Does the SENCER approach work? Do students learn better in SENCER courses? What about the SENCER approach helps students gain more in learning, develop positive dispositions towards science, and increase their inclination and capacity to be more civically engaged? What can faculty members do to make continuous improvements in the quality of their courses? How do members of the SENCER community appraise the quality of the SENCER project, itself? How do we know? How can you find out? What assessment and evaluation tools are available from SENCER?

Answering these questions--and developing tools and strategies for obtaining the answers--has been a key feature of the SENCER project from its inception. This section of the SENCER Web site is designed to present evidence of program effectiveness and to provide access to assessment tools and resources.

The Independent (External) Evaluation of the SENCER Project

With supplemental support from the National Science Foundation, SENCER contracted with the University of Colorado, Boulder for a multi-year, independent program evaluation that included the development and validation of the Student Assessment of Learning Gains (SALG) evaluation instrument. Dr. Elaine Seymour has served as the evaluation consultant since SENCER's inception. She and Dr. Timothy Weston have served as the principal investigators of the multi-year evaluation project. The results of their evaluation are contained in a final report issued in December 2006. (You can access a copy of the project report below.)

The results of the evaluation study are most encouraging. Seymour and Weston note that "SENCER's goal of encouraging faculty to teach courses with civic content and innovative pedagogy is a reality." The researchers also confirm that the SENCER reforms are durable, noting that they found that "92% of instructors believed that their courses would be continued in the future, and 80% considered their course part of the permanent curriculum at their institution."

The data provided by >10,000 students in 345 SENCER courses who completed the SENCER-SALG have been analyzed. In addition to the important outcome of helping faculty make "meaningful changes to their instruction," the data tell who gains and what they gain from their study in SENCER courses. The researchers found it significant that:

• Students gained most in the areas of science literacy, followed by general course skills.
• Women gained more than men and non-science majors gained more than science majors on many of the items and composite variables (a fact that the evaluators note "is encouraging evidence given that females and non-science majors have traditionally been underserved or overlooked in many university science programs").
• The patterns of gains were in line with efforts by SENCER to encourage awareness of the link between civic issues and scientific content.
• Roughly a fifth of students who had never engaged in civic activities said they were more likely to participate in these activities after a SENCER course completion.
• Ten percent of students who on the pre-survey were not interested in taking additional science or mathematics courses reported on the post-survey that there were very or extremely interested in doing so.
• Similarly, slightly more than 6% percent now say they would like to consider exploring career opportunities in science and nearly 5% are now "interested in teaching science."

	Access the Final Report on the Evaluation of the SENCER Project (2006) (PDF)
	Access the Executive Summary of the Final Report (2006) (PDF)
	Access an excerpt from the Final Report: Increased Interest in Science Activities (2006) (PDF)
	Access Biosketches of Evaluation Consultants (PDF)
	Access article by Dr. Elaine Seymour: "Tracking the Processes of Change in U.S. Undergraduate Education in Science, Mathematics, Engineering, and Technology" (PDF)

Internal Evaluation Reports

Evaluation is broad and deep within the SENCER project. All sub-awardees are required to file progress and final reports; all Institutes and major program activities have included process evaluations. In addition, from time to time, SENCER commissions "synthesis" reports that feature information on the effects of SENCER participation measured in terms of pursuit/receipt of intramural and extramural support, special recognition, records of tenure and promotion, and other outcomes. A small sample of these materials is presented here:

"Beyond the Institutes: Experience and Achievements of SENCER Alumni"

Richard Keeling's presentation at the annual alumni recognition event at the SENCER Summer Institute 2006 highlights some alumni accomplishments.

Access PowerPoint presentation by Dr. Richard Keeling: Beyond the Institutes: Experiences and Achievements of SENCER Alumni (PDF)