Myers, C., S. Myers, and M. Peters. “The Longitudinal Connections between Undergraduate High Impact Curriculum Practices and Civic Engagement in Adulthood.” Research in Higher Education 60, (2019): 83–110.
CENTRAL TAKEAWAY
Regardless of degree earned, civically engaged 26-year-olds continue to take courses for college credit. During college, the most civically engaged college graduates participated in a community-based course project, received mentorship as part of an academic program experience, were involved in a college internship or co-op, and performed research with a faculty member. Participating in these high impact practices helped all graduates civically engage after college, especially those that were less civically engaged in high school.
SUMMARY
How does participation in high-impact practices during college and exposure to college curricula after college affect civic engagement after college? Using the 2002–2012 Education Longitudinal Study, the authors performed a secondary data analysis on 13,250 individuals whom they followed from high school to about age 26. This study investigated civic engagement as a cluster of variables graduates reported, including whether respondents engaged in unpaid community service activities. High-impact practices examined included participating in a college internship, researching with a faculty member, studying abroad, participating in a community-based course project, enrolling in a culminating senior experience, and receiving mentorship as part of an academic program experience.
In their statistical models, the authors also accounted for many student (i.e., high school behaviors, type, grade point average, parents’ socioeconomic status, race, gender, ACT/SAT scores, and level of civic engagement), college (i.e., institution control, selectivity, major, and extent of volunteering in college), and adulting (i.e., highest degree earned, income, marital status, number of children in the home, living situation, remaining college course-taking behaviors, and the importance adult respondents placed on civic engagement) variables.
The findings offered here will involve results presented in the authors’ final model, which included all of the variables discussed above. Adopting this strategy will enable CIC members to extract the most meaning from the study: All reported relationships hold, regardless of, as examples, participants’ race, gender, major, extent of volunteering in college, marital status, etc.
DISCUSSION OF THE FINDINGS
Across the analytic models, the authors discovered interesting patterns that are relevant for CIC member campuses. Of all the model variables, taking college courses as an adult and having participated in a community-based course project during college were the most important experiences related to adult civic engagement.
The high-impact practices of statistical importance included (in order of effect magnitude): receiving mentorship as part of an academic program experience, participating in a college internship or co-op, and performing research with a faculty member. Participating in these high-impact practices were the most effective for students who entered college less civically engaged: In other words, participating in certain high-impact practices helped adults civically engage after college, especially those that were less civically engaged in high school.
IMPLICATIONS FOR ACTION BY CAMPUS LEADERS
Adults who continue to take college courses are more civically engaged. How do CIC leaders envision their roles as agents of civic change for adults who have completed degrees, even at the highest levels? How might CIC institutions provide affordable, curricular offerings that attract adult students? Nondegree offerings, as well as credentialing and/or providing certifications in certain skills may constitute promising possibilities. Infusing them with the excellent teaching CIC member institutions provide might not only generate revenue by way of FTEs but may help sustain the civic interests of adults.
Assuming adult civic engagement remains a CIC priority, member institutions should prioritize practices where students participate in a community-based course project during college. Other research in this area has recently suggested that these experiences be place-based, drawing on the interests of students who selected their college based, at least partially, on where that college was located. Having students engage in the community in which the college is located seems to provide an important pathway for their development as civically engaged adults after college.
Of course, other practices mattered as well. Receiving mentorship as part of an academic program experience, participating in a college internship or co-op, and performing research with a faculty member all shared significant relationships with becoming a civically engaged adult. Institutionalizing civic engagement as a priority may involve some difficult resource-driven decisions: In the context of civic engagement, prioritizing these practices over others makes good empirical sense.
Regarding messaging, CIC member institutions with opportunities for adults to take courses and the practices mentioned above might want to brand themselves as stewards of civic engagement, not only for their own students but society as well. “Making citizens” as a message would be consistent with findings from this study and would serve as a powerful reminder of the importance of a civically oriented CIC education.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Carrie B. Myers is a professor in the Department of Education at Montana State University.
Scott M. Myers is a professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Montana State University.
Martha Peters is the director of administration and finance in the College of Nursing at Montana State University.
RECOMMENDED FOLLOW-UP LITERATURE
Colby, A., T. Ehrlich, E. Beaumont, and J. Stephens. Educating Citizens: Preparing America’s Undergraduates for Lives of Moral and Civic Responsibility. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2003.
Kligo, C. A., J. K. Ezell Sheets, and E.T. Pascarella. “The Link between High-Impact Practices and Student Learning: Some Longitudinal Evidence.” Higher Education 69, (2015): 509–525.
Morphew, C. C., and M.Hartley.“Mission Statements: A Thematic Analysis of Rhetoric across Institutional Type.” The Journal of Higher Education 77 no. 3, (2006): 456–471.