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The number of students attending public universities is increasing in the United States. These students are diverse in terms of age, ethnicity, socio-economic status, and academic abilities. Some are the first in their families to attend college. These varied backgrounds and experiences often result in students who are under-prepared for college. Increasing academic success and retention of students are a constant struggle at many institutions of higher education. The current study investigated the academic performance (GPA) and retention rates of freshmen students who were part of the mentoring program at Mississippi State University. The results indicated that students who were part of the mentoring program performed better academically and also were retained at a higher rate than that of those students were not part of the mentoring program. Incoming college freshmen need access to as many university resources as possible, such as mentoring to aid them in successfully acclimating both academically and socially. Efforts should focus on encouraging faculty interaction beyond the classroom via mentoring. This mentoring interaction will help incoming students not only with a higher GPA, but also with a better chance at remaining at college and ultimately graduating.

The majority of the research conducted to date on transfer student academic success compares transfer students with first-year freshmen or native students (Belcheir, 1999, 2001; Carlan, 2001; Cohen & Brawer, 1987; Cope & Hannah, 1975; Eimers & Mullen, 1997; Glass & Harrington, 2002; Keeley & House, 1993; Lorentz & Benedict, 1996; Lunneborg & Lunneborg, 1976; Miville & Sedlacek, 1995; Owen, 1991; Pascarella, 1999; Richman, 1979). Of the studies solely focusing on transfer student academic success, there is inconsistency in the variables selected for analysis and in the findings. Furthermore, transfer students from other four-year institutions are often excluded from these studies. The research generally focuses on transfers from a single community college (Townsend, McNerny, & Arnold, 1993) and oftentimes on transfers from a state's public community college system into the state's public university system (Graham & Hughes, 1994; Holton, 1991; Minear, 1998; Walker, 1992). There is a need for research that looks at transfer students from both two- and four-year institutions and that examines multiple variables associated with academic success. The purpose of this study was to determine the value of the following factors in predicting the academic success of undergraduate transfer students in their first and second semesters of enrollment: (a) on-campus residency, (b) ethnicity, (c) gender, (d) domicile (in v. out of state, (e) Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores, (f) number of credits enrolled in, (g) academic college, (h) class standing, and (i) last prior institution (two-year v. four-year). First semester GPA was included as an additional independent variable in the examination of second semester GPA. The data analyzed in the study were collected in 2002 at a research institution in the mid-Atlantic region and were accessed through the student census file. Participants were students coded as entering undergraduate transfer students in the university's student census file during the fall of 2002. This study defined academic success as first and second semester Grade Point Average (GPA), which were used as dependent variables. The above factors were used as independent variables in a step-wise regression analysis. The results indicated nine significant predictors of first semester GPA. The following variables contributed positively to first semester GPA: (a) SAT scores, (b) class standing, (c) being a student in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies, and (d) attending Community College (CC) #3. The following variables contributed negatively to first semester GPA: (a) attending CC #1, (b) being Black, (c) attending CC #2, (d) attending Comprehensive University #1, and (e) attending CC #4. The only significant predictor of second semester GPA was first semester GPA. This suggests that the first semester predictor variables help set a student up for academic success or failure. That tracking then carries over generally to second semester. / Master of Arts

Many “at risk” students are successful in middle school and high school, and are college bound, despite the fact that they face numerous factors that place them at-risk for academic failure or for dropping out of school. One of the key factors that makes these students unique and academically successful is resiliency. Resiliency is identified as the ability to recover or adjust easily from misfortune or change. Resiliency might also be defined as an individual’s ability to effectively cope with challenges in a stressful environment. However, this definition does not account for those who are, at one point, not able to effectively cope with challenges, but who are able to reverse this cycle over time. This study sought to better understand the nature by which Hispanic students who were previously failing academically were able to reverse that cycle and become academically successful. For the purpose of this study, resiliency is defined as a process in which individuals overcome hardship and adversity to create lives that are meaningful and successful. What do Hispanic students do that makes them resilient and academically successful after experiencing academic failure? This research study addresses how students move from school related risk to academic resiliency. Many studies explore the qualities of resilient traits, but do not examine how resilient characteristics develop over time and through the interplay of one’s social and personal experiences. Often times, it is assumed that academically successful students have always been resilient, but in many instances, this might not be the case.

