Purpose & Rationale

Purpose

The purpose of the MSL is to contribute to the understanding of college student leadership development—with special attention to the role of higher education in fostering leadership capacities. The study addresses individual institutional considerations while contributing to a national understanding of:

  • Student needs and outcomes
  • Effective institutional practices
  • The extent of environmental influence in leadership development

Rationale

The development of students as leaders has long served as a central purpose for institutes of higher education—academic mission statements often feature language about leadership, and the number of curricular and co–curricular leadership–development programs has increased nationwide (Astin & Astin, 2000; Zimmerman–Oster & Burkhardt, 1999). Many parties, in fact, consider the development of leadership potential an essential college outcome (NASPA & ACPA, 2004; U.S. Department of Education, 2006).

Despite this consensus on the importance of college leadership–skill development, however, three overarching problems emerge:

  • A significant gap between theory and practice
  • An unclear picture of the leadership development needs of college students
  • Uncertainty regarding the influence of the college environment on leadership development outcomes

The scarcity of research to assess specific theoretical models of leadership—as opposed to studies that use general measures of leadership development—contributes to these problems (Posner, 2004). In turn, the lack of meaningful insight into leadership theory limits the availability of evidence–based guidelines for informing program development in higher education. Supplying colleges and universities with the empirical guidelines to optimize their programming would dramatically increase their ability to enhance leadership development and the preparation of civically engaged citizens.

MSL aims to better equip leadership educators and institutions to develop leadership capacities. It provides institutions with critical data to track student learning and inform evidence–based interventions. Schools elect to participate by administering the MSL questionnaire to a sample of undergraduate students. The instrument’s web–based format minimizes the administrative burden on staff members at participating institutions and conforms to best–practice guidelines for studying students.

Please click here for a detailed description of the instrument and variables measured.

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Latest News

Enrollment Still Open Through October!

October 2011 Enrollment for MSL 2012 is still open! Schools may enroll through the month of October. To learn more about the benefits of participating, please go HERE. To enroll now, please fill out our Enrollment Survey.

STEM School Coalition Started for MSL 2012

Summer 2011 The STEM Coalition will allow for powerful benchmarking of learning outcomes and critical college experiences. Participating campuses will be provided direct comparisons between an individual school, the set of coalition schools, and national normative data..

Catholic Schools Coalition Expands Significantly for 2012 MSL

Summer 2011 Registration for the 2012 MSL is currently underway and 16 Catholic schools have already registered with another 14 institutions actively considering participation. The MSL Catholic Schools coalition formed in 2009 and collects data together every three years. This provides a rich, shared dataset that allows for benchmarking with other Catholic institutions as well as the ability to differentiate results based on affiliation (e.g., Jesuit, Dominican).

MSL Announces New Three Year Research Cycle

6.8.2011 MSL research advisory board has committed to a new strategic plan for the future of this study - a three year research cycle - 2012/2015/2018.

Recent Publication

March/April 2011 Article based on MSL data now available examining leadership across US and Mexican cultures published in the Journal of College Student Development.

Recent Publication

March/April 2011 Article based on MSL data now available! Published in the Journal of College Student Development.

Recent Publication

Spring 2011 The 2nd edition of The Handbook For Student Leadership Development, is published.

Measuring Quality Inventory

4.28.2010 MSL has been included in the Measuring Quality Inventory, an online inventory of resources designed to assist higher education faculty and staff in the challenging task of assessing academic and support programs as well as institutional effectiveness, more broadly.

MSL Co-PI Honored by NASPA

3.11.2010 NASPA announced an award named in honor of MSL's Co-PI. The Susan R. Komives Student Leadership Researcher Award will be awarded annually by the Student Leadership Programs Knowledge Community.

MSL Receives NASPA Award

3.11.2010 MSL received the 2010 Spotlight of the Year Award from the NASPA Student Leadership Programs Knowledge Community at the 2010 annual conference in Chicago.

National MSL Benchmark Dataset

3.1.2010 Starting in the 2011 data collection, the MSL will provide a National MSL Benchmark Dataset to all participating schools as part of the MSL Standard service. The purpose of this dataset will be for use by Institutional Research and other data driven researchers at MSL participating schools to conduct their own school specific analyses, including a representative subset of the MSL National Benchmark Data.

Student Leadership Research Award

1.28.2010 John P. Dugan is the first recipient of the "Student Leadership Research Award" presented by the NASPA Student Leadership Programs Knowledge Community.

ILA Board Appointment

10.13.2009 Susan R. Komives has recently been appointed to the Board of the International Leadership Association (ILA).

Example Custom Report

8.10.2009 An example of the complete MSL custom report is now available for download.

Recent Publication

7.1.2009 NCLP partner Jossey-Bass has recently published a book on leadership by MSL PI Susan Komives and research team member Wendy Wagner. Leadership for a Better World: Understanding the Social Change Model of Leadership Development is available to NCLP members at a 20% discount.

NASPA Certificate

4.6.2009 MSL PIs recognized by NASPA. Read more »

MSL 2012 Timeline

May 31 and June 30, 2011

Early enrollment and payment deadlines

October, 2011

Final enrollment deadline

July - December, 2011

Schools prepare for data collection

January - April, 2012

Data collection

Summer, 2012

School reports distributed

View the full MSL Timeline »