Overall Rating Gold - expired
Overall Score 68.01
Liaison Kelsey Beal
Submission Date March 2, 2017
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Indiana University Bloomington
AC-6: Sustainability Literacy Assessment

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 4.00 / 4.00 Makayla Bonney
Assistant Director
Sustain IU
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution conduct an assessment of the sustainability literacy of its students (i.e. an assessment focused on student knowledge of sustainability topics and challenges)?:
Yes

Which of the following best describes the literacy assessment? The assessment is administered to::
The entire (or predominate) student body, directly or by representative sample

Which of the following best describes the structure of the assessment? The assessment is administered as a::
Pre- and post-assessment to the same cohort or to representative samples in both a pre- and post-test

A copy of the questions included in the sustainability literacy assessment(s):
A sample of the questions included in the sustainability literacy assessment or the website URL where the assessment tool may be found:

IUB chose to use sustainability literacy questions from The Ohio State University's Assessment of Sustainability Knowledge (ASK) tool to assess sustainability literacy of Hoosier students. This tested battery includes questions pertaining to the ecological, economic, and social domains of sustainability.

A sample of questions is provided below.
Many economists argue that electricity prices in the U.S. are too low because:
a. *They do not reflect the costs of pollution from generating electricity
b. Too many suppliers go out of business
c. Electric companies have a monopoly in their own service area
d. Consumers spend only a small part of their income on energy
e. Don’t know


38. Which of the following countries has now surpassed the U.S. as the biggest emitter of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide?
a. *China
b. Sweden
c. Brazil
d. Japan
e. Don’t know

The wealthiest 20% of people in the U.S. own approximately what percent of the nation’s privately held wealth?
a. 20%
b. 35%
c. 50%
d. *85%
e. Don’t know


A brief description of how the literacy assessment was developed and/or when it was adopted:

More information on the OSU ASK tool may be found here:
http://ess.osu.edu/research/assessment-sustainability-knowledge-ask

IUB chose to utilize the OSU ASK tool in order to compare sustainability literacy of IUB students to that of students at other institutions. The survey was adopted in the fall of 2016 and administered from 22 January 2017 through 21 February 2017.


A brief description of how a representative sample was reached (if applicable) and how the assessment(s) were administered :

A representative sample was reached using Spring 2017 FTE figures provided by the Registrar's Office.
9,996 students were sampled, 79.4% undergraduates and 20.6% graduates, representative of IUB population by school.
Our online response rate is ~23% , which roughly equivalent to other institutions that have conducted similar efforts (OSU=22%).


A brief summary of results from the literacy assessment(s), including a description of any measurable changes over time:

A follow up survey is scheduled with the Center for Survey Research in Spring 2019. Measurable changes are not yet available.


The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.