The Effects of Honors Program Participation on Experiences of Good Practices and Learning Outcomes

Using multi-institution data and a longitudinal, pretest-posttest design, this study investigated the impact of honors programs on student experiences of good practices in undergraduate education as well as cognitive development in the first year of college. We found students in honors programs advantaged in terms of the good practice measures related to the in-class college experience. Additionally, we found significant positive effects of honors programs on critical thinking, mathematics, and composite cognitive development. We also found conditional effects in which honors programs participation seemed to have a greater impact for men and students of color on some learning outcomes.