Education Commons^™

The Impact Of Institutional Merit Aid On Student Enrollment And Persistence, Richard Scott Verzyl

Theses and Dissertations

Institutional merit-based financial aid awards are widely utilized by enrollment management practitioners to attract and retain students desired by the institution and to increase net tuition revenue. While much research has been conducted on federal need-based aid and statewide merit aid, relatively few studies have been conducted on merit aid awarded at the institutional level. This study sought to contribute to the literature by examining the effect of institutional merit aid on initial enrollment as well as student persistence at a large public research university located in the Southeastern United States. A quasi-experimental design was used to study two nearly …

Exploring Motivational Factors Related To Teachers’ Retention And Attrition In Urban Schools, Andrew Wintner

Theses and Dissertations

Retention of educators within urban settings is an essential consideration. More specifically, the retention of Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) educators within urban schools is of great importance as the demographic of students grows increasingly multicultural due to shifting demographic patterns within large urban cities. I explored educator perceptions of motivational factors associated with retention and attrition through the theoretical lens of Situated Expectancy Value Theory (SEVT). A convergent parallel mixed methods design was utilized. Semi-structured interviews (N = 18) occurred simultaneously to quantitative data collection using a 44-item survey (N = 53). Analyses of the …

New Jersey Community Colleges: Is There A Relationship Between Part Time Faculty And Student Success?, Gerald Maxmilian Slusher

Theses and Dissertations

The increasing number of part time instructors in the community college professorate combined with low student retention and graduation rates makes research into part time faculty and student success highly germane. My dissertation investigated if higher ratios of adjunct faculty were related to student retention, certificate/degree attainment, and transfer without a credential while accounting for institutional, student body, and county characteristics. The dissertation was limited to New Jersey community colleges to eliminate differences in state policies. The sector was examined over 12 academic years yielding 228 data points arrayed into three panel models to run 12 regressions.

Using results from …

How Do First-Year Dominican Students Perceive Their First Year Of College And How Do These Perceptions Impact Their Retention, Maria C. Cano

Theses and Dissertations

College completion rate is a major challenge afflicting colleges and universities as well as students in the United States, particularly Hispanic students (Field, 2018). This qualitative case study aimed to investigate how Dominican students perceived their first year of college and how that perception impacted their retention in a community college in the Northeast. Participants included a purposeful sample of fourteen students (four students enrolled fall of 2021 and four students who did not enroll in the spring of 2022, five students from a focus group, and one of the students from the focus group was interviewed for an in-depth …

Understanding The Circumstances That Contribute To Teacher Retention And Attrition In An Urban School District And The Impacts Of Financial Incentives On Teacher Retention, Meshelley Sams

Theses and Dissertations

This study is aimed at understanding the circumstances that contribute to teacher retention and attrition in urban schools in the Southwestern United States. Harris et al. (2019) reported that at the national level, 16% of all teachers attrit yearly. Attrition contributes to the increasing teacher shortage problem that many districts face. The purpose of the study, guided by Chris Argyris’ organizational theory, examined the circumstances that contribute to the attrition of highly qualified teachers and the extent financial incentives are linked to the retention of highly qualified teachers. This qualitative phenomenological study involved 9 teachers, interviewed with a researcher designed …

The Relationship Of Mentorship And Professional Development On Special Educators’ Intent, Christine S. Powell

Theses and Dissertations

Current literature in special education has examined professional development (PD) and mentorship separately; however, no studies have investigated the relationship between PD and mentorship on special education teachers’ intent. The purpose of this study was to examine the extent to which participating in PD and mentorship opportunities predicted the likelihood of Early Career Special Education Teachers' (ECSETs) intent to leave the teacher workforce while examining factors related to duration and quality. Based on two conceptual models, Desimone’s (2009) best practices for professional development and Nick et al. (2012) best practices for academic mentoring, this study identified key features and characteristics …