| Overall Rating | Gold |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 66.43 |
| Liaison | Greg Maginn |
| Submission Date | June 30, 2023 |
The Ohio State University
AC-6: Sustainability Literacy Assessment
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
2.00 / 4.00 |
Environmental and Social
Sustainability Lab Office of Environmental and Social Sustainability Lab |
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indicates that no data was submitted for this field
Does the institution conduct an assessment of the sustainability literacy of its students?:
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::
Standalone evaluation without a follow-up assessment of the same cohort or representative samples
A copy of the questions included in the sustainability literacy assessment(s):
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A list or sample of the questions included in the sustainability literacy assessment or the website URL where the assessment tool may be found:
http://ess.osu.edu/sites/essl/files/imce/Phase II Questions no bold answers.pdf
A brief description of how the literacy assessment was developed and/or when it was adopted:
The original 28 items of the ASK scale was developed through expert interviews, focus groups, and analysis of core topics within fields related to sustainability, as well as an Item Response Theory (IRT) analysis. See Zwickle et.al., 2014 for further description of the development process (DOI: 10.1108/IJSHE-01-2013-0008). This scale was developed and implemented in 2014 to provide an accurate measurement of student knowledge of sustainability topics and challenges. The measure continues to be refined and improved, and was updated in 2017 following further testing and IRT analysis. The new scale is now 12 questions (see: Zwickle & Jones, 2018) and was used in the 2018 Sustainability Literacy assessment.
A brief description of how a representative sample was reached (if applicable) and how the assessment(s) were administered :
In 2014 the original “ASK” assessment was distributed to a random sample of 20,000 undergraduate students on the Columbus campus through an online survey, to which 4,400 responded. Subsequent to this, a post-assessment was also conducted as part of the 2014 process, however a second Literacy Assessment (follow-up to the 2014 assessment) was not conducted until 2018.
In 2018 similar procedures were implemented, and 20,500 random undergraduate students (stratified by class year) were contacted via email, to which 3,993 responded. The survey included a variety of scales related to sustainability behaviors and values, as well as the updated version of the ASK scale. To improve representation of less engaged students, in both 2014 and 2018 the ASK scale was shared with non-response students in a short (5-minute) follow-up survey.
In 2018 similar procedures were implemented, and 20,500 random undergraduate students (stratified by class year) were contacted via email, to which 3,993 responded. The survey included a variety of scales related to sustainability behaviors and values, as well as the updated version of the ASK scale. To improve representation of less engaged students, in both 2014 and 2018 the ASK scale was shared with non-response students in a short (5-minute) follow-up survey.
A brief summary of results from the literacy assessment(s):
In 2014 the average student score on the ASK scale was 17.02 correct out of 30 questions (SD = 6.21), or approximately 57% correct. Results also indicated that knowledge had a significant but small correlation with engaging in sustainability behaviors (r = .11, p < .001).
(See Heeren et.al., 2016 for more on these results: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-02-2015-0014).
In 2018 the average score on the updated ASK scale was 8.06 correct out of 12 items (SD = 2.59), or approximately 67% correct, again with a small correlation between ASK scores and engagement in sustainability behaviors (r = .150, p < .001). To more accurately compare this result with those from 2014, when looking at the same sub-set of twelve items shared between the 2014 and 2018 versions of the survey, scores have increased: in the aforementioned 2014 data, scores were 6.93 on average (SD = 3.05), or approximately 58% correct. This result suggests that student sustainability knowledge has increased by approximately 10 percentage points over the course of 4 years, and there are plans being developed to actively track this metric in through an annual, large-scale panel study of campus sustainability knowledge and values (ongoing 2018-2022).
(See Heeren et.al., 2016 for more on these results: https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-02-2015-0014).
In 2018 the average score on the updated ASK scale was 8.06 correct out of 12 items (SD = 2.59), or approximately 67% correct, again with a small correlation between ASK scores and engagement in sustainability behaviors (r = .150, p < .001). To more accurately compare this result with those from 2014, when looking at the same sub-set of twelve items shared between the 2014 and 2018 versions of the survey, scores have increased: in the aforementioned 2014 data, scores were 6.93 on average (SD = 3.05), or approximately 58% correct. This result suggests that student sustainability knowledge has increased by approximately 10 percentage points over the course of 4 years, and there are plans being developed to actively track this metric in through an annual, large-scale panel study of campus sustainability knowledge and values (ongoing 2018-2022).
Optional Fields
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
Survey affected/delayed due to COVID-19
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