Development and Initial Validation of
the Student Strengths Inventory: A
Measure of Non-cognitive Variables
that Impact Student Performance and
Retention
Wade Leuwerke, Ph.D.
Elma Dervisevic, BS
Drake University
Graduation and Retention Rates
34% - Four-year graduation rate at two-year institutions
• (Swail, 2004)
53% - Six-year graduation rate at four-year institutions
• (Carey, 2004)
First to second year retention rates
• (ACT, 2009)
Selective
82.2%
Traditional
71.5%
Open
65.1%
Two-Year
53.9%
Student Success Models
 Primary focus on cognitive factors (ACT, HSGPA)
 Pre-enrollment situational (e.g., SES)
 Post-enrollment situational (e.g., Housing)
 Non-cognitive/motivational (e.g., engagement)



10 non-cognitive variables that are strong predictors of
student outcomes
Different predictors for retention vs. performance
Approximately 4 – 6 of these offer significant
incremental validity over standardized tests and HS GPA
 Robbins et al., (2004)
SSI Development
 Rational and factor analytic methods
 Homogeneous and objective measures of six factors
• Academic engagement
• Academic self-efficacy
• Campus engagement
• Social comfort
• Resiliency
• Educational commitment
 Initial pool of 243 items developed by team of 6 researchers
 Reduced to 81 items through consensus
 10 – 14 items for each construct
 1 – 6 (strongly disagree – strongly agree)
Methods
 Administered to N = 760 first-year college students at
two large western universities (one urban commuter
and one rural residential)


45% men and 55% women
Caucasian (65%), Mexican/Chicano (9%), multiracial
(5%), Asian American (5%), American Indian (5%),
Puerto Rican/Cuban/Other (3.4%) and African
American (2.6%)
 Over 8,000 students included in predictive modeling
analysis
Analysis
 Factor Analysis
Principal axis factoring with oblique rotation
 6 factor structure converged in 11 iterations
 Accounted for 45% of variance among items

 Reliability

Internal Consistency
 Construct Validity

Correlation with Student Readiness Inventory
 Predictive Validity

Prediction of retention and first semester GPA
Factor Correlations
Factor
1 Educational Commitment
1
2
3
4
5
6
1
2 Social Comfort
.150
1
3 Resiliency
.052
.217
1
4 Campus Engagement
.329
.302
.114
1
5 Academic Engagement
.320
.090
.142
.178
1
6 Academic Self-Efficacy
.376
.186
.177
.316
.336
1
Reliability and Construct Validity
 Cronbach’s alphas ranged from .81 to .90
 Cross measure correlations
SSI
SRI
CC
SA
EC
SC
AD ASC
1 Educational Commitment
.58
.11
.09
.23
.38
.10
2 Social Comfort
.22
.67
.18
.51
.08
.10
3 Resiliency
.04
.14
.50
.05
.03
.27
4 Campus Engagement
.30
.18
.13
.39
.22
.05
5 Academic Engagement
.34
.01
.18
.10
.58
.14
6 Academic Self-Efficacy
.41
.13
.18
.23
.39
.37
Reliability and Construct Validity
 Scale relations with ACT scores and High School GPA
ACT
HSGPA
1 Educational Commitment
.13
.13
2 Social Comfort
.06
.10
3 Resiliency
.02
.06
4 Campus Engagement
.10
.14
5 Academic Engagement
.06
.23
6 Academic Self-Efficacy
.10
.28
Predictive Validity
18%
ACT + HSGPA
Academic Engagement
28%
Academic Self-efficacy
First
Semester
GPA
Resiliency
20%
ACT + HSGPA
Academic Engagement
29%
Campus Engagement
Resiliency
First Year
GPA
Predictive Validity
Educational
Commitment
Campus Engagement
First to
Second
Year
Retention
Predictive Validity
Prediction of Academic Outcomes
Random
Attrition Percent
Accurately Identified
28.5
ACT Composite Score
28.7
ACT + HSGPA
50.9
HSGPA + SSI Risk
65.5
SW Large Rural Residential
SC Medium Rural Regional Comp
Small MNT West Rural State
Large MW Urban
Student Strengths Inventory
Student Strengths Inventory Scales and Sample Items
Scale
Definition
Sample Item
Academic
Engagement
The value an individual places on academics and
attentiveness to school work.
I turn my homework in on time.
Academic SelfEfficacy
An individual’s confidence in his or her ability to
achieve academically and succeed in college.
I will excel in my chosen major.
Educational
Commitment
An individual’s dedication to college and the value
placed upon a college degree.
I see value in completing a
college education.
Resiliency
An individual’s approach to challenging situations
and stressful events.
I manage stress well.
Social Comfort
An individual’s comfort in social situations and
ability to communicate with others.
I am comfortable in groups.
Campus
Engagement
Involvement in campus activities and attachment
to the college/university.
Being active in extra-curricular
activities in college is important
to me.
SSI Summary
 Strong reliability and validity
 Brief measure of non-cognitive factors

Measures 6 factors critical to student success
 Customizable individual student report
 Training to support data use models and
individual interpretation strategies
 Questions:
[email protected]
www.studentstrengthsinventory.com
References
ACT, Inc. (2009). National collegiate retention and persistence to degree
rates. Iowa City, IA: Author.
Carey, K. (2004). A matter of degrees: Improving four-year colleges and
universities. Washington, DC, Education Trust.
Swail, W. S. (2004). Legislation to improve graduation rates could have
the opposite effect. Chronicle of Higher Education, 50.
Robbins, S., Lauver, K., Le, H., Langley, R., Davis, D., & Carlstrom, A.
(2004). Do psychological and study skill factors predict college
outcomes? A meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 130, 261-288.