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Leadership in the Making: A Comprehensive Examination of the Impact of Leadership Development Programs on Students

February 26, 2001

" The development of leadership among college students is one of the goals often cited in the mission statements of higher education institutions (Roberts, 1997; Clark, 1985).  However, the vast majority of U.S. colleges and universities do not engage in formal programs to develop students as leaders.

 An external retrospective evaluation was conducted which reviewed thirty-one projects funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) between 1990 and 1998.  These projects focused on leadership development in college students.  Collectively, these projects represent a $14.1 million investment in grant funs targeted toward leadership programming.  The grants ranged in value from  $9,000 to $1.8 million.  The evaluation was designed to identify potential models, methods, and themes of leadership development for dissemination to members of institutions of higher education for the purposes of fostering the leadership development movement. 

The 31 projects consisted of a variety of public and private higher education institutions, as well as a few independent non-profit organizations, professional associations, and community-based organizations.  The investigation focused essentially on 22 of the programs that resided in colleges and university based mainly in the Midwestern and Northeastern United States.  Colleges and Universities were situated primarily in urban areas (42%), but projects in suburban (16%) and rural (16%) areas were also funded and investigated.  The remaining programs (26%) were operated in multiple locations.  For the majority of these settings leadership, service learning, community service, and volunteerism were described as part of the institutional mission.  The majority of these programs were administered through multiple departments or via a combination of both student and academic affairs.  The programs frequently engaged in ongoing collaboration with community agencies, businesses, and other educators to provide program activities.  The program primarily targeted the general population of college age youth and it is estimated that approximately 58,000 students participated across all programs. 

 The evaluation strategy involved the following techniques:

 Convened a 'Review Panel.'  This panel served to assist in the dissemination of the results of the overall study.

 Conducted Interviews with WKKF Program Directors. Seven program directors were interviewed using a semi-structured protocol, which addresses best practices, lessons learned, and hallmarks of exemplary programs.

 Review of Archival Data and Logic Model Creation.  A review of each project's documentation was conducted. A one-page summary for every project was created and these summaries highlight the projects' goals, objectives, activities, and documented outcomes.

 Creation of a Database and Grantee Survey.  A relational database was developed to classify information provided in the logic models of each project.  A survey was created that assessed the goals, objectives, activities, and measured outcomes for each project. 

 Site Visits.  The use of site visits that included semi-structured interviews were utilized.  The purpose of this methodology was to gather qualitative information to obtain a three-dimensional view of the grantees' efforts.

Grantee Networking Conference.  In June 1997, young adult leadership pioneers convened at Eastern Michigan University to integrate, refine, and to experiment with best thinking and practices in the young adult leadership field.  The 114 participants included grantees of the 31 college-age youth leadership projects funded by the Foundation.

 Short-term Outcomes Study.  A more traditional quantitative technique was also employed to empirically document the short-term outcomes of leadership development initiatives and corroborate the results found from the other methodologies.

 Long-term Outcomes Study.  In order to assess pre-existing differences and differential outcomes of participants, a long-term impact analysis was conducted using data from 10 of the 31-grantee institutions (Astin & Cress, 1998).  Students at these ten institutions, first assessed when they entered college as freshmen in 1994, were followed up in the 1997-1998 academic year with a survey, which assessed developmental outcomes.

 The eight data collection strategies described yielded a wealth of information about the processes, outcomes and impact of leadership development programs.  While programs to develop the leadership potential of college students are spreading to more institutions, the evidence of their success has been, up until now, primarily relegated to isolated studies and institutional reports.  It has been difficult to determine the overall impact of these programs, or to use evidence as a means of either defending or improving their effectiveness. 

 Knowledge gained from the entire evaluation process created a clearer picture of the projects' intended outcomes and how/if they were achieved.  By bringing together the variety of perspectives and by using a range of methodologies, a broader view of the potential of this effort can be seen.  The composite results of the described evaluation research revealed not only do leadership program providers view these programs as successful, but the participants themselves perceive the programs to have short and long term favorable outcomes.  These benefits enhance their individual ability to lead and provide institutional and community improvements.  The Kellogg Foundation and other interested organizations can use their influence to extend the reach of these programs to new institutions and more students.  This could contribute to expanding the movement to provide leadership development opportunities for college students far into the next century (1999, Zimmerman-Oster & Burkhardt, pp. 51-65)."

 Reference: Zimmerman-Oster, K. & Burkhardt, J.C. (1999). Leadership in the making: a comprehensive examination of the impact of leadership development programs on students.  The Journal of Leadership Studies, 6 (3/4), 51-65.

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The Journal of Leadership Studies is available on loan from the OSU Leadership Center.  A complete listing of all the Leadership Center's resources is available on our website www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~leaders

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Created: 2007-11-09, Updated: 2009-02-18