Measuring the Impact of Peer Learning Community on Perceived Belongingness and Confidence in Academic Achievement

The Family and Consumer Sciences department at California State University, Northridge initiated the development of a peer learning community. When a student becomes more engaged in the academic setting and considers themselves a vital part within the school community, they reported a stronger sense of belonging (Booker, 2007). As part of the peer learning community, peer learning facilitators held workshops and office hours to increase student engagement, performance, and retention. The purpose of this thesis project was to create an instrument to measure the perceptions of belongingness and confidence in academic achievement among students through the creation of a peer learning community in their department. A 11-item Peer Learning Community Questionnaire, specifically pertaining to sense of belongingness and confidence in academic achievement, was designed to measure the impact of the peer learning community. Goodenow's (1993) 18-item Psychological Sense of School Membership Scale, which has been widely used to measure students' perceptions of belonging in the school environment, served as reference in the creation of the questionnaire. To measure the level to which students agree or disagree with the 11-items, the 5-Likert scale ranging from 1=Strongly Disagree to 5= Strongly Agree was used. A panel of four highly qualified faculty members from California State University, Northridge assessed the questionnaire for face validity. The feedback received from the panel validated that the product created could measure students' perceptions of belonging and confidence in academic achievement, by participating in a peer learning community on campus.