Our values matter By Becky Koltonski Gleason, Delta Delta Director of Education & Curriculum Design
“Your values matter. In everything so far, they have predicted outcomes.” This is the evaluation Josh Schutts, Chief Research Officer at Dyad Strategies, made in an email before sending the final report on Zeta Tau Alpha’s new assessment. ZTA values matter. It’s a fact we’ve always known, but haven’t yet been able to back up with data. After this year, however, Zetas can now share this sentiment with perfect confidence and have the evidence to back it up. To identify and measure those values, ZTA worked with Josh Schutts and Gentry McCreary of Dyad Strategies to create a personalized values assessment. The process included reviewing ZTA’s mission, purpose and The Creed of Zeta Tau Alpha; conducting collegiate focus groups; and pilot testing the survey questions with a member sample size. Conducting an assessment is not new to our Fraternity. In fact, ZTA was the first fraternal women’s organization to conduct a complete assessment of its collegiate membership in 2009. As a result, the North-American Interfraternity Conference honored ZTA with its Laurel Wreath Award, which is granted for a unique or influential program in the fraternal world. Last academic year, ZTA decided to create a totally customized survey for the organization’s unique needs to help us better track the member experience over time based on ZTA’s own values rather than on an external survey. The assessment Dyad created measures students’ competencies in nine key values that emerged from The Creed and member input. The measured values include lines
is Involved in 2 other organizations on campus Holds 1 leadership position in those other organizations
The Average
Zeta Tau Alpha Collegian
34 · THEMIS · Fraternity News
Focuses 19 hours per week on school work Volunteers 2.5 hours per week doing community service Works an average of 15 hours per week