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.

scholarly journals Evidence that International Undergraduates Can Succeed Academically Despite Struggling with English

2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 228-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barry Fass-Holmes ◽  
Allison A. Vaughn
Keyword(s):  
Community College ◽  
Academic Success ◽  
English Proficiency ◽  
Public University ◽  
Grade Point Averages ◽  
Writing Proficiency ◽  
Grade Point ◽  
American Universities ◽  
English Writing ◽  
College Classes

Many American universities require international applicants whose native language is not English to submit English proficiency exam scores presumably because of proficiency’s potential to predict future academic success. The present study provides evidence, however, that such applicants can succeed academically despite struggling with English. Over 60% of two cohorts of degree-seeking international freshmen at a West Coast public university struggled with English—they failed the university’s English writing proficiency requirement. These international freshmen consequently were required to attend classes in English composition and/or English as a second language. Their average academic marks in these classes were between D+ and C- (18–45% earned less than C), yet their term grade point averages (which excluded the community college classes) were between B and B+. The present findings indicate that these international undergraduates can succeed academically despite apparently inadequate English proficiency.

scholarly journals Monitoring the Results of the Tutoring Program in its Face-to-Face and Virtual Modalities on the Academic Achievement of Students at a Mexican University

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 169
Author(s):  
Omar Cuevas Salazar ◽  
Ramona Imelda García López ◽  
Javier José Vales García ◽  
Isidro Roberto Cruz Medina
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Grade Point Averages ◽  
First Year ◽  
Grade Point ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Tutoring Program ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The University ◽  
The Impact

The tutorship program is aimed at supporting students throughout their university career and its objective is to prevent future problems of adaptation in the educational ambience as well as intervening in matters of academic achievement. At the Instituto Tecnológico de Sonora (Technological Institute of Sonora) (ITSON), the individual tutorship program began in 2000. In 2002 group tutoring began in order to see to the entire first year student population and today group tutoring is offered in both the face-to-face and virtual modalities. The general objective of the present study is to determine the impact the programs of face-to-face and virtual tutoring at the ITSON has had on students’ academic achievement, during the four semesters after having participated in this program. Information on 2,995 students from the different areas of study offered at the university was collected from databases which existed at the Institute and analyzed using different statistical techniques. The tutoring program is shown to have had a favorable impact on the index of students’ failing classes, during the semester they were enrolled in tutoring, but not during the subsequent semesters, during which they did not participate in the tutorship program. The grade point averages obtained by students who had face-to-face tutoring were statistically different from those of the students who did not have tutoring. This was true for all of the semesters analyzed. The same thing happened with the students who had virtual tutoring except for during the second semester when the two were statistically equal.

scholarly journals Introductory anatomy and physiology in an undergraduate nursing curriculum

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-61 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.J. Brown ◽  
S. White ◽  
N. Power
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Nursing Students ◽  
Human Anatomy ◽  
High Achievers ◽  
First Year ◽  
Grade Point ◽  
Anatomy And Physiology ◽  
Undergraduate Nursing ◽  
Human Anatomy And Physiology ◽  
High Achieving

Using an educational data mining approach, first-year academic achievement of undergraduate nursing students, which included two compulsory courses in introductory human anatomy and physiology, was compared with achievement in a final semester course that transitioned students into the workplace. We hypothesized that students could be grouped according to their first-year academic achievement using a two-step cluster analysis method and that grades achieved in the human anatomy and physiology courses would be strong predictors of overall achievement. One cohort that graduated in 2014 ( n = 105) and one that graduated in 2015 ( n = 94) were analyzed separately, and for both cohorts, two groups were identified, these being “high achievers” (HIGH) and “low achievers” (LOW). Consistently, the anatomy and physiology courses were the strongest predictors of group assignment, such that a good grade in these was much more likely to put a student into a high-achieving group. Students in the HIGH groups also scored higher in the Transition to Nursing course when compared with students in the LOW groups. The higher predictor importance of the anatomy and physiology courses suggested that if a first-year grade-point average was calculated for students, an increased weighting should be attributed to these courses. Identifying high-achieving students based on first-year academic scores may be a useful method to predict future academic performance.

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.

