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The student engagement benchmark of Student-Faculty Interaction decreased in Pre-AtD years, then increased in AtD years, with its highest mean score occurring in 2011 (see Figure 4).

Null Hypothesis (H0): There are no statistically significant differences in student engagement levels before implementation of Achieving the Dream and after implementation of Achieving the Dream among first-year, full-time, degree-seeking students.

Alternate Hypothesis (H_a): There are statistically significant differences in student engagement levels before implementation of Achieving the Dream and after implementation of Achieving the Dream among first-year, full-time, degree-seeking students.

Table 2
T-Test Means for Student Engagement Benchmarks Aggregate for Total Years of Study

The only student engagement benchmark that was found to be statistically significantly different before and after AtD implementation was Student Effort, t(3) = -3.96, p < .0.5. Scores for Student Effort for the aggregate population were significantly different from Pre-AtD years (M = .44, SD = .02) to AtD years (M= .50, SD= .02). For the benchmarks of Active Collaboration, Academic Challenge, Student-Faculty Interaction, and Support for Learners, there was no significant difference in mean scores. Given that there were no statistically significant differences before and after the implementation of AtD for the majority of the benchmarks under student engagement, the null hypothesis was retained for these benchmarks (see Table 2).

The CCSSE student surveys indicate four of five student engagement benchmarks on a decreasing trend in Pre-AtD years, with only Student Effort rising in this period, and continuing on the rise until 2006. Active and Collaborative Learning (Active Collaboration) fell in Pre-AtD years and continued the decline until 2006 in the AtD years. Student Effort was the opposite, rising in Pre-AtD years until 2006, in AtD years. The other three benchmarks of Academic Challenge, Student-Faculty Interaction, and Support for Learners all decreased in Pre-AtD years from 2002-2004 before rising in the AtD year of 2006. The benchmarks of Academic Challenge and Support for Learners decreased from 2006-2008, while Student-Faculty Interaction remained on a constant increase in all AtD years from 2004 to 2011.

The graphs indicate trends in opposite directions between Active and Collaborative Learning and Student Effort in the years 2002-2006. The graphs also indicate the same trends in increases and decreases in academic years 2002-2004, 2004-2006, 2006-2008, and 2008-2001 for Academic Challenge and Support for Learners. Student-Faculty Interaction, while having a decreasing trend in the Pre-AtD years of 2002 to 2004, had an upward trend in AtD years from 2004 to 2011. All student engagement benchmarks trend upward, increasing from 2008-2011.

Trends in student engagement data from Pre-AtD to AtD years are mixed for all groups, except when looking at Pre-AtD year 2003 and the final AtD year 2011. African-American students had increases in all student engagement benchmarks from the academic year ending in 2003 to the academic year ending in 2011. Asian/Pacific Islander students had increases in all benchmarks except Active Collaboration (0.40 in 2003 and 0.34 in 2011). Hispanic students had increases in all benchmarks except Active Collaboration (0.36 in 2003 and 0.31 in 2011). Caucasian students had increases in three of the five benchmarks, having decreased in Active Collaboration (0.36 in 2003 to 0.35 in 2011) and Support for Learners (0.48 in 2003 and 0.43 in 2011). Students belonging to other races and ethnicities, experienced increases in all five benchmarks from 2003 to 2011 (see Table 3).

Table 4
T-Test African-Americans Student Engagement for Total Years of Study

There were no significant differences in student engagement benchmarks from Pre-AtD to AtD years among African American students for any of the benchmarks (see Table 4).

With the exception of Active and Collaborative Learning, the mean scores for student engagement among Asian/Pacific Islander students increased on all student engagement benchmarks from AtD years to AtD years. However, none of these differences were statistically significant (see Table 5).

Table 6
T-Test Caucasian Population Student Engagement for Total Years of Study

There were no significant differences in four of the five student engagement benchmarks before and after the implementation of AtD among Caucasian students. There was a statistically significant difference in the benchmark Student Effort before and after AtD implementation among Caucasian students, t(3) = -5.88, p < .05, with post AtD levels (M= 0.42, SD= 0.01) being