| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 80.87 |
| Liaison | Megan Butler |
| Submission Date | Jan. 26, 2024 |
Macalester College
AC-6: Sustainability Literacy Assessment
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
4.00 / 4.00 |
Megan
Butler Sustainability Director Sustainability |
Does the institution conduct an assessment of the sustainability literacy of its students?:
Which of the following best describes the literacy assessment? The assessment is administered to::
Which of the following best describes the structure of the assessment? The assessment is administered as a::
A copy of the questions included in the sustainability literacy assessment(s):
A list or sample of the questions included in the sustainability literacy assessment or the website URL where the assessment tool may be found:
A brief description of how the literacy assessment was developed and/or when it was adopted:
In 2020 the Sustainability Office initiated a sustainability literacy assessment. Beginning in Fall, 2022 the office has begun to administer the assessment biannually in order to monitor and evaluate campus sustainability literacy over time. The five-minute assessment was created by the Sustainability Office in collaboration with a Faculty/Student research team with guidance from the Office of Institutional Research.
A brief description of how a representative sample was reached (if applicable) and how the assessment(s) were administered :
The Sustainability Office administered the electronic survey by sending requests out in student email lists, posting the link in Macalester's daily newsletter and requesting participation using social media. The ratio of class year respondents is relatively proportional to the breakdown of the student body (ie roughly the same number of respondents are juniors as juniors are part of the student body). A potential bias in the survey is reponse bias- survey participation is voluntary and it is possible that environmentally-oriented students are more likely to participate in the survey compared to their peers. Working with Institutional Research, a survey administration of every two years was established. This means that students should be able to be surveyed twice during their time at Macalesters. Students surveyed as sophomores will be surveyed again as seniors and students surveyed as first-years will be surveyed again as juniors. The next survey will be distributed in Spring 2024
A brief summary of results from the literacy assessment(s):
Our results demonstrate that most students interact with environmental justice and sustainability on campus through their coursework and through campus operations. 100% of respondents were familiar with concepts related to environmental justice. Students were generally familiar with broad concepts related to the impacts and causes climate change, biodiversity loss, waste reduction etc. They became less sure when asked specifics. For example, when asked whether different sources of energy were renewable some students were very familiar with some such as solar and wind, but unclear about others such as waste to energy. More information about renewable energy and how it relates to campus could help improve this confusion.
Interestingly, students were equally likely to learn about sustainability focused topics from on-campus sustainability efforts, from classes, and from peer-led activities. This indicates that providing a variety of opportunities to learn in and outside of the classroom is effective at reaching a wider range of students.
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Website URL where information about the sustainability literacy assessment is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.