As reported in the 2025 National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) Summary of Key Evidence for UCORE (PDF), results from the 2025 NSSE indicated that most WSU seniors (88%) reported that their WSU experience contributed considerably to their development in thinking critically and analytically. Results from the 2025 NSSE also provide information about WSU seniors perceived gains in writing, speaking, analyzing numerical information, and understanding people of other backgrounds, alongside comparisons from peer institutions, as well as first-year students completion of various learning tasks—see the 2025 NSSE Summary of Key Evidence for UCORE (PDF) for more information.
The NSSE survey annually collects information at hundreds of four-year colleges and universities about first-year and senior student participation in activities and programs that promote their learning and personal development. For UCORE Assessment, NSSE questions provide indirect evidence of student learning on many of the outcomes of the UCORE general education program at the first-year and senior levels. WSU’s UCORE curriculum is bookended by a required first-year course [ROOT] and a senior capstone experience [CAPS], which aligns particularly well with NSSE. Note: NSSE is an externally developed survey administered by the University of Indiana (Bloomington). As such, questions on the NSSE survey are not specifically tailored to WSU and/or UCORE.
At WSU, NSSE is offered to all first-year and senior students on all WSU campuses every other spring. In 2025, 1,388 seniors and 1,331 first-year students responded to the survey at WSU. The WSU response rate was 28% for seniors and 33% for first-year students, compared to the average national response rate of 18% for participating institutions with undergraduate enrollments of 10,000 or more.
Coordinated by the Provost’s Office, the Office of Assessment for Curricular Effectiveness (ACE) contributes to WSU’s planning and participation in NSSE and coordinates with the Office of Institutional Research (IR) to produce NSSE reports for UCORE. For additional information, see UCORE’s National Survey of Student Engagement Key Assessment page.