Finding Self in Community: Lessons from Texas Christian University’s Use of NSSE to Cultivate Belonging
By: Jayla Langford, NSSE Institute Graduate Assistant
Students’ sense of belonging and connection to their college or university is critical to their persistence and success. Toward this end, Angie Taylor, Texas Christian University’s (TCU) Director of the Office of Student Life Analytics, described TCU’s long relationship with NSSE and the central role that student belonging plays in shaping TCU’s institutional identity and strategic priorities. She emphasized that community is core to TCU’s mission, stating that the university has been committed to NSSE data use since its earliest stages, noting, “We were one of the schools that helped pilot NSSE.” This longstanding participation reflects a deep investment and commitment in understanding the student experience and using evidence-driven approaches to enhance these goals.
TCU consistently participates in NSSE and FSSE administrations and appends NSSE Topical Module Inclusiveness & Engagement with Cultural Diversity. The FSSE scales and NSSE Engagement Indicators that TCU uses are Collaborative Learning, Discussions with Diverse Others, Student-Faculty Interaction, Effective Teaching Practices, Quality of Interactions, and Supportive Environment. Key performance indicators from these modules focus on ensuring that FSSC faculty create learning opportunities that help students define core concepts related to identity and understand how values, norms, and biases shape one’s sense of self. Additional indicators emphasize that all students equitably experience pedagogy and course content that affirm their identities, engage in high-quality interactions with faculty, staff, and peers, and develop a strong sense of belonging within the TCU community.
TCU’s focus on community is not rhetorical; it is tied to student persistence. Taylor noted that a study conducted approximately ten years ago using the Higher Education Research Institute’s Diverse Learning Environments (DLE) survey revealed that sense of belonging was the only scale that significantly differentiated students who remained at TCU from those who left. As she explained, “We have a great community here… And if some students don’t find that sense of belonging and they want to, we need to do something about that.” This finding shifted TCU’s institutional priorities and led directly to the creation of programming centered on building belonging.
One of the most significant outcomes of this work is TCU’s current SACSCOC Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) entitled Finding Self in Community. Taylor emphasized that “Not every student wants or needs or should have the same college experience, but they should all have an equitable college experience.” The QEP focuses on cultivating belonging through classroom environments by equipping faculty with community-building pedagogical strategies. The Office of Student Life Analytic is also in charge of their Graduate Exit Student Surveys, which consistently indicate that relationships with faculty are among the most influential components of students’ college experiences, leading TCU to center the faculty role in shaping belonging. The intended outcomes of Finding Self in Community are for students to define key concepts associated with identity and the formation of social identities, explain how values, norms, biases and practices continually shape identity, and illustrate how one’s developing identity informs relationships in communities.
As part of the QEP, TCU faculty participate in Faculty Professional Development Workshops and receive a stipend to redesign their syllabi and instructional practices to foster inclusive dialogue, reflection, and community for students. A grand total of 60 distinct courses redesigned and offered through the program receive the Finding Self in Community (FSC) designation. Importantly, Taylor noted that these are not niche or elective courses; “50% of our core curriculum now… has FSC classes embedded”, improving the sustainability of the program. As a result, thousands of students encounter belonging-centered learning environments through coursework essential to degree completion. To date, nearly 4,000 students have taken FSC courses, and 73 faculty members have completed the associated pedagogical training. Taylor also uses a multi-layered assessment approach to evaluate the QEP’s impact. In addition to NSSE and the FSSE data, the university incorporates graduate exit surveys, Student Perception of Teaching (SPOT) surveys, artifact rubrics from their FSC courses, and syllabus rubrics.
A notable strength in TCU’s implementation of NSSE is the high degree of cross-campus collaboration and trust. Taylor has worked at TCU for more than three decades, and over that time has built relationships across academic and student affairs divisions. She shared that this institutional trust helps ensure that assessment data leads to actual change, explaining that such credibility makes it easier to work with deans, faculty, and administration to interpret and apply survey data constructively. Furthermore, she described TCU’s organizational culture as one where community and belonging are not only important to students, but to each department as well.
TCU has also worked to balance its increasing academic rigor with supportive campus environment indicators. Academic expectations have risen in recent years, which has led to a slight decline in supportive environment scores; however, these scores remain comparatively strong. Taylor also described ongoing work to address gaps in student perceptions of timely academic feedback, noting that NSSE and FSSE provide evidence revealing discrepancies between faculty intentions and student experiences. These findings have mobilized collaboration and common language between the Student Government Association, Faculty Senate, and academic leadership to improve communication and grading practices. Taylor stated, “And one of the things I’ve found is that NSSE enables us to use that language with faculty, which really helps, and within Student Affairs, to understand that academic faculty experience. It helps both sides be able to have a common language where we can then help and work to create that seamless learning environment, which in turn, creates that community and sense of belonging that we hope all students get.”
Looking toward the future, Taylor expressed optimism regarding TCU’s trajectory, sharing that enrollment continues to grow and that the institution remains deeply committed to strengthening its community culture. The Office of Student Life Analytics continues to remain student-centered, data-informed culture as Taylor helps leave a powerful legacy to guide the institution. Above all, she affirmed the power of shared commitment to belonging, stating, “So let’s just go straight to building community. And through building community, we want students to become more aware of their own backgrounds, and how those backgrounds influence their knowledge, their perspectives, their beliefs. And how that then can carry on, and what they can bring from those backgrounds to help build this community that we have here at Fort Worth.”
References
Texas Christian University. (2023). Finding Self in Community: Quality Enhancement Plan. Texas Christian University Office of Academic Affairs. https://provost.tcu.edu/qep/
