For Presidents | the NASCE, from SPARC

The question in the room

A trustee asks how you know

Mission statements about service and community are close to universal in American higher education. Evidence for them is rare. Most institutions answer the question with a headcount, a set of stories, and a total of volunteer hours, all of which describe activity without measuring commitment.

"We say we are a community-engaged institution. How do we know?"

The NASCE exists so that this question has an answer, and so the answer holds up when someone checks it.

What you get back

One number, and the field it sits in

The NASCE returns an institutional POP score: Percent of the Possible. Of all the community engagement your students could be doing, it reports how much is actually happening. The score maps to five named tiers and to a national distribution built since 2009.

21 National median POP

Institutional scores in the benchmark run from 3 to 52, and the middle half of administrations falls between 16 and 26. A median of 21 sits in the Established tier. Your score arrives with that comparison already made.

91,792Student responses nationally

91Institutions

28States

154Administrations since 2009

Where the evidence goes

Four places this is used the year you get it

Your board

One figure, one tier, and one national comparison, in an infographic built to go into a board packet without redesign. No methodology briefing required to read it.

Accreditation

A scored, externally benchmarked measure of a mission commitment, in place of a narrative account of one. Evidence of mission is the recurring gap in self-study work.

Carnegie classification

Institutions have used NASCE data to support Elective Classification for Community Engagement applications and Campus Compact civic action plans. The evidence requirement is where those applications stall.

The strategic plan

A baseline to set goals against and re-measure on a cycle, so a commitment to engagement becomes a target with movement you can report.

Who stands behind it

The instrument and its stewards

The NASCE has been in the field since 2009 and is now held by SPARC. It is co-directed by the two scholars who built and ran it.

Co-directed by Dr. Mathew Johnson and Dr. Donald Levy

Dr. Johnson is a scholar of community engagement in higher education and leads SPARC's executive development and consulting practice. Dr. Levy directs survey research and has overseen NASCE administrations and their analysis since the instrument's early years.

Both co-directors are available to present findings to a cabinet or a board, and to answer methodology questions directly.

In continuous use since 2009, across 154 administrations.
91 participating colleges and universities in 28 states.
More than 91,000 individual student responses in the comparative base.
Benchmarking by enrollment size, control, religious affiliation, and region.
A companion battery on civic disposition, the Engaged Global Citizen, included with the core administration.

What it costs you

The whole ask, in three numbers

Presidents ask two questions about an assessment like this before any others: what it costs, and what it will take from people who already have jobs. Both answers are published.

$2,500Starting price

Set by undergraduate enrollment and module count, published in full on the rate card. Every tier includes the reporting package and the national benchmark.

11 weeksStart to presentation

From signed agreement to the delivery of your results, on a schedule mapped to your academic calendar.

4 itemsAsked of your staff

An agreement, a customization form, a student email list, and sign-off on the survey. SPARC builds it, fields it, scores it, and presents it.

See the full rate card See the reporting package

Put a number behind the mission

See your institution's real number.

Tell us your enrollment and your academic calendar, and we will map an administration to it. The co-directors will join the conversation.

Start the Conversation