The following information on this web page refers to the original development of FYI in 2000-2001. For current information, please visit EBI's web site at: http://www.webebi.com/_AsmtServices/FYI/default.aspx

Project Overview 2000-2001

The Policy Center on the First Year of College and Educational Benchmarking, Inc. (EBI), are sponsoring a national benchmarking project for colleges and universities focused on assessing outcomes associated with first year seminars. This project is supported by a grants from The Atlantic Philanthropies and The Pew Charitable Trusts. The primary objective of this benchmarking project is to provide colleges and universities with confidential, comprehensive, comparative feedback regarding the effectiveness and impact of first year seminars which aim to facilitate the transition to college life. FYI was designed to investigate 15 specific research questions (see link in adjacent text box.)

Project Methodology 2000-2001

Students participating in first-year seminars will complete a brief survey instrument administered in the last two weeks of class which assesses perceptions of the first college year, perceived gains in academic skills, and behaviors relating to issues addressed by many first year seminars. The survey will also include demographic questions to enable enhanced analysis by subgroups (based on gender, ethnicity, GPA, etc.) Individual reports will be provided to each campus and will analyze student responses by the demographic variables and will also show comparisons with other colleges and universities participating in the project. Each participating institution may select six schools from which to receive specific comparison data, but schools will not be individually identified within the comparison group to maintain the confidentiality of each institution's data. These institutional comparisons will allow a college to benchmark its performance against a broader set of schools and will thus assist in the determination of strengths and opportunities for improvement.

Requirements for Participation 2000-2001

Institutions have been selected for the December, 2001 administration. Participating schools have met the following criteria. They:

• offer a freshman seminar
• have provided a survey administration plan likely to yield a response rate of at least 50% of surveyed students;
• are capable of generating at least 150 responses. (Institutions may propose to survey all students or a random sample of students);
• and are capable of conducting the survey during the last two weeks of classes during Fall 2001.