African-American Males, Part-Time Work, And Persistence, Ami M. Tripp

CUP Ed.D. Dissertations

The central research question for this study asked how do African-American males perceive working part-time, while enrolled full-time, to have an impact on their persistence? A secondary question asked, what factors influenced African-American male students to persist through graduation? The participants comprised of 35 African-American male college students who graduated Spring 2016. This study was focused on part-time employment and its support of persistence for African-American men. Hence, persistence theory was the most pertinent lens through which to view the literature and the data collected in this study. This study employed a case study research, as it is an empirical …

The Efficacy Of A Goal-Based Study Skills Course For Academically At-Risk, First-Generation, African American, Female Students, Sarah Beth Garrison

Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to identify effective intervention strategies used in a goal-based study skills course for academically at-risk, first-generation, African-American, female students. Based on the theoretical framework from goal, motivation and achievement theories (Covington, 2000; Kuh, 2007; Nicholls, 1984), this study provided an analysis of research regarding the academic success and persistence of at-risk students. An explanatory mixed-method design was employed that consisted of two phases. The first phase of the study used quantitative data to test for difference in GPA and academic status between the control and treatment group. Quantitative data was also used to identify …

The Influence Of Student Housing And Selected Academic And Personal Demographic Characteristics On The Retention Of Students From The Second To Third Year At A Research University (Ru/Vh), Loren S. Mcintyre

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine the influence of participation in a content-based residential college versus non-participation in a content-based residential college on retention in the second year of study at a research university-very high research activity (RU/VH) in the southern portion of the United States. The dependent variable of the study was whether or not the traditional-age, first-time freshman students enrolled at the study institution in their fifth semester, or second to third year, of study. The target population for this study was defined as traditional-age, first-time college freshmen who enrolled in a research university-very high research …

An Analysis Of The Impact Of Early Alert On Community College Student Persistence In Virginia, Lori Jean Dwyer

Educational Foundations & Leadership Theses & Dissertations

Student attrition has been a significant challenge facing higher education for decades and is particularly pronounced within community colleges. Specifically, first-time postsecondary students only experienced a 59.3 percent retention rate between Fall 2013 and Fall 2014; at two-year colleges, less than half (46.9 percent) of students were retained during the same period (National Student Clearinghouse, 2015a). As institutional leaders attempt to increase student retention rates, they often invest in early alert systems, which promise to be a key part of a student success solution.

The Virginia Community College System (VCCS) implemented an early alert system in 2013. The purpose of …

Academic Supports Preferred By Academically Struggling African American Students At A Predominantly White University, Ellen E. Meadows, Joan H. Ruppert

Dissertations

Academic supports offered by Predominately White Institutions (PWIs) meet the needs of individuals who achieve standards such as high grade point averages and high standardized test scores, and who can negotiate traditional college institutions. Evidence indicates that retention and graduation rates for underrepresented minority students may be lower in comparison to White peers at the same institutions. Observations indicated that academic supports offered by a Midwestern PWI, may not provide the services preferred by African American students who struggle academically in two colleges, the College of Education and the College of Nursing.

A mixed-methods design was used to determine what …

Stem Center For Student Retention And Success: A Proposal, Madhu Dhar Ph.D

Higher Education Student Work

The STEM pipeline, a commonly used analogy (Kuh, 2006; Tierney, 2000), has been shrinking. Furthermore, degree attainment for women and underrepresented minority students in STEM are even lower than for undergraduates as a-whole (National Science Foundation, 2007). With low numbers of students enrolling in STEM fields and even smaller numbers of women and minorities in the STEM pipeline, colleges and universities need to pay particular-attention to retaining the students they have. This capstone proposes a STEM Center that provides an infrastructural support for undergraduate students in the School of Science and Engineering at Merrimack College. The Center will consolidate programs …

The Correlation Between The National Survey Of Student Engagement Indicators And First Year Student Achievement, Satisfaction, And Retention, Larry Peck

STEMPS Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if the National Survey of Student Engagement indicators (NSSE), High-Impact Practices, demographic variables and non-involvement factors can significantly predict student achievement, satisfaction, and retention. The sample included data from 493 freshmen from a large public university in the Southeastern United States who participated in the National Survey of Student Engagement in 2015 and 2016. This study seeks to benefit instructional designers, educators, and educational institutions to maximize their resources and efforts to achieve maximum achievement, retention, and satisfaction.

The study concluded that achievement is highly correlated with higher-order learning, learning strategies, effective …

Being Retained: Perspective Of The Online First-Year Composition Student, Catrina Marie Mitchum

English Theses & Dissertations

Keeping students in college classrooms can be a struggle, but keeping them in an online classroom is an even more difficult feat. While the field of retention research has expanded its focus beyond traditional four-year students to include a variety of non-traditional student situations, including online, it has yet to focus efforts on online first-year composition at the community college. The first-year of college has been shown to be the most critical in student retention at the institutional level, which puts first-year composition in a potentially influential position. The fact that fewer students are retained in online courses than face-to-face …

Implications Of Acceleration On Student Success Course Curriculum: A Comparison Of Accelerated And Traditional Course Modalities, Alice L. Picardo

Theses and Dissertations

Many individuals enter community colleges with high expectations of improving skills, yet are underprepared for the demands of college. Student success courses and acceleration are promising interventions created to improve success rates in developmental education, however, research on accelerated student success courses is virtually non-existent. This explanatory, sequential mixed methods study compared accelerated and traditional student success courses on the attainment of course learning outcomes, term grade point average and retention from fall to spring, while participants' motivation and use of learning strategies were analyzed in both strands. Students' experiences were also analyzed. Findings indicate 1) that the nature of …

Persistence To Graduation Of Students In The Teacher Preparation Program At Murray State University, David Meinschein

Murray State Theses and Dissertations

This study focused on persistence, and graduation rates of traditional students attending four-year public institutions. The study highlighted the complexity of persistence and degree completion by examining risk factors that impact persistence and degree completion. The purpose of this study was two-fold. First, the study sought consensus from a group of stakeholders, graduates from Murray State University’s (MSU) Teacher Education Program (TEP), to determine a list of specific expectations of a postsecondary institution in persisting to degree completion. Secondly, the study gathered data from the stakeholder of how each expectation was met while enrolled in the TEP at MSU.

This …

Producing A College Graduate Using Retention, Progression, And Graduation (Rpg) Initiatives: A University Systems’ Approach, Deborah N. Kittrell-Mikell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT

Complete College Georgia (CCG) is an initiative that has the University System of Georgia institutions strategizing ways to develop plans that will increase the number of college graduates by the year 2020. Governor Nathan Deal has indicated that graduation rates need to increase from 42% to 60% within the next 7 years. With the anticipation of approximately 20% more students graduating to meet the 250,000 target, a closer look is needed at how an additional 50,000 graduates can be produced to make this goal a reality. To fulfill this goal, there needs to be an increase of approximately 7,143 …