The 2011 book Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses has often been misrepresented as evidence that a college education is no longer worthwhile. However, what the book in fact revealed was that the quality of college education is connected to coursework that demands high academic rigor in both reading and writing. The book cited an in-depth longitudinal study of 2,300 students at 29 diverse, 4-year colleges in the U.S. showing that many areas of study in college - particularly business, education, health, and social work – have low classwork expectations which result in minimal gains in measurable skills during college. In contrast, traditional liberal-arts majors (such as literature, natural science, archaeology, psychology, mathematics, history, sociology, etc.) demonstrated markedly higher gains in critical thinking, complex reasoning, and writing skills.
Using survey responses, transcript data, and results from the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA), the study tracked the academic gains of 2,300 students enrolled at four-year colleges and universities. At several points during and then after their college careers, the students took the CLA, a test designed to measure gains in critical thinking, analytic reasoning and other "higher level" skills. The study included only students who graduated from four-year institutions within six years and did not transfer.
In 45% of the students studied, there were no significant gains in critical thinking, complex reasoning or writing skills. The study found a correlation between poor performance on the Collegiate Learning Assessment and unemployment, credit card debt, and likelihood of living with parents.
Many reviews and summaries of the book have swept a crucial finding of the study under the rug: researchers found that students majoring in traditional liberal-arts fields see much higher gains in critical thinking, complex reasoning, and writing skills over time than students in other academic concentrations. Students showing the smallest gains were those who majored in K-12 education, business, social work, and communications. Engineering and computer science majors fell below liberal arts majors in gains, but above education, business and social work. The study tracked data that suggest those much larger gains for liberal-arts majors are a result of greater academic rigor in those fields of study. Most liberal-arts majors are required to write more, and their writing is held to a higher standard by professors in those fields. Based on the study, those majors were more likely to read at least 40 pages per week of material with complex concepts that required high level reading comprehension.
The research also found a direct relationship between academic rigor and gains in learning:
- Students who studied by themselves gained more knowledge than those who spent the most time studying in peer groups.
- Students whose classes included more than 40 pages of reading a week and more than 20 pages of writing a semester gained more than other students.
- Students who spent the most time in fraternities and sororities showed decreased learning.
- Off-campus or extracurricular activities like social clubs and volunteer work showed no relation to gains on CLA
- Students majoring in liberal arts fields had "significantly higher gains in critical thinking, complex reasoning, and writing skills over time than students in other fields of study." Students majoring in business, education, social work and communications showed the smallest gains.
- Students who had more advanced classes (advanced placement) in high school had greater subsequent gains on the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) in college
· Researchers recommended that colleges need to shift focus from "social engagement" on campus, which may indeed result in greater student retention and contentment, but has little to do with goals to improve students’ complex reasoning and writing skills.
The Study:
https://www.aacu.org/meetings/annualmeeting/AM11/documents/AcademicallyAdriftAACUJan2011.pdf
http://highered.ssrc.org/?page_id=28
http://highered.ssrc.org/files/SSRC_Report.pdf
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