Investigating student learning gains in college: a longitudinal study

This study examines learning gains of college students’ performance in critical thinking, reading, writing, and mathematics as assessed by the ETS Proficiency Profile (EPP). In this study, students’ college learning gain was estimated by calculating the score differences between their first and last test administrations. Results revealed that (a) after being in college for one or two years, students did not demonstrate significant learning gains, (b) after three or more years, students made small to moderate gains on the EPP total score, and reading and mathematics subscales, (c) after four or five years, students made small to moderate learning gains on EPP total score and all four subscales, and (d) among various demographic and college-level variables, college experience was the largest significant predictor of students’ learning gain, followed by first-year GPA. Implications of these results are discussed.