How Outcomes-Based Assessment Can Improve Student Success in Fraternities and Sororities
Fraternities and sororities have long been a staple of the college experience, offering students social, educational, and leadership development opportunities. However, in recent years, these organizations have faced declining membership rates.The fraternity and sorority industry is facing several challenges, such as increasing college costs, declining regional college enrollment, growing skepticism about the value of higher education, and appalling annual tragedies. In order to reverse this trend, fraternities and sororities need to find new ways to demonstrate their value to prospective members. Although there is not a one-size-fits-all solution, one strategy could be to concentrate on member outcomes, which encompass the knowledge, skills, and abilities that members acquire through their participation in these organizations. Outcomes-based assessment can provide a valuable tool for tracking and measuring the impact of membership on key areas during college and beyond. By focusing on outcomes, fraternities and sororities can more effectively communicate the long-term learning and leadership benefits of joining. This can help to attract new members and reverse the trend of declining membership.
Why Outcomes Tell a More Compelling Story
Student satisfaction is focused on personal experience while outcomes-based assessment emphasizes growth and development with a clear start and end point (Clark, 2015). When completing a satisfaction survey, members will commonly think about a situation which has either worked in their favor (the ideal experience with the least amount of resistance) or a situation which did not meet their personal expectation (Ritzenhein & Westrick, 2020). Situations like student leadership conferences, year-end evaluations, and general probing by campus advisors lead us to hear from two kinds of members, the really happy ones or the really angry ones. To be fair, these are the two groups that receive the most attention, because they either validate our beliefs about what we are doing, or show us something needs to change.
The unfortunate reality is the information we gather through student satisfaction surveys does not provide us with the information we need to understand whether current practices or initiatives are meeting the needs of students or addressing intended needs. Changes and adjustments to a program or organization can occur based on their form of feedback, but often it is either not a targeted adjustment or it is one which does not address the root cause of the issue (Birch & McLeod, 2019). Rethinking assessment to focus on outcomes provides a deeper understanding of the membership experience and actionable means of improvement (Garner, 2021; Holmes et al., 2017). To ensure members properly deploy lessons in their work as chapter leaders, it is vital to assess members’ comprehension of organizational training and leadership development and how they integrate this knowledge into their membership activites, rather than simply evaluating their personal feelings towards attending a program (Barkley & Major, 2016).
Mapping Outcomes to Membership Value
The topic of the value of membership continues to be at the forefront of the fraternity and sorority industry. With fewer students joining, organizations and communities should reflect on the value they provide to their members. Students are paying hundreds (if not thousands) of dollars to be members of fraternities and sororities, with the expectation that joining a fraternal organization is a transformational and life-long experience. Given this expectation, it is essential to assess the member experience in order to offer prospective members empirical evidence that joining an organization will add value to their college experience and will be worth their investment.
The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) Career Readiness Competencies, which was designed to combine the student learning experience with the needs of employers, can be a great starting point to building an outcomes-based evaluation for member development. NACE conducted significant research to understand what skills and abilities employers, institutions of higher education, and college students believe will help them in their careers. Using a tool like this provides students with an understanding of their own growth and development, allowing them to show their progress throughout their academic career and presents them with areas they can discuss when applying to and interviewing for internships or jobs.
Fraternal organizations can use a similar tool to map their assessment back to the core values of the organization to give a clear example of how a member can translate their skills for their long-term success. Chapters (at the local and national level) and governing councils can focus on key areas in building an outcomes-based assessment for their members. Such areas might include:
Personal growth and development of their members: This can provide an understanding of how organizational leadership programming and experiences are providing value to their members. It can also touch on the ways members develop an understanding of cultural differences, critical thinking, and effective forms of communication.
Professional growth and career readiness: Every organization pitches the value of holding an officer role, but outcomes-based assessment can showcase how new leaders are being shaped by their experience, which can ultimately support their career goals. Some examples of this could be related to project management, budgeting, and strategic planning.
Advisor and volunteer experience: A key feature of fraternal organizations is the involvement of alumni and volunteers. These volunteers need to be properly training to stay current on policies, advising styles, and forms of communication. Periodic volunteer assessments can track development and growth of advisors, providing perspective to members and headquarters professionals on the effectiveness of their volunteer corps.
When recruiting potential members, the industry should emphasize the value of the experience as an optimal way for students to invest their time and energy during college. By utilizing an outcomes-based assessment which allows members to reflect on their personal and professional development, chapters and organizations can highlight tangible benefits of membership, aligning themselves with an experience where members can build lifelong relationships, but also one intentionally designed to make you a better leader and person.
Final Thoughts
In recent years, fraternities and sororities have been challenged to find their place in the higher education world. Tragedies, poor behavior, and organizational stereotypes have placed fraternities and sororities and their members in a position where they must justify their existence. Students, now more than ever, are conscious about how they allocate their finances and time, calculating if and where they want to invest their own resources. Through the use of outcomes-based assessment, organizations can provide a powerful narrative which demonstrates membership’s return on investment by tracking and evaluating the important benefits of belonging to a fraternity or sorority such as professional and personal development, career readiness, and future success. By showcasing the value of membership through this data, organizations can leverage this narrative to attract new members, keep their current members, and improve their programs to better serve their stakeholders (Barkley & Major, 2016).
References:
Barkley, E. F., & Major, C. H. (2016). Learning assessment techniques: A handbook for college faculty. John Wiley & Sons.
Birch, D. A., & McLeod, J. A. (2019). Outcome assessment for student affairs: A guide to meaningful practice. Stylus Publishing, LLC.
Clark, M. (2015). Building a culture of assessment: The importance of evaluating student learning outcomes. Journal of College & Character, 16(2), 81-87.
Garner, M. (2021). Outcome assessment. In A. J. Kezar & D. Maxey (Eds.), Enhancing Campus Capacity for Leadership: An Examination of Grassroots Leaders in Higher
Education (pp. 109-122). Springer.
Holmes, C., Carney, M. A., & Docherty, C. (2017). Evaluating student learning outcomes in higher education. Journal of Applied Research in Higher Education, 9(3),
546-559.
National Association of Colleges and Employers. (n.d.). Career readiness competencies. Retrieved from https://www.naceweb.org/career-
readiness/competencies/career-readiness-defined/ritzenhein-westrick-2020
Tom diroma
Tom DiRoma is an award-winning higher education professional and chapter advisor who holds a degree from SUNY Oswego and a Master's in Student Affairs in Higher Education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. With experience in campus-based roles, Tom worked primarily in student activities and fraternity/sorority life. Currently, he volunteers for Sigma Phi Epsilon and his own organization, Delta Kappa Kappa, providing valuable support and mentorship. In his current role as a Partner Executive at Knack, Tom collaborates with higher education leaders to enhance student success initiatives by expanding student access to peer-tutoring on campus.
