Student Achievement
Southwestern Adventist University seeks to document multiple measures to determine how well the mission and learning outcomes have been achieved by students yearly. These students' achievement data are critical to the success of the institution in providing academic programs and programming to meet and exceed the criterion for success for each measure, and where the criterion for students' success are not met or exceeded, institute and monitor pertinent changes so that students' achievement are met or exceeded.
The following measures with the acceptable levels of student achievement for each measure are noted below:
Students taking external certification exams for education (TExES) nursing (NCLEX) and Graduate Licensure Exams will score 80% or higher passed on the required pass rate of 80% for programs to remain accredited by the respective accrediting agency. Disaggregation by program, gender and ethnicity will be noted where appropriate.
TExES: PPR & Non – PPR
Education majors have been meeting and exceeding the benchmark for both licensure exams, with the exception of 2020-2020, when the Non – PPR Content area dipped below the benchmark. However, students’ achievement is back above the benchmark.
Graduate Licensure Exams
Graduate counseling students have maintained a 100% pass rate on the school counseling exam (Non – PPR Content), with males and females achieving 100% pass rates every year students took this exam. As shown in Diagram 2, an independent sample t-test showed there was no significant difference (p=0.45) by gender.
Students in our clinical counseling program have also maintained a 100% pass rate at their first attempt, across gender (male and female) and ethnic groups (African American, Hispanic, White, and Ethnicity Unknown) on the National Counseling Exam (NCE). With these ethnicities, there is no significant difference (p=0.35) by gender when conducting an independent sample t-test.
NCLEX
It can be seen from the results that nursing students have performed well on this external exam for several years, except for 2022; however, score went back up in 2023 with students performing above the benchmark.
Eighty percent of students successfully completing all their general education classes with a passing grade of C- or higher effective from 2016 - 2017 academic year, and disaggregating by general education areas, with attention on further disaggregation if scores in any general category falls below the acceptable criterion as listed above.
Core Curriculum (General Education) Assessment
Students continue to meet and exceed the benchmark of 80% of students scoring a C- or higher for the General Education (GE) core requirements, as seen in the 2016–2017 academic year, with an overall GE score of 86.11, to the final assessment point of 86.25 in the 2021–2022 academic year.
Core Curriculum Overall Pass Rate
Disaggregation by GE core requirement indicates that students continue to do well in meeting or exceeding the benchmark.
The Academic Department will maintain an average of 2 or higher based on a 3-point scale on the portfolio assessment for all graduating seniors from each department beginning from the 2016 - 2017 academic year until the 2023 - 2024 academic year. Disaggregation by departments, general education and gender will be noted.
Portfolio Assessment–General Education
Graduating Seniors performed well in the General Education Classes category. With 2.5 representing the “Exceeds Expectations” threshold, the average did exceed expectations. In 2021 and 2022 graduating seniors averaged 2.63 (on a 3-point scale) in the General Education Classes category.
Senior males averaged a 2.65 in 2021, while in 2022 senior males averaged a 2.65. Senior females achieved a 2.56 average in 2021, while in 2022 senior females averaged 2.69. While the females' score was slightly lower than the males’ both exceeded expectations, and there were no significant differences by gender in 2021 (p = 0.32); the reverse is true for 2022, where females' scores were slightly higher than males. However, again there were no significant differences (p = 0.43) by gender as shown by an independent sample t-test.
Portfolio Assessment – Major Subject Areas
Seniors are continuing to meet or exceed expectations in their portfolio scores for all the major subject areas being assessed for all years in which assessments have been done.
Disaggregating by gender, seniors’ overall average for major courses sections was 2.51 in 2021. Males scored slightly higher than females, with disaggregated scores of 2.59 and 2.48, respectively, with both groups exceeding expectations. In 2022, females scored 2.60 (exceeding expectations) and males scored 2.43 (meeting expectations), as shown in Diagram 9; however, for both years there were no significant differences (p = 0.33 for 2021; p = 0.24 for 2022) when conducting an independent sample t-test by gender for the scores obtained.
SWAU will achieve a graduation rate of 35% for four - year and 53% for six - year by 2023 - 2024 academic year beginning from 2016 - 2017 academic year based on IPEDS reporting year. Every effort will be made to disaggregate by gender, ethnicity and socioeconomic where needed take a deeper dive in results.
Four-Year (100%)
SWAU has not yet met the 35% graduation rate. It must be noted that the 2014 and 2015 cohorts were the lowest at 25% and 26%, respectively. SWAU has made some strides, in that for the 2016 cohort the graduation rate increased to 32%.
Six-Year (150%)
Thus far, SWAU has not met the criterion established by the institution of 53% of students graduating within six years (150%).
However, in looking at our comparative data with 33 IPEDS institutions like us, the following are noted for 2022:
SWAU to Comparison Group Median
- Four years: 32% to 29%
- Six years: 40% to 40%
Southwestern Adventist University does well in seeing racially and ethnically diverse students through to graduation. These statistics refer to first-time degree or certificate-seeking undergraduate students who finish within 150% of the time normally accepted for their major goal.
Graduation Rate by Race and Ethnicity
SWAU to Comparison Group Median
- Total: 45% to 39%
- Asian: 100% to 40%
- Black or African American: 39% to 22%
- Hispanic/Latino: 45% to 27%
- Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander: 33% to 0%
- White: 43% to 46%
- Two or more races: 50% to 21%
- Nonresident: 52% to 43%
Pell Grant Recipients (Students with great financial needs)
SWAU to Comparison Group Median
- Four years: 38% to 30%
- Six years: 54% to 39%
SWAU will achieve a retention rate of 80% by the academic year 2023 - 2024, as reported to IPEDS by academic years beginning from 2016 - 2017 academic year and disaggregating by gender.
The average retention rate for SWAU is 74% from the 2016 to 2022, with the lowest rates recorded in 2018 (64%), and 2019 (68%). Our retention rate for 2022 is 79%, so we are moving towards our benchmark of 80%.
Senior Graduating Survey
Eighty percent of graduating seniors with their overall experience at Southwestern Adventist University rated on a likert scale (strongly disagree to strongly agree) from agree to strongly agree by the end of the 2023 - 2024 academic year beginning with data from the 2016 - 2017 academic year on the senior graduation survey. Disaggregation by gender and ethnicity will be noted where appropriate when significant differences are obtained through statistical analysis
From 2016 through 2022, overall satisfaction averaged about 89%, with graduates in the last two years reporting a satisfaction rating of over 90%. On average, there were positive responses toward the three main areas of academics (86%), spiritual life and development (92%), and student services (89%). n by gender and ethnicity will be noted where appropriate when significant differences are obtained through statistical analysis.
Job Placement
Eighty percent of all graduating seniors will be working in their field of study or attending graduate studies one year after graduation from SWAU by the end of the 2023 - 2024 academic year beginning at the 2016 - 2017 academic year. Disaggregation by departments and gender will be noted where appropriate where there are significant differences.
SWAU has been meeting the benchmark of 80% of graduates holding a job in their field of study or attending graduate school within one year of graduating. From 2016 through 2022, the rates were above 90%, with the exceptions of 2019 (85%) and 2020 (84%); however, these rates were still above the established benchmark.