Note: / Many studies have explored the effectiveness of interventions directed towards helping highschool students with learning disabilities to achieve academic success. These studies oftenoverlook the perspectives of the students, or the common deficits among students with differentlearning disability diagnoses, when developing or implementing the interventions. This studylooked to develop a grounded theory regarding the perspectives of these students towards theirperceived barriers to academic success in addition to their perspectives regarding their resourcesfor coping. The theory is grounded upon qualitative data that were collected from participants inan academic support program for students with learning disabilities. A convenience sample wastaken from this program, which is based upon the cognitive apprenticeship model that pairsstudents with tutor mentors who help them to succeed academically. Data collection includedaudio-recorded interviews, student reflection sheets, tutor journals, and video-recorded sessions.The data were triangulated and analyzed to develop a theory designed to inform practice forschools and support programs that offer resources for students with learning disabilities. Thedevelopment of a theory based on the perspectives of the students can provide the inspiration forthe future development of potentially effective intervention programs.

Background: English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) students, enrolled in health care tertiary education, have lower graduation rates compared with English native speakers. The demographic profile of most western countries is continuously changing and therefore this issue has became a concern especially for those countries which are confronted with an acute health care workforce shortage. One of the most important predictors in student retention is their perception of academic success. The purpose of this study was to explore ESOL health undergraduate students’ perceptions of campus climate, faculty and peer social support, and sought to determine whether or not there is a relationship between these factors and ESOL students’ perception academic success. Methods: The study was carried out at Auckland University of Technology (AUT). The inclusion criteria for this study were: undergraduate students enrolled with the Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences, having other than English as their first language, and studying predominantely on one of AUT University’s campuses, namely Akoranga campus. The study implemented had a cross-sectional design using a novel purpose built electronic survey. ESOL health undergraduate students’ insights were explored using a 22-item web-based survey consisting of three scales: peer and faculty support, campus climate, and academic success. The content validity and realiability of each scale were tested. The study questionnaire was made available online to all ESOL health undergraduate students willing to participate in the research. Generalized estimating equations were used to test the study hypothesis. Six related binary outcome variables, measuring perceptions of academic success, were included in the analyses. Results: Twenty-seven ESOL health undergraduate students from a variety of health undergraduate programs agreed to participate in the research. The majority of participants were of Asian ethnicity with ages between 21 and 30 years and had completed their secondary education overseas. The GEE analyses showed that campus climate was significantly associated with academic success, p-value=0.01, but peer and faculty support was not, p-value=0.07. The estimated odds ratio (OR) for the campus climate relationship implies that for every unit increase in the first principal component factor for campus climate, the odds that a participant agreed with the academic success scale decreased by 0.43 (95% CI: 0.30, 0.84). The only open-ended question of the survey revealed that 39% of the participants did not intend to leave the faculty before graduation, while 17% saw the “lack of support” as a possible reason for abandoning the university without a degree. Conclusion: ESOL undergraduate students’ perception of campus climate may have an influence on their perception of academic success. Students’ perception of peer and faculty support was not significantly associated with academic success, but 17% of respondents to the open-ended question saw “lack of support” as a possible reason to leave the course before graduation. The findings were hampered by the small sample of ESOL students recruited.

Black females achieve high standards of success, yet their lived experiences are frequently absent from educational literature in Canada. Using narratives gathered through semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions, this thesis documents the navigational strategies adopted by four Black female students to achieve academic success in learning environments that often predicted their failure. The narratives highlight the factors the girls believed contributed to their academic success, how they conceptualized their identity and the role(s) their identity played in their schooling experiences and academic success. Contrary to deficiencies that are often highlighted in studies on the schooling experiences of Black students, using feminist theory, critical race theory and antiracism, coupled with resistance theory shed light on the positive aspects of these Black females’ schooling experiences in Ontario. Such an approach disrupts negative views of Black students as lagging behind in education in Canada. Disseminating the narratives of successful students provides real life examples for other students to imitate in pursuit of academic success amidst educational and societal barriers. On a macro level, these narratives provide education policy makers with different perspectives on how students struggled to achieve academic success within a system that promised to be accessible to all students.

