The “New” DSW Is Here: Supporting Degree Completion and Student Success

2015 ◽  
Vol 35 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 101-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mery Diaz
Keyword(s):  
Student Success ◽  
Degree Completion ◽  
Supporting Degree

A Partnership Model to Improve Retention, Increase Degree Completion, and Reduce Achievement Gaps

2019 ◽  
pp. 98-109
Author(s):  
Kara Miles Turner ◽  
Nia Haydel ◽  
Melanie Carter
Keyword(s):  
Student Success ◽  
Degree Completion ◽  
Degree Attainment ◽  
Postsecondary Institutions ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
State University ◽  
Completion Rates ◽  
Partnership Model ◽  
Howard University ◽  
Morgan State University

Funded by Lumina Foundation, the HBCU Student Success Project is a collaboration among three HBCUs – Dillard University, Howard University, and Morgan State University to implement empirically based retention strategies to increase first- and second-year retention and degree completion rates and to reduce degree attainment gaps between targeted groups on their campuses. This chapter chronicles the processes used by Lumina and the participating institutions to develop and implement a project that would result in the identification of evidence-based strategies and a model for creating and sustaining effective student success partnerships among postsecondary institutions, particularly HBCUs.

The Factual Knowledge Elements and Components of Outstanding Retention and Student Success Coaching

2019 ◽  
pp. 30-62
Keyword(s):  
Student Success ◽  
Degree Completion ◽  
Factual Knowledge ◽  
Doctoral Studies ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Degree Completion Programs ◽  
Online Degree ◽  
Program Retention ◽  
First Time ◽  
To Receive

The research presented throughout this chapter and in Chapters 3 and 4 comes from a 2015-16 study of a US-based for-profit coaching company that was conducted as part of the author's dissertation and doctoral studies. The research was designed to examine, understand, and explain why students assigned to receive retention and success coaching were significantly more likely to remain enrolled at their institutions than students who did not receive coaching. One of the main elements of the research was to understand and evaluate the coaches' performance in the retention of students in online degree completion programs and to inform the larger, related problem of online course and program retention. As a further focus, the study was designed to inform and improve retention of the most difficult community of students, the non-first-time student enrolled in an online degree completion program. This chapter looks at the knowledge elements and components of highly impactful coaching.

Direct Effects of High-Impact Practices on the Success of Business Majors in Large, Mostly Nonresidential Public Universities

2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-65
Author(s):  
Malu Roldan ◽  
Tanvi Kothari ◽  
Linda M. Dunn-Jensen
Keyword(s):  
Student Success ◽  
Degree Completion ◽  
Liberal Arts ◽  
High Impact ◽  
First Year ◽  
Direct Effects ◽  
Underrepresented Minority ◽  
Business Majors ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
High Impact Practices

High-impact practices (HIPs) have been shown to be effective in helping first-year students successfully transition into college. However, since most of the research on HIPs has been done in small liberal arts settings, little is known about the efficacy and implementation practices of HIPs in large, public, primarily nonresidential institutions, or business schools within these institutions. This article seeks to address this need. Our study suggests that a comparison among students involved in HIPs versus those who forgo the experiences shows significant differences in impact, particularly on degree completion. However, further analysis shows that the gains were primarily achieved among students who were not members of underrepresented minority (URM) groups. As institutions face pressure from key constituents to improve graduation rates while reducing achievement gaps, it is becoming increasingly important for administrators and faculty to assess which approaches are most likely to achieve both these aims, particularly as scaling HIPs to larger settings is expensive and fraught with difficulties. This study reports on the effectiveness of HIPs for supporting the success of both URM and non-URM students and makes recommendations for building student success programs that ensure the success of all students, especially in large, diverse higher education institutions.

The Emergence of Local Practices in a Devolved Workforce Investment System: Barriers and Possibilities for Enhancing Degree Completion

2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 183-195 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Nisbet ◽  
Heather A. McKay ◽  
Sara Haviland
Keyword(s):  
Workforce Development ◽  
Degree Completion ◽  
College Graduates ◽  
The United States ◽  
Case Managers ◽  
Workforce Investment Act ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Frontline Staff ◽  
Federal Workforce ◽  
Supporting Degree

Former President Obama’s 2020 Goal for the United States to have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world required that both new and disengaged college students attain degrees. The workforce development system could assist the latter by supporting credit-bearing education as training. Its ability to address this need depends on the controlled devolved structure established by the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, which allows states and local workforce investment areas to set priorities and make a range of choices bounded by federal constraints. Analyzing interview data with frontline staff, case managers, and leadership in workforce systems in four states, the authors identify obstacles and opportunities for supporting degree completion. Three federal Workforce Investment Act mandates are particularly influential: individual training accounts, eligible training provider lists, and emphasis on demand occupations. The authors also model factors such as local partnerships and staff knowledge that can mediate how policy and practice shape local workforce investment area support for college.

