This study investigated the strategies academically successful college student athletes use to do well in their class work, where academic success was defined as a 3.5 GPA for 12 or more credits for the two semesters preceding the study. Data were transcriptions of individual interviews with five male and five female athletes in seven sports at an NCAA Division I university in the western United States. Independent coders analyzed the data and agreed upon themes related to challenges to academic success and strategies to meet those challenges. Findings add to the literature by detailing self-regulatory habits that academically underprepared athletes can adopt from their successful peers. Academic advisors can use these findings as they help athletes increase academic success and learn valuable life skills.

PhD (Health Sciences) / Department of Advanced Nursing Science

High school students in accelerated curricula (i.e., Advanced Placement classes or pre-International Baccalaureate program) tend to report higher level of perceived stress compared to general education students due to additional academic demands that stemmed from accelerated courses (Suldo & Shaunessy-Dedrick, 2013). However, this group of students often receives limited if any targeted supports in schools because they tend to perform well academically (Suldo, O'Brennan, Storey, & Shaunessy-Dedrick, 2018). To address this gap in literature, this study investigated the efficacy of a targeted intervention in development to support academic and emotional success among students in accelerated curricula, namely the Motivation, Assessment, and Planning (MAP) intervention. MAP involves up to two one-on-one coaching sessions rooted in Motivational Interviewing (MI) techniques. The intervention aims to help students in accelerated curricula further develop coping or engagement strategies learned in an accompanying universal intervention termed the Advancing Coping and Engagement program (ACE; Suldo, Parker, Shaunessy-Dedrick, & O’Brennan, 2019). In this study, the efficacy of the MAP intervention was compared to an Action Planning (AP) intervention through a randomized, within subject design. Twenty 9th grade students taking Advanced Placement Human Geography from one high school who exhibited emotional and/or academic risks participated in this study. Wilcoxon Signed-Rank test revealed that participants reported significantly higher importance to change (S = 35.5, N = 20, p = 0.04) after receiving MAP compared to AP intervention. In addition, the interventionist/coach reported significantly higher therapeutic alliance (S = 95, N = 20, p < .001) with participants after MAP compared to AP meetings. Although there were no significant differences for other outcome and acceptability variables (i.e., confidence to change, student-report therapeutic alliance, goal attainment, and student satisfaction), the direction of the trends in the data all favored MAP over AP meetings except for goal attainment. Wilcoxon Signed Rank tests also revealed significant order effects for two outcome variables; participants reported higher therapeutic alliance (S = -18.5, N = 20, p = .03) and progress towards goal (S = -18, N = 20, p = .04) after the second meeting, no matter to which condition they were assigned. Qualitative analyses (constant comparative method) of written and verbal data provided by student participants after each meeting and termination indicated themes with regard to (a) most useful parts of meetings, (b) good and bad parts of meetings, (c) differences between meetings, and (e) additional comments. Overall, analyses of qualitative data revealed inconclusive findings. It is unclear whether participants find MAP more acceptable than AP, and vice versa. However, some qualitative themes support the order effects found in quantitative analyses. The current study contributed to the literature by examining how the MAP, in comparison to an AP intervention, affects Advanced Placement students’ perceived importance of and confidence to change, therapeutic alliance, goal attainment, and acceptability.

Mattering involves feeling as though oneself belongs in a community and tends to influence one’s college experience. The issue of mattering has been explored in social psychology and education literature. Such research has sought to understand the transitions and necessary role changes of college students. Unfortunately, there has been a lack of studies on perceived mattering within one specific college student population—student veterans and active service members (SV/ASM). Higher learning institutions have expressed concerns about the academic progress of the SV/ASM population upon transitioning into college. However, no previous studies have examined the relationship between SV/ASM’s sense of mattering and their academic success. As such, the purpose of this study was twofold. First, it attempted to develop a mattering scale in order to examine SV/ASM mattering. Second, it explored the predictive ability of perceived mattering variables to SV/ASM’s academic success, as measured by their cumulative grade point average (GPA). The Mattering Scales for Adult Students in Higher Education (MHE) was used in this quantitative study with demographic questions. A sample of 129 SV/ASM enrolled at a research-based university in the midwestern region of the United States was used in this survey. An exploratory factor analysis was applied to operationalize the construct of mattering from MHE in order to investigate the SV/ASM’s feelings of mattering regarding the higher education environment. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were utilized to examine the effects of the mattering variables from MHE on the SV/ASM’s GPA. This study found that four mattering dimensions in the higher education environment could be employed to measure SV/ASM’s sense of mattering: peers, faculty, advising, and administration. The findings revealed that the SV/ASM generally have a neutral sense of mattering to their non-military peers and the university’s administration, while expressing a positive sense of mattering to their faculty members and advisors. The findings also indicated that peers and administration may impact SV/ASM’s academic success. Therefore, higher learning institutions should strive to provide tailored administration and positive peer interactions for SV/ASM in order to promote their overall academic success in higher education.

Magister Artium (Psychology) - MA(Psych) / Transformations in education policy following the establishment of a democratic South Africa have resulted in a marked increase in first-generation students in the country’s higher education institutions. While broadening access to higher education certainly represents a positive shift, student success rates at South African higher education institutions are of great concern. The literature globally points to a wide range of challenges experienced by first-generation students that place them at risk of not completing their education. These include financial stress, poor social support, isolation and marginalisation, cultural adaptation challenges, and greater family and work responsibilities. There is, however, a significant gap in the South African literature pertaining to the challenges experienced by first-generation students.

