The creation of an instrument for evaluating residential student staff members.

Abstract

Residential student staff members are a valuable part of housing and residence life teams in colleges and universities; these student leaders are at the forefront of extracurricular education efforts, crisis response, and student support. Despite their importance and impact, little research has been done on best practices for selecting, hiring, training, or evaluating the effectiveness of these student staff members. The purpose of this study was to explore the expectations of the residential student staff member role and develop an instrument for evaluating their effectiveness from the perspective of their student residents. This study produced a highly reliable instrument consisting of three leadership components based on a sample from two four-year research institutions and indicates a possible connection between residential student staff member effectiveness and residential student participation and sense of belonging. This suggests a need for further application of the conceptual framework to other aspects of residential student staff management as well as the need for continued research regarding the impact of these leaders on the experiences of their peers.