| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 75.15 |
| Liaison | Lori Collins-Hall |
| Submission Date | March 5, 2021 |
| Executive Letter | Download |
Sterling College (VT)
AC-6: Sustainability Literacy Assessment
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
4.00 / 4.00 |
Holly
Francis STARS consultant Advancement |
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)?:
Which of the following best describes the literacy assessment? The assessment is administered to::
Which of the following best describes the structure of the assessment? The assessment is administered as a::
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:
A brief description of how the literacy assessment was developed and/or when it was adopted:
Utilizing the University of Connecticut’s survey structure and sample questions, a 25 question survey was formed to include large-scale questions as well as more local-scale questions.
A brief description of how a representative sample was reached (if applicable) and how the assessment(s) were administered :
A 25 question survey asking questions both broad and locally-based, was sent to the entire student body in January of 2021 and the post-test sent in early March of 2021. The post-test was submitted after the students attended a Sustainability 101 workshop or, in leui of the workshop, looked through the presentation slides and answered a few questions about how they felt Sterling College was doing. To get more students to submit, students who submitted both the first survey and the post-survey containing the same questions are entered to win a $50 gift card to the school store.
A brief summary of results from the literacy assessment(s), including a description of any measurable changes over time:
Since the pre-test and post-test used the same questions, comparing them is quite easy. In the pre-test, students scored an average of 16.9 points out of 20. In the post-test, they scored an average 18.6 out of 20. This, in general, shows that the college does well at teaching the students about environmental issues and tangential topics. Here are some changes over the two tests:
- Only 73.5% of the students knew the waste management hierarchy in the pre-test, but 100% of the students chose the correct answer in the post-test after discussing a diagram during the workshop.
- In the pre-test, only 29.4% knew that oxygen was NOT a greenhouse gas, but in the post-test, 100% of the students realized that water vapor IS a greenhouse gas and correctly chose oxygen as the answer.
- Only 85.3% of the students knew the most widely used definition of the greenhouse gas effect, but 100% chose the correct answer in the post-test.
- Only 85.3% of the students knew that 40% of food is wasted in the US, but 100% chose the correct answer in the post-test.
The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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.