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.

scholarly journals Combining Academic Advising with a Freshman Orientation Course in an Integrated Baccalaureate–Medical Degree Program: Evaluation of the System

2000 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 16-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dani L. McBeth ◽  
Susan M. Richardson ◽  
Louis L. Cregler ◽  
Jodie Meyer
Keyword(s):  
Academic Advising ◽  
Degree Program ◽  
Grade Point Averages ◽  
First Year ◽  
Freshman Seminar ◽  
Freshman Orientation ◽  
Grade Point ◽  
Medical Degree ◽  
Orientation Course ◽  
Students First

The effectiveness of an advising system that combines a freshman seminar course taught by advisors for the students that they advise in a combined baccalaureate–medical degree program was analyzed. Students reported satisfaction with the seminar course, and more than 80% felt that they were more likely to seek out their advisor as a result of participating in this course. After the new advising system was implemented, the number of students receiving an A or B in a required biology course increased from nearly 70% to approximately 80%. In addition, students' first year grade-point averages increased modestly.

scholarly journals Grade Point Average Differences between Dual and Nondual Credit College Students

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert D. Young ◽  
Sheila A. Joyner ◽  
John R. Slate
Keyword(s):  
Community College ◽  
Grade Point Average ◽  
Dual Enrollment ◽  
Dual Credit ◽  
Grade Point Averages ◽  
Effect Sizes ◽  
Asian Students ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Grade Point ◽  
Second Year

We examined the first and final term grade point averages (GPA) for a class of students at a Texas community college to determine how dual enrollment credit influenced GPA. Five statistically significant differences, albeit small effect sizes, were present by gender and by ethnic membership. Dual credit students had higher GPAs than did nondual credit students. Interestingly, dual enrollment did not have a statistically significant influence on GPAs for Asian students or for students after two years at this community college. As such, this study is the first research investigation of which we are aware in which student GPA in the first college semester and at the end of the second year was compared between dual credit and nondual credit students. Implications of our findings and suggestions for future research are provided.

Focusing on the Forgotten

2015 ◽  
pp. 94-124
Author(s):  
Stephanie M. Foote ◽  
Jeannine Kranzow ◽  
Sara E. Hinkle
Keyword(s):  
Community College ◽  
Transfer Students ◽  
First Year ◽  
Transfer Student ◽  
Community College Transfer ◽  
College Transfer ◽  
First Year Students ◽  
Student Transition ◽  
Four Year Institutions ◽  
First Time

Despite the increasing numbers of transfer students, particularly those transferring from two- to four-year institutions, campus programs and services continue to center on assisting first-year students who are entering higher education for the first time. This chapter brings transfer students, an often “forgotten” population, to light through the following: a review of the scholarship and research on community college transfer student transition and success, an examination of factors that affect that transition, and a description of innovative practices that respond to the need of this growing population. The information in this chapter can be used to develop campus programs and services to assist with the transfer student transition to four-year colleges and universities.

Impact of Merit-based Financial Aidon Student achievement

2014 ◽  
pp. 112-126
Author(s):  
O. Poldin ◽  
M. Yudkevich
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Financial Aid ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
First Year ◽  
Test Results ◽  
Grade Point ◽  
Average Distribution ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Academic Year ◽  
Russian Universities

Some Russian universities provide tuition fee discount to their students conditioned on their academic achievement. The paper examines the impact of this type of financial aid on student performance. The amount of this discounts for the first academic year depends on the admission test results, and its extension for the second year depends on the student’s academic achievement in the first year. Using regression discontinuity design and quantile regression, we show that financial aid stimulates the performance of those fee-paying students, who are in the upper part of the grade-point-average distribution.

Being Well vs. Doing Well: Self-Esteem and School Performance among Immigrant and Nonimmigrant Racial and Ethnic Groups

2002 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 389-415 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carl L. Bankston ◽  
Min Zhou
Keyword(s):  
Academic Achievement ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
School Performance ◽  
Black Adolescents ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Self Esteem ◽  
Grade Point Averages ◽  
Low Grade ◽  
Apparent Paradox ◽  
Grade Point

It has frequently been suggested that the academic achievement of minority students may be hindered by low self-esteem in a white-dominated society. Some researchers and theorists, however, have questioned such assumptions. The self-esteem-academic achievement issue is further complicated by the relatively strong performance of children of immigrants in general, and of children of Asian immigrants in particular. A substantial literature suggests that these children face insecurities and difficulties that are inconsistent with high self-esteem. In examining data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we find that Asians do show the lowest levels of reported self-esteem of the major racial/ethnic groups, but also the highest grade-point averages. Black adolescents, on the other hand, show the highest levels of reported self-esteem, but show relatively low grade-point averages. In further examination, we demonstrate that despite this apparent inconsistency between school performance and reported self-esteem, the two do have a positive relationship. Immigrant parental status, we suggest, has a complex relationship to school performance and psychological well-being that can help to explain the apparent paradox.

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