Measuring Leadership Skill Development

Created in November 2013 to enhance and coordinate leadership development and national scholarship opportunities across New York University (NYU), the NYU Leadership Initiative works with students, faculty, and administrators on several academic programs. The NYU Leadership Initiative engaged a Capstone team to design impact assessment surveys for two of its programs: the Undergraduate Leadership Fellows and the Social Sector Leadership Diversity Fellows. The team created an integrated logic model for the two programs, conducted background research on best evaluation practices, reached out to peer academic leadership programs across the country, identified crucial programmatic impact metrics for measurement, and designed pre- and post-program surveys to determine the improvement in student leadership abilities and behaviors that reflect the Leadership Initiative’s intended learning outcomes. The team’s final report also outlined recommendations for additional evaluation methods to support the work of the NYU Leadership Initiative.