The Community College Student Thriving Quotient

Scales and coefficients

The 24 items on the TQ cluster onto five scales:

• Engaged Learning

  A measure of the degree to which students are meaningfully processing what happens in class and energized by what they are learning.

  α = .87

  Sample item “I feel energized by the ideas I am learning in most of my classes.”

• Academic Determination

  A measure of students’ goal-directedness, investment of effort, and regulation of their own learning and use of time.

  α = .87

  Sample item “I am confident I will reach my educational goals.”

• Positive Perspective

  A measure of students’ optimism and explanatory style.

  α = .71

  Sample item “I look for the best in situations, even when things seem hopeless.”

• Social Connectedness

  A measure of students’ involvement in healthy relationships and social support networks, whether on or off campus.

  α = .79

  Sample item “I feel like my friends really care about me.”

• Diverse Citizenship

  A measure of students’ desire to make a difference in the community around them, as well as their openness to differences in others.

  α = .85

  Sample item “I value interacting with people whose viewpoints are different from my own.”

Pathways to thriving

Examining thriving among community college students developed out of a desire to understand student success more holistically than previous higher education research that had focused solely on student retention. Dr. Amy Azul revised the Thriving Quotient developed by Dr. Laurie Schreiner to fit the community college student’s experience. The items that measure thriving are the same, but the pathways predictive of thriving in the community college setting are different. The Thriving Quotient™ (TQ) uses concepts from positive psychology (i.e., flourishing) and Bean and Eaton’s (2000) retention model to assess thriving, defined as “the experiences of college students who are fully engaged intellectually, socially, and emotionally” (Schreiner, 2010, p. 4). Thriving is not about personality traits, but rather describes malleable qualities within a student, meaning that institutions can teach students to thrive. Dr. Azul’s research has documented specific experiences that serve as significant pathways to student thriving in the community college environment; these pathways are also measured in the online survey.

What else the survey assesses

Research by Dr. Amy Azul at Victor Valley Community College in southern California

How administration works

Participation and norms

The cost of the instrument varies by the package purchased. Package costs vary by the services and reports included.

Process

If you purchase the Basic Report Package, your campus receives a survey link to distribute to the sampled population. Responses return directly to The Thriving Project; your institution does not host or process the data. If you purchase the Expanded Report Package or The Thriving Campus Package, the survey is administered for you through our Qualtrics platform, with emails and follow-ups coming directly from The Thriving Project. We work with institutions to find the best survey administration process to meet your needs.

Timeline

The surveys can be launched at any point in the academic year that an institution chooses. We recommend administering surveys at least 4 weeks after an academic term has begun, but no later than 2 weeks before the end of a term. Survey administration should remain open for a one- to two-week period. Your preferred launch and closing dates are confirmed after purchase. Reports are created at the end of each term. Institutions administering in the Fall receive their reports by February 1; institutions administering in the Spring receive their reports by July 1.

Human Subjects Protection

Institutional review board requirements vary by campus and by intended use of the results. Human-subjects guidance is available upon request, and written permission is granted for research use.

Citation and permissions

Questions about this instrument