scholarly journals Measures of Student Engagement as Predictors of Grade Point Average (GPA) and Degree Completion at Andrews University

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Michael Milmine
Keyword(s):  
Student Engagement ◽  
Student Success ◽  
Degree Completion ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
First Year ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Academic Degree ◽  
Andrews University ◽  
Engagement Factors ◽  
Senior Students

Purpose of the Study In a time of rising costs, social discourse questioning value of an undergraduate degree, and declining enrollment, institutions of higher education are under increasing pressure to provide stakeholders and potential students with measures of accountability and student success. These pressures renew the need to leverage student engagement data to understand what makes undergraduates successful in their academic programs. An understanding of student engagement factors is key to helping all students succeed, but especially to identifying areas that colleges and universities can devote their attention in order to improve their students’ likelihood of success. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between student engagement and both academic performance and degree completion. Method The present study was designed as a secondary quantitative analysis of non-experimental descriptive data collected using survey methodology. The instrument, referred to as the NSSE, was used to gather information on students’ engagement with their coursework, peers, professors, and academic institution. The data was gathered from 375 first-year and senior undergraduate students attending Andrews University in 2013 and 2015. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was used to determine a statistical model to use student engagement variables to predict for student GPA scores. Discriminant Function Analysis (DFA) was used to determine which student engagement variables were best able to discriminate between students who would and those who would not complete their academic degree. Results Upon some revision, the SEM model for the first-year students predicted 19% of GPA and indicated that the most important predictors were Academic Challenge and Student-Faculty Interaction. Also, upon some revision, the SEM model for the senior students predicted 9% of GPA. This senior model indicated that the only significant predictor of GPA was Quality of Interactions. DFA for first-year students was statistically significant and predicted degree completion at a rate of 66.9%, with the best predictors (both positive) being Learning Strategies and Reflective & Integrative Learning. DFA for senior students was not statistically significant. Conclusions Engagement factors are important in predicting first-year student GPA and likelihood of degree completion. Engagement factors that predict GPA are different and weaker for senior students, and do not predict likelihood of degree completion. This study provides evidence for the increase of specific types of engagement to improve student success and graduation rates.

scholarly journals On Doctoral Student Development: Exploring Faculty Mentoring in the Shaping of African American Doctoral Student Success

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela Felder
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Student Success ◽  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Degree Completion ◽  
Student Development ◽  
Belief Systems ◽  
Doctoral Student ◽  
Doctoral Degree ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Doctoral Degree Completion

This study examines the influence of faculty mentorship in the shaping of African American doctoral student success. A case analysis framework is used to investigate the belief systems that doctoral students held about their doctoral experience. Data collection involved a one-phase semi-structured interview protocol used to gather information about these experiences from a post-degree perspective. African American doctoral degree completion is addressed as a critical function of student success within an elite educational context. Results of the study demonstrate that the African American doctoral degree completion is complicated by students' perceptions of faculty advising, faculty behavior and the lack of diverse faculty leadership.

The Nature of Success in Doctoral Education

2019 ◽  
pp. 90-109
Author(s):  
Preston B. Cosgrove
Keyword(s):  
Student Success ◽  
Goal Setting ◽  
Degree Completion ◽  
Doctoral Education ◽  
Doctoral Student ◽  
Attrition Rates ◽  
Identity Shift ◽  
Doctoral Attrition

Doctoral attrition rates have remained around 50% for nearly four decades at significant costs to the student, department, institution, and society. In this chapter, the author analyzes the literature and make an argument for three critical strategies of degree completion: 1) the nature of the adult doctoral student, which involves an identity shift from dependent student to independent scholar; 2) the nature of the doctoral advisor, which involves more holistic supervision and support; and 3) the nature of goal-setting, which acts to organically link the two and focus effort and attention. Taken together, they provide a holistic framework that can counter the pervasive attrition rates and lead to greater doctoral student success.

A Little Help From Their Friends? How Social Factors Relate to Students' Sense of Belonging at a Large Public University

2021 ◽  
pp. 152102512098510
Author(s):  
Joseph A. Anistranski ◽  
B. Bradford Brown
Keyword(s):  
Student Success ◽  
Degree Completion ◽  
Social Factors ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Public University ◽  
Regression Analyses ◽  
Academic Factors ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
Adjustment To College ◽  
Midwestern University

Sense of belonging plays a key role in college students' persistence and successful degree completion. This study evaluated how social factors contributed to students’ sense of belonging at a major Midwestern university when controlling for individual-level and academic factors. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that students’ sense of belonging was significantly associated with underrepresented backgrounds, personality traits, adjustment to college, and friendship variables. We discuss the potential implications of these relationships in promoting retention and student success.

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