The Curricular Approach to Student Affairs - Practical Guide

In this review of The Curricular Approach to Student Affairs, the bottom line is simple: this is a practical, research-rooted guide for student affairs professionals who want to align out-of-class experiences with institutional learning goals. Written by Kathleen G. Kerr, Keith E. Edwards, James F. Tweedy, and Hilary Lichterman, the book distills more than a decade of campus work and scholarship into actionable steps for designing, sequencing, and assessing student learning beyond the classroom. Readers looking for a clear implementation roadmap will find the single biggest reason to buy is its sustained focus on connecting pedagogy, assessment, and institutional mission.

Key Features

• Curricular alignment: Explains how to align a student affairs division's mission, goals, and practices with broader institutional objectives to make co-curricular work intentional and coherent.
• Implementation guidance: Offers step-by-step approaches and examples drawn from a decade of campus practice to help teams design and roll out a curricular approach.
• Assessment focus: Emphasizes building assessment strategies that demonstrate student learning outcomes from out-of-class experiences, helping units show impact.
• Developmental sequencing: Describes how to organize learning activities in a developmentally sequenced way so student growth is scaffolded across the college experience.
• Scholarship rooted: Connects practical guidance to the research on learning, pedagogy, and assessment to support evidence-informed decisions.
• Cross-campus examples: Draws on multiple campus implementations to illustrate real-world adaptation and common challenges.

Who It's For

The Curricular Approach to Student Affairs is aimed at student affairs leaders, assessment professionals, and faculty or staff charged with designing co-curricular programming who need a coherent framework to connect activities to learning outcomes. It is especially useful for campuses ready to move beyond isolated programs toward institution-wide alignment and those seeking to strengthen assessment practices.

Readers who should look elsewhere include casual readers seeking a brief overview or those wanting an introductory textbook on general pedagogy; this book assumes interest in institutional implementation and assessment and is most valuable to practitioners ready to apply change on a campus scale.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• Practical, implementation-focused guidance that translates theory into campus-ready steps.
• Strong emphasis on assessment and measuring student learning from co-curricular work.
• Grounded in over a decade of experience, offering realistic examples and adaptation advice.

Cons

• Scope is focused on institutional implementation, so it may feel dense for readers seeking a brief primer.

Specifications

Title	The Curricular Approach to Student Affairs
Authors	Kathleen G. Kerr; Keith E. Edwards; James F. Tweedy; Hilary Lichterman
Focus	Implementing curricular approaches for educating students beyond the classroom
Based on	More than a decade of campus implementation and scholarship
Core topics	Alignment, assessment, pedagogy, developmental sequencing
Intended audience	Student affairs professionals and campus leaders

Our Verdict

The Curricular Approach to Student Affairs is a worthwhile investment for campus leaders who want a rigorous, practical framework to align co-curricular work with institutional learning outcomes. Its value lies in marrying scholarly grounding with clear implementation and assessment strategies, making it a good resource for teams ready to enact campus change and demonstrate impact.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this book explain how to assess co-curricular learning?
Yes. It emphasizes building assessment strategies that link out-of-class activities to measurable student learning outcomes.

Is this suitable for small campuses?
Yes. While examples span multiple campuses, the book discusses adaptation and implementation that can be scaled to different institutional sizes.

Who wrote the book?
The book is authored by Kathleen G. Kerr, Keith E. Edwards, James F. Tweedy, and Hilary Lichterman, drawing on their collective campus work and scholarship.