Updated on August 19, 2009
Each year, the National Survey of Student Engagement asks freshmen and seniors at participating schools to answer questions about their educational experiences–their classroom participation, interaction with faculty, and time spent on various enriching activities, for example. The goal is to help schools see how engaged their students are in activities that lead to learning.
Since the NSSE project was launched in 1999 by George Kuh at Indiana University (with the support of the Pew Charitable Trusts and sponsorship by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching), some 1100 four-year schools have turned in answers to the survey. While most schools have not made the results available to the public, many were happy to provide U.S. News with seniors' responses to a few survey questions.
To see if other schools you're considering take part in the NSSE project, go to http://nsse.iub.edu/nsse_2008/2008-colleges.cfm.
