Prescott College
AC-5: Sustainability Literacy Assessment

A Student Sustainability Survey was administered in November 2024, with a significant component being the Sustainability Literacy Assessment. The survey was divided into the following four sections: 

1. Basic demographic information (4 questions)
2. Sustainability literacy (12 questions)
3. Sustainability culture (7 questions - extensive, multiple prompts) 
4. Transportation and commuting habits (1 question)

The literacy component was created by academic faculty and consists of a dozen questions reflecting the pillars of sustainability: social, environmental, and economic. The survey was created with SurveyMonkey and emailed to all students at the beginning of November 2024. A two-week reminder was sent to students to remind them to complete the survey, and the survey was closed on the first Friday of December 2024. Students were entered into a raffle for a $25 gift card to Etsy as an incentive for completing the survey.

Overall, a representative sample of 101 students completed the literacy assessment. Generally, the students performed well on the assessment. Students understood the basic components and definition of sustainability and the role of greenhouse gases in causing climate disruption. Students were less aware of disparities in climate change, the principles of environmental justice, and the strong scientific consensus on climate change.

A detailed analysis of questions and responses can be viewed in the attached supplemental document.

A Sustainability Literacy Task Force was created at the beginning of the fall term of 2024 to create questions related to systems thinking, personal agency, and global trends. Throughout the term, the task force developed an extensive list of questions to assess students' understanding of sustainability via the environmental, economic, and social pillars. The list of questions was refined through group discussions until reaching a consensus on a 12-question assessment containing four questions for each pillar of sustainability.

We will administer the survey every three years by the next STARS report. The survey can track individual progress performance longitudinally, so we can see how the scores of students taking the survey in the future change over time.

The survey was developed by the Sustainability Literacy Task Force, which included faculty and staff from the Green Mountain Center for Sustainability, which administered and analyzed the survey. The assessment will be used to assess and track the student body’s sustainability literacy through their years at Prescott College. We hope the survey can be used to inspire support for faculty course development -- either incorporating sustainability in already-existing courses or in creating new courses. Results from the survey will also ideally guide module development where student literacy gaps are present (for example, in how scientific consensus is established and an overview of the basic principles of environmental justice).

The survey was emailed to all students in early November 2024 and was open until the first week of December, with a reminder halfway through the reporting period. In total, 124 (15%) students took the survey, but only 101 (12.5%) completed the survey. A representative sample was obtained, reflecting the demographics of the entire student community.

Detailed info about the demographic of the group and their performance on each question can be found in the supplementary documentation of this credit.