This study identifies and discusses the academic activities and support services that second-year-engineering students perceived as having impacted their freshman year academic performance. Guided by Astin's (1984) student involvement theory, this investigation involved a total of 34 participants, and was conducted at a large land-grant university in the southeastern United States during the spring semester of the 1998/99 academic year. The following questions were addressed by this study: (1) Which academic activities do students consider as important to their academic performance? (2) Which academic support services do students consider as important to their academic performance? (3) Are there academic performance level-related differences in students' perceptions of the impact of various academic activities in which they are involved, relative to their academic performance? (4) Are there academic performance level-related differences in students' perceptions of impact of the academic support services they use, relative to their academic performance? (5) Are there gender-related differences in students' perceptions of the impact of various academic activities in which they are involved, relative to their academic performance? (6) Are there gender-related differences in students' perceptions of impact of the academic support services they use, relative to their academic performance? (7) Are there race-related differences in students' perceptions of the impact of various academic activities in which they are involved, relative to their academic performance? (8) Are there race-related differences in students' perceptions of impact of the academic support services they use, relative to their academic performance? The data for this study were gathered from 9 focus group interviews and from an accompanying open-ended questionnaire. The 34 participants were divided into groups according to their academic performance levels, gender and race. There were six unsuccessful academic performers with below 2.00 GPAs; 12 low academic performers with GPAs below 2.7 but not less than 2.00; and 14 high academic performers with GPAs of 2.7 and above. The racial and gender composition was: 25 White students, 9 Black students; and equal numbers of males and females (17 each). The criteria for participation were being a second-year, full-time student enrolled in the 1998/99 academic year. Data were analyzed through content analysis, constant comparative data analysis and supplemented by NUD*IST. The resulting findings demonstrate a link between academic involvement activities and academic performance. The academic involvement factors that students perceived as either positively or negatively impacting their freshman year academic performance were identified and categorized into three general themes: (1) effort and involvement, (2) peer interaction and (3) faculty interaction. Effort and involvement factors refer to the specific learning activities implemented and the academic support services students used during the freshman year. Peer interaction factors are the relationships and contacts with fellow students that were perceived as impacting academic performance. Faculty interaction refers to a student's contact with professors inside and outside of the classroom and the perceived impact of these interactions on academic performance. The critical factors identified for success in engineering include doing homework and completing assignments, making good use of one's time, using supportive programmatic resources, and receiving academic support from interacting with peers and faculty. Students who expend effort in these areas are more likely to perform at a higher academic performance level than those who do not. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this study was to investigate what contributes to Hispanic student engagement and success. The research was twofold, and included 1) a review of highly-engaging and Hispanic-serving community colleges’ programs, practices, and services that contributed to Hispanic student success; and 2) an investigation of Hispanic students’ experiences and relationships that contributed to their success. This was a qualitative investigation to illuminate quantitative data on four colleges across the United States that scored above-average on three or more CCSSE Benchmarks in 2007. Eighteen Hispanic students who were near degree or certificate completion and transfer were interviewed. This research also included Recommendations for Research and Practice, all for the purposes of promoting Hispanic student engagement and success in community colleges. / text

The primary goal of this study was to explore whether individual resiliency factors measured by the Resilience Scale (RS) influence academic success for Bermudian foster care adolescents, a population previously unstudied in the literature. Academic vulnerability is a concern for foster care adolescents, and more empirical studies need to be conducted to increase understanding of the variables that affect academic success for this population. Resiliency is a conceptual framework based on a positive developmental focus. The purpose of this study was to gain insight into the relationship between resilience and academic success among 51 Bermudian foster care adolescents who attended Bermuda public schools. Achievement scores and grade point average (GPA) were used to ascertain participants' levels of academic success. This study employed a nonexperimental correlational design using a multiple regression to analyze the relationships. Results revealed a statistically significant positive relationship between resiliency and reading achievement but no relationship between resiliency and GPA and resiliency and math achievement. The finding of the positive relationship between resiliency and reading could influence policymakers to reexamine current education policies to stress the importance of ensuring that all at-risk adolescents identified in Bermuda Public Schools acquire adequate reading skills.