Anecdotes Aren’t Enough
Do you know what your student-athletes really think and feel about their athletics experiences? The student-athlete experience is widely considered a vital component to a successful athletics program. Yet few programs have evidence of how their program impacts student-athletes.
Everybody’s got a story to tell about a student-athlete achieving success, but is that really evidence of an effective program? Anecdotal stories are great marketing tools, but usually aren’t enough to demonstrate effectiveness across your entire student-athlete experience.
Are your student-athletes receiving the services and benefits you intend to provide?
Our student-athlete experience assessment services help you:
- demonstrate your program’s impact on student-athletes
- identify needs, strengths, weaknesses and opportunities
- increase return on investment in student-athlete services
- engage student-athletes in shaping their own experiences
Confidentiality Promotes Honesty
Our methods provide valuable data because we, as an objective third party, provide a safe environment for student-athletes to voice their true feelings. Young men and women, especially those depending upon their athletic scholarships, do not want to do anything to jeopardize their status by being openly critical to their coaches or administrators. Our process is safe, comfortable and rewarding for student-athletes. The result is honest, unfiltered feedback about your program from the student-athlete perspective.
A Typical Assessment Project
We work closely with you to identify key objectives for an assessment project. Some clients want to investigate a specific topic or program, such as academic tutoring programs. Others simply want to get the pulse of their student-athlete population. We develop a project plan to ensure meaningful results.
In most scenarios, we spend 1-2 days on campus conducting focus groups with your student-athletes. We’ll handle all the logistics of communication and scheduling, which provides complete confidentiality for the student-athletes. Data is analyzed and synthesized into key themes. All student-athletes are then invited to participate in a customized, anonymous electronic survey to broaden your base of data.
Additionally, or alternatively, we can develop a customized survey instrument to administer at the conclusion of each sport season. This consistent approach to data collection provides you with year-to-year comparisons of effectiveness.
Do You Have The Pulse of Your Student-Athletes?
We know that student-athletes:
- want to share their opinions and feel valued
- put their trust in coaches and athletics administrators to make good choices on their behalf
- expect more communication about things that impact their experiences
A phone call to discuss your current environment and objectives is all it takes to find out how you can benefit from assessment of your student-athlete experience.