was particularly difficult, in the context of world events that left the entire campus a little bit dizzy." Barlow also said that NECASL intends to interview all the students an additional time after they graduate. Funding comes primarily from The Teagle Foundation, which has given two three-year grants to NECASL. The first grant began in May 2005 to begin research on the Class of 2010, and the second was given in May 2008 to complete the project. Further grants and funding for more research are up in the air right now.

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