Measuring the Differential Effects of Behaviors of Academic Advisors for Students with Disabilities

Abstract

In prior scholarship, researchers identified barriers students with disabilities encounter in accessing academic advising, such as social stigma and hesitance to disclose. Through our study, we sought to inform advising practice by exposing the perceived deficit in services toward this population, uniquely evidenced by large data. The National Survey of Student Engagement academic advising data from 55,945 first-year students and 260 institutions were analyzed through multilevel models to measure differences in academic advising behaviors toward students with disabilities (10.12%) and the general population based on student self-reporting. Results illustrate that even when accounting for student backgrounds and institutional characteristics, academic advising behaviors were perceived as lower for students with disabilities, highlighting the need to intentionally improve services for these students.