scholarly journals An Analytic Model to Assist Academic Advisors

2002 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen L. DesJardins ◽  
Wang Jie
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Model ◽  
Grade Point Averages ◽  
First Year ◽  
Low Grade ◽  
Academic Advisors ◽  
Students At Risk ◽  
Multivariate Statistical ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Grade Point ◽  
Multivariate Statistical Model

We detail how academic advisors at two land grand universities benefit from the identification of factors related to poor academic performance of first-year students. We used a multivariate statistical model and data from one institution to identify characteristics of students at-risk of earning low grade point averages. We showed through a second application of the statistical model that first-year dropout was directly related to grade point average.

scholarly journals Learning Skills Workshops Supporting First-Year Courses

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 119-128
Author(s):  
Sheilagh Grills
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Student Services ◽  
Grade Point Averages ◽  
First Year ◽  
Negative Consequences ◽  
Learning Skills ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Grade Point ◽  
Introductory Course ◽  
Course Grades

Student Services support, including learning skills assistance, can be integral in empowering learners.  First-year students are expected to be self-directed in their learning, yet may have neither been challenged nor experienced negative consequences for a lack of perseverance. Academic skills professionals can be partners with teaching faculty in student success by helping to build transferable learning skills, especially for high-fail introductory courses. In this paper, I report on supplementary workshops developed to target fundamental skills with course-specific examples.  This partnership included incentivizing academic support with both carrots and sticks; instructors in introductory biology strongly urged students receiving D grades or below on the first test to approach Student Services for support, while sociology faculty incorporated workshop attendance into the introductory course with participation grades. Following such incentivizing of learning skills, workshop attendance increased by 45%. In both courses, first test scores and high school averages for students attending workshops did not differ from students not attending workshops. However, students who attended learning skills workshops had significantly higher course grades, persistence, sessional grade point averages (GPAs), and cumulative GPAs than students not attending workshops. Controlling for high school average, each learning skills workshop attended was associated with a 0.11 to 0.27 increase in sessional GPA on a 4.3 point scale. 

Academic Achievement and Demographics of International Undergraduates

2016 ◽  
pp. 233-259
Author(s):  
Dulce Amor L. Dorado ◽  
Barry Fass-Holmes
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Community College ◽  
West Coast ◽  
Native Language ◽  
Public University ◽  
Grade Point Averages ◽  
First Year ◽  
Grade Point ◽  
Academic Standing ◽  
First Time

Are international undergraduates whose native language is not English less prepared to succeed academically at an American four-year institution after transferring from an American community college than ones who are first-time freshmen (NFRS) or exchange visitors (EAPR)? This question's answer was no at an American West Coast public university where five cohorts of international transfer undergraduates (TRAN) earned mean first-year grade point averages (GPA) between B- and B. Less than 12% of these students earned GPAs below C, and less than 15% were in bad academic standing (probation, subject to disqualification, or dismissed). In comparison, five parallel cohorts of NFRS and EAPR earned mean first-year GPAs averaging between B and B+ to A-. Less than 10% earned GPAs below C or were in bad academic standing. Thus, a minority of this university's international undergraduates struggled academically regardless of whether they were TRAN, NFRS, or EAPR.

A Social-Belonging Intervention Benefits Higher Weight Students’ Weight Stability and Academic Achievement

2020 ◽  
pp. 194855062095923
Author(s):  
Christine Logel ◽  
Joel M. Le Forestier ◽  
Eben B. Witherspoon ◽  
Omid Fotuhi
Keyword(s):  
College Transition ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Grade Point Averages ◽  
First Year ◽  
Psychological Interventions ◽  
Healthy Weight ◽  
Intervention Trial ◽  
Grade Point ◽  
Social Belonging ◽  
Weight Stability

Psychological interventions can narrow college achievement gaps between students from nonstigmatized and stigmatized groups. However, no intervention we know of has investigated effects for one highly stigmatized group: people of higher bodyweights. We analyzed data from a prematriculation social-belonging intervention trial at 22 colleges, which conveyed that adversity in the college transition is normative, temporary, and nondiagnostic of lack of belonging. Nine months postintervention, higher weight participants in a standard belonging treatment had higher first-year grade point averages (GPAs) than controls and maintained more stable weights, an indicator of physical well-being. Effects of a belonging treatment customized to specific colleges were directionally similar but nonsignificant. Exploratory analyses revealed that effects did not differ by race and that weight effects were driven by women. Together, results show that higher weight students contend with belonging concerns that contribute to a weight gap in GPA, but belonging interventions can raise GPA and promote healthy weight stability.

scholarly journals Getting Past the Gateway: An Exploratory Case on Using Utilitarian Scientific Literacy to Support First-Year Students At-Risk of Leaving STEM

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 265
Author(s):  
Chambers ◽  
Salter ◽  
Muldrow
Keyword(s):  
At Risk ◽  
Scientific Literacy ◽  
Student Experiences ◽  
Control Group ◽  
First Year ◽  
Students At Risk ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Stem Pipeline ◽  
Literacy Course ◽  
The Impact

First-year students who enter college pursuing a STEM degree still face challenges persisting through the STEM pipeline (Chen, 2013; Leu, 2017). In this case study, researchers examine the impact of a utilitarian scientific literacy based academic intervention on retention of first-year students in STEM using a mixed methods approach. A sample (n = 116) of first-year students identified as at-risk of not persisting in STEM were enrolled in a for credit utilitarian scientific literacy course. Participants of the semester long course were then compared with a control group of first-year students identified as at-risk of persisting in STEM. A two-proportion z test was performed to assess the mean differences between students and participants of the course were given a survey to gauge student experiences. Quantitative results (φ 0.34, p < 0.05) indicate that the utilitarian scientific literacy course had a statistically significant impact on retention among first-year students at-risk of persisting in STEM. Moreover, qualitative data obtained from participant responses describe internal and external growth as positive outcomes associated with the intervention.

Greeks and Grades: The First-Year Experience

NASPA Journal ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert DeBard ◽  
Tony Lake ◽  
Ron S Binder
Keyword(s):  
Grade Point Averages ◽  
First Year Experience ◽  
First Year ◽  
New Members ◽  
Grade Point ◽  
Greek Organizations ◽  
Midwestern University ◽  
Actual Grade

After reviewing institutional records for more than 3,000 students, the authors consider how new members of Greek organizations at a Midwestern university performed academically when compared to non-Greeks, in terms of their predicted versus actual grade point averages and whether joining during the first or second semester made a difference in their performance. Implications for improving the first-year experience of Greek members are explored.

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