Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 61.88
Liaison Lindsey Kalkbrenner
Submission Date Jan. 31, 2011
Executive Letter Download

STARS v1.0

Santa Clara University
ER-13: Sustainability Literacy Assessment

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 1.00 / 2.00 David DeCosse
Director of Campus Ethics Programs
Markkula Center for Applied Ethics
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Has the institution conducted a sustainability literacy assessment?:
Yes

Did the assessment include a baseline evaluation of students and then a follow-up evaluation of the same cohort?:
No

A copy of the questions included in the sustainability literacy assessment:
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A copy of the questions included in the sustainability literacy assessment :

Copies of the questions are posted on http://www.scu.edu/sustainability/education/fellowship.cfm.


A brief description of how the assessment was developed:

Undergraduate students earned Fellowships in 2008, 2009, and 2010 to conduct this research. Each student worked with the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics, the Office of Sustainability, and expert faculty members to develop the studies. In 2008, a qualitative study was developed to measure how sustainability had penetrated into student culture. This was done through interviews, participant observation, and group interviews. Students, faculty, and staff were not chosen randomly, they were chosen selectively. Each participant was chosen for one or more of the following: to represent a diversity of majors, departments, and job positions, because other informants suggested them as interesting potential interviewees, and/or because the researchers had little to no previous knowledge of one another, and thus might more easily avoid research bias. In 2009, a qualitative study was developed for all undergraduate students. In 2010 this survey, with an additional section specific to the participants, was extended to faculty, staff, and graduate students.


A brief description of how the assessment was administered:

In the 2008 study, 58 students, 2 faculty members, and 5 staff members participated in open-ended interviews. In 2009, a quantitative study was done to counter the qualitative study in 2008 through the distribution of an online survey to all undergraduate students. In 2010, this survey, with an additional section specific to the participants, was extended to faculty, staff, and graduate students with 511 responses (73 faculty 125 staff members, 247 graduate students).


A brief summary of results from the assessment:

In 2008 it was found that the undergraduate students participating in the focus groups varied widely in their views on sustainability. On one end, many students said one should act sustainably as long is it does not interfere with economic health or lifestyle. The other side contained students who were actively involved in sustainability and environmental initiatives on campus. In the 2009 study, it was apparent that students still largely connected sustainability with the environment more than any other aspect of the term (economy, social justice). Largely, students connected sustainable practices to practices that reduced global warming. The study in 2010 confirmed this narrow definition of sustainability as well as a lack of awareness of effective behaviors.


The website URL where information about the literacy assessment is available:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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