The purpose of this quantitative, comparative study was to determine the relationship between retention and academic success of students who participated in a College to Career Navigation exploration course and students who did not participate in the course at a rural, community college serving a 14-county area in the Southeast U. S. Archival data were collected from the participating community college’s student information system. Other data examined for this study included the student’s gender, at-risk status, and age. Retention data of the first-year, full-time students were collected and measured in accordance with the enrollment requirements of the community college’s governing board. Data for academic success were collected and measured by student’s cumulative final GPA. Chi-square tests of independence and independent sample t tests were used to analyze the relationship of the College to Career Navigation exploration course with outcomes that measured student success. Overall findings from the chi-square tests indicated, that participants of the College to Career Navigation exploration course had significantly higher retention rates than those students who did not participate in the College to Career Navigation exploration course. The independent sample t tests indicated students who participated in the College to Career Navigation exploration course at significantly higher cumulative GPAs than those who did not participate in the course.

A mini-dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Education in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education (Educational Psychology) in the Department of Educational Psychology and Special Education at the University of Zululand, 2004. / This study investigates the validity of the General Scholastic Aptitude Test as a tool for predicting academic success for first year Information Technology (IT) students. Secondly it seeks to establish if it is an equally good predictor for the various racial groups in South Africa. Thirdly it investigates it’s usefulness as a predictor for the different gender groups. The final aim is to establish whether the GSAT correlates with the Swedish Rating (SR) and English language ability in terms of predicting academic success for first year IT students. The student group that served as the sample was the first year IT student group over the three year peroid from 2000 to 2002 at the Port Elizabeth (PE) Technikon. The study found that there was a weak link between GSAT and academic success across the entire sample. It however proved not to be an equally good predictor across all the racial groups, where it proved to be a far more useful tool for white students than for students from the other racial groups. Insofar as the gender groups were concerned it appeared to have some predictive power across the whole sample but not necessarily equally for the different gender and racial groups. There appeared to be a positive correlation between GSAT and Swedish Rating but not between GSAT and English language ability. From this study it appears that the GSAT has some merit in predicting academic success, although with differing rates of usefulness across different demographic groupings in South Africa. In addition there are many other factors that may militate against academic success in a student’s life which may hinder the usefulness of the GSAT as a predictive tool. If such assessments are to be used it would seem that they should be used very carefully, that factors reducing the chances of academic success need to be identified, and that institutions ensure that programmes are in place to empower students to maximize their potential.

In recent years, states in the United States have developed assessment testing to help ensure that schools meet academic standards. This study investigated an educational problem of low student academic achievement and low scores on a state test in a middle school in the southeastern United States. It specifically queried whether expectations for student achievement had a positive influence on students' academic success. The research questions were designed to investigate parents, teachers, and administrators' expectations for the academic achievement of students. The conceptual framework guiding this study used the ecological model of human development, which postulates that personal development is influenced by proximal processes. Key findings focused on expectations, academic performance, and ways to help students meet academic standards. This information was used to create a parent-teacher professional development seminar, which presented strategies to urge academic achievement and encourage student engagement with content. The seminar also provided parents and teachers with information about the impact that their expectations may have on students. Recommendations for improvement include careful review of current critical inquiry strategies that are used to increase student engagement and academic achievement. Implications for social change include using the professional development project and other appropriate opportunities with parents and educators to inform them about the importance of their role and the expectations they have for student academic achievement.

Academic achievement at Utah State University was predicted for a sample of students from Cache County, Utah, high schools. Predictor variables were grade point averages for grades ten-twelve and the ten scores of the Iowa Tests of Educational Development. Criteria included grade point ave rages after one quarter of college and after each college year. Simple correlation coefficients between high school and col l ege grades ranged from .655 to .706, with a median of .676 and a mean of .677, Simple correlation coefficients between s cores on the Iowa Tests of Educational Development and college grades r ange d f rom .366 to ,566, with a median of ,476 and a mean of .472 . Multiple correlation coefficients between predictor and criteria ranged from .403 to ,792, with a median of .641 and a mean of .557. Multiple regression equations were also developed for predieting grades for twenty-five university general education courses.

Academic achievement disparities exist across race and ethnic groups. Parents may be a good resource to their children for their educational success. Parental academic involvement is associated with student academic achievement across race and ethnicity. This study explored the relationship between race and ethnicity and parent time-use on children's education. In addition to studying parental academic involvement across race and ethnic groups, the Latino American ethnic group was examined. Heterogeneity exists within race and ethnic groups. Understanding differences in parental academic involvement within the Latino American ethnic group is a step toward addressing education disparities across race and ethnic groups. The last aim of the study was to see if structural differences within families were associated with group differences. The sample was obtained from the 2010 American Time Use Survey and included parents with household children younger than 18 years. Logistic regression results indicated that race and ethnicity was associated with time spent on children's education. However, when the structural variables were accounted for, the race and ethnic differences became statistically nonsignificant. Many of the structural variables were associated with parent time spent on children's education. Parent demographics and other structural variables may make it more or less likely that parents spend time on their children's education. Study findings also showed that for the Latino American subgroup, one group, Central/South Americans, look more likely to spend time on children's education. Puerto Rican parents were statistically significantly more likely to spend time on their children's education for one model tested, but not the other. Controlling for structural variables did not remove the association in the Central/South American group. The results for the Latino American ethnic group analyses differed slightly from the race and ethnic group analyses. The results suggest that there are differences across groups regardless of parent demographics and family structure. The findings also suggest that teachers and school administrators may improve parental academic involvement by targeting programs to fathers and full-time employed Latino American families.