Assessing democratic engagement through student organizations

Abstract

The National Survey of Student Leaders (NSSL) is the first initiative extending scholarly insights about democratic benefits of participation in civil society associations to student organizations and their leaders on campus in order to assess democratic engagement as well as civic and political learning. This article describes NSSL and presents overall first-round data as a way to highlight recommendations for student affairs practitioners when assessing democratic outcomes from student organizations’ activities, structures, and leadership.