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Full-Text Articles in Higher Education

"Why Am I In School?": A Mixed Methods Investigation Into Stopping Out Of College., Kathryn Gardner Adamchik Dec 2018

"Why Am I In School?": A Mixed Methods Investigation Into Stopping Out Of College., Kathryn Gardner Adamchik

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Higher education research often looks at student retention as a dichotomous outcome, either students stay enrolled or not; however, students’ enrollment pathways are more complicated than that as they frequently transfer, swirl between institutions, and stopout and return. This study was designed to explore students who stopout and return to the same institution within their six-year graduation window. More specifically, I sought to learn who stops out, why they stopout, what happens while out, why they come back, and what may be different upon their return. Four conceptual frameworks were applied to understand students’ experiences with stopping out including Tinto’s …


Resilience And College Persistence: Characterizing Students Who Have Failed Courses, Mary Merrifield Nov 2018

Resilience And College Persistence: Characterizing Students Who Have Failed Courses, Mary Merrifield

Dissertations

Students who fail a course early in their college careers are at risk of leaving college before completion of their programs. Little is known about this high-risk group and why some members of this group complete their programs while others do not. This research addressed this gap in the college-level persistence literature by focusing first on differences between completers and non-completers, then on differences between students who fail a course early in their college careers but become completers or non-completers. The goal was to understand the protective value of individual traits beyond the prediction of risk based on membership to …


Classification Of One-Year Student Persistence: A Machine Learning Approach, Ben Siebrase Jun 2018

Classification Of One-Year Student Persistence: A Machine Learning Approach, Ben Siebrase

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Multilayer perceptron neural networks, Gaussian naïve Bayes, and logistic regression classifiers were compared when used to make early predictions regarding one-year college student persistence. Two iterations of each model were built, utilizing a grid search process within 10-fold cross-validation in order to tune model parameters for optimal performance on the classification metrics F-Beta and F-1. The results of logistic regression, the historically favored approach in the domain, were compared to the alternative approaches of multilayer perceptron and naïve Bayes based primarily on FBeta and F-1 score performance on a hold-out dataset. A single logistic regression model was found to perform …


Fostering Sense Of Belonging : A Multi-Case Study Of Black Male Retention Initiatives., Jarrod Elliott Druery May 2018

Fostering Sense Of Belonging : A Multi-Case Study Of Black Male Retention Initiatives., Jarrod Elliott Druery

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The retention and graduation rates of Black male collegians continues to be a work in progress for colleges and universities in the U.S. Researchers have highlighted impediments to student success and degree attainment of this population at historically White institutions (HWIs)—with racism being prominent. As a result, recent efforts have been made to promote success and persistence among Black men in college. Within the last decade, Black male initiatives (BMI) have emerged on college campuses across the country. BMIs are programs aimed at increasing persistence and success among Black male collegians. Based on the newness of these initiatives, there is …


Academic And Social Adaptation Through A College Success Course: A Case Study Of Second Semester Students At A Suburban Community College In Northern New Jersey, Jenny Pamela Marcenaro Apr 2018

Academic And Social Adaptation Through A College Success Course: A Case Study Of Second Semester Students At A Suburban Community College In Northern New Jersey, Jenny Pamela Marcenaro

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this qualitative critical single case study was to explore how second semester students who took a college student success course during their first term adapted to their second term. Specifically, by focusing on how this course contributed to their academic and social adaptation, and why this course may have facilitated such adaptation and persistence at their institution. Findings from this study indicated that this course contributed to these students' adaptation from first to second semester by teaching these students the importance of time management, changing their priorities, putting their academics first. In addition, these participants learned about …


Understanding Why Women Stay: Examining Persistence Factors Of Women Majoring In Science And Technology Programs In Public Ethiopian Universities Using A Mixed Methods Design, Meseret Hailu Jan 2018

Understanding Why Women Stay: Examining Persistence Factors Of Women Majoring In Science And Technology Programs In Public Ethiopian Universities Using A Mixed Methods Design, Meseret Hailu

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Amongst African nations, Ethiopia is a unique case in many respects. The country has the second largest population on the continent, is currently experiencing an economic boom, and is a relatively stable nation in the geopolitically volatile "Horn of Africa" region. In the past two decades, the higher education sector in Ethiopia has experienced rapid growth, as evidenced by an increase in both student enrollment and the number of universities. Amongst the various types of higher education institutions, public universities are especially important because they receive the greatest financial support from the Ministry of Education. Moreover, science and technology programs …


An Exploration Of Faculty And Staff Mentoring On High-Risk Community College Student Self-Efficacy, Support Systems, And Persistence, William E. Ashcraft Jan 2018

An Exploration Of Faculty And Staff Mentoring On High-Risk Community College Student Self-Efficacy, Support Systems, And Persistence, William E. Ashcraft

Educational Leadership & Workforce Development Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of faculty and staff mentoring on high-risk community college student self-efficacy, support systems and persistence and identifying the attitudes and behaviors of successful faculty and staff mentors. Using a phenomenological qualitative approach, twenty-two successful high-risk students from one urban community college were interviewed and asked to identify and describe someone on campus who had been most influential in their ability to persist. The twenty-six community college faculty and staff personnel identified by these students were interviewed to learn what they do to help students succeed and persist. Four themes emerged …