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I had the pleasure of facilitating a session at the AASHE conference in 2024 entitled “STARS and Student Engagement for Sustainable Colleges and Universities”. The session featured three different examples of how the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS) can be used to advance student learning:

  • Colorado Mountain College hired students in a senior-level Sustainability Studies course to serve as STARS researchers and assist with completing the college’s inaugural STARS report.
  • Graduate students in a sustainability-focused accounting course at Seattle University evaluated the university’s STARS reports to develop literacy in sustainability reporting, assurance, and analysis.
  • At Binghamton University, STARS provides a framework for students in a project-based course called “Planning the Sustainable University” to help support the implementation of the university’s sustainability plan.

These stories are part of a growing trend toward greater student involvement in STARS reporting. Indeed, STARS survey results show that collaboration with students on STARS reports and data collection has steadily risen, reaching 40% in 2024 (from 32% in 2021). Likewise, the same survey shows a significant increase in respondents reporting benefits from offering STARS as an experiential learning opportunity for students, rising to 57% in 2024 (from 11% in 2020).

To support this trend, AASHE is seeking to pull together more examples of how STARS is being used to enhance student learning and engagement within the academic curriculum. Here are some of the ways that students have been involved in STARS that we are interested in learning more about:

  • Data collection and reporting – Students gather and input data for institutional STARS reports.
  • Reporting assurance – Students serve as report reviewers and conduct reporting assurance using a standard template.
  • Benchmarking and analysis – Students use STARS data displays, the benchmarking tool, and other datasets to conduct gap analysis, longitudinal analysis, or for other research.
  • Strategic planning – Students use STARS to provide actionable recommendations for institutional sustainability goals, linking their findings to broader strategic objectives.

If you are an academic instructor or a student using STARS in the curriculum, we would love to hear from you! Likewise, if you or your office provides STARS-related co-curricular learning opportunities for students, your feedback will also be helpful. Please complete this form to share your experiences. We plan to utilize the responses to inform the development of one or more new resources on STARS in the curriculum.