Using longitudinal data to improve the experiences and engagement of first-year students

Abstract

This chapter describes how campuses can use longitudinal data to investigate and improve the experiences and engagement patterns of their first-year students. The chapter has two goals. The first is to briefly describe the relationship between precollege student characteristics such as students' high school engagement and their engagement expectations for the first year of college with students' subsequent first-year engagement and experiences. The second is to present concrete examples of how campuses can use longitudinal data to better understand the experiences and engagement patterns of their first-year students.