e There is a wide range of student enrollment in honors programs. The number ranges from ten to 250
students per program. The mean value is 71.

e The majority (84%) of the honors programs allow part-time students to enroll.

* Approximately two-thirds of the programs assign special counselors to the honors students. o

* Students are recruited into the program primarily through special mailings to high school students ( ; o),
high school visitations (79%), special mailings to currently enrolled students (74%), and through the college
schedule/mailer (74%).

e On the average, sixty-one percent of honors students are female; thirty-nine percent are male. ™

e The majority of honors students are in the age group of 18-20 years (43%) or are 25 years or older e o).

e Eighty-two percent of all honors students are Caucasian. The next single largest ethnic group is Hispanics
which compose 12% of the students.

Honors Courses

e Approximately one-half of the honors programs offer five or less honors classes per semester. Seventy-
seven percent of the programs offer ten or fewer honors classes per semester.

e Slightly more than one-half of the institutions limit the size of honors classes.

e The average enrollment in honors classes is 15 students or less per class in 50% of the honors ee

« Sixty-three percent of the programs offer honors classes both during the day and in the evening rather than
only one or the other. Honors classes are block scheduled by 43% of the programs.

e Only 13% of the programs offer honors classes during the summer session. cle

¢ Overall, the completion rate in honors classes is 12% higher than the completion rate in classes for the
college as a whole.

e The most commonly given major instructional differences between regular classes and honors classes are
additional reading assignments (88%) and more in-depth discussion (88%).

e Honors courses are most commonly evaluated by students (100%) and faculty (88%).

Honors Faculty

e At 59% of the colleges, full-time faculty only are allowed to teach honors classes. The remaining 41% allow
both part-time and full-time faculty to teach honors classes. 1

e The most commonly agreed upon individual involved in choosing honors faculty is the departmenta
chairperson (65%). Seb ee

e Honors faculty receive additional compensation in only 12% of the institutions.

¢ Honors faculty are evaluated primarily by students (94%) and by the departmental chairperson (75%). :

e Seventy-nine percent of honors programs do not allow faculty to teach more than two honors courses per
semester.

Honors Organizations

e The organizations with which the most honors programs are affiliated are Phi Theta Kappa (81%) and the
National Collegiate Honors Council (75%).

Conclusions and Recommendations 7 a

A broadly-based planning committee should design an honors program that is tailored to the mission an
character of the institution; a competent and charismatic faculty member should direct it. The Laie oe
requirements and retention criteria must be high enough to establish credibility for the program and yet -
enough to allow returning adults and "late bloomers" to participate. The curriculum, designed
implemented by competent and caring faculty members, must be demanding enough to challenge seers ane
yet flexible enough to permit them to pursue individual interests. Continuous program evaluations shou
assure that the honor students will always feel that the program is worth the extra effort.

Patricia M. McKeague Christine M. White
Professor of Communications Director of Research

For further information or for a copy of the complete report, contact the authors at Moraine Valley Community
College, 10900 S. 88th Avenue, Palos Hills, IL 60465.

 

Suanne D. Roueche, Editor
July 12, 1985, Vol. VIL, No. 17

INNOVATION ABSTRACTS is a publication of the National institute for Staff and Organizational Development, EDB 348, The une me Miers = ee
Austin, Texas 78712, (512) 471-7545. Subscriptions are available to nonconsortium members for $35 per year. a in et ork te somntnee
Foundation and Sid W. Richardson Foundation. Issued weekly when classes are in session during fall and spring terms and monthly e
© The University of Texas at Austin, 1985 ISSN 0199-106X
Further duplication is permitted only by MEMBER institutions for their own personnel.