Roughly 60% of first-year community college students attending a community college in
Idaho need to take remedial courses. Such a high percentage of first-year community
college students in remedial courses indicates that students are not being properly
prepared for collegiate studies. The purpose of this study was to understand college
readiness through the perception of first-year community college students who were
taking remedial courses. The framework for this study builds on Conley's
multidimensional model of college readiness. Data from 10 semi structured interviews
conducted with community college students taking remedial courses provided
information about the opinions and ideas about college readiness, in addition to
evaluations regarding what was missing in their K-12 education to prepare them for
collegiate studies. Through open-ended data coding, interrelated themes were analyzed,
and the interpreted meaning was shared through a qualitative narrative. The findings from
this study suggest that college readiness is more than academic knowledge and
understanding. The K-12 education system shall help students to focus on specific skills
such as time management and note taking and to seek out their passions and goals. The
findings also suggest that the K-12 education system within the United States needs to be
restructured to incorporate a system that encourages and supports student success through
more individualized learning that places focus on student passions. When students are
given the opportunity to seek after their passions, they gain more interest and motivation
to learn and build a strong sense of self-efficacy.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:waldenu.edu/oai:scholarworks.waldenu.edu:dissertations-6563 |
| Date | 01 January 2018 |
| Creators | Wallaert, Kristopher Kyle |
| Publisher | ScholarWorks |
| Source Sets | Walden University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies |
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