An empirical examination of the construct validity of goal commitment in the persistence process

This study represents the first published investigation into the construct validity of goal commitment as it affects the persistence process. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed that goal commitment could be decomposed into multiple indicators of the same latent construct: a special factor called goal commitment that groups items related to goal importance, specificity of goals, and situational influence; a second factor represented by items indicating certainty of purpose; and a third factor consisting of items related to goals in general. The predictive validity of each subcomponent on different outcomes related to student persistence was established. While goal commitment was found to have a significant direct effect on both students' intents to persist and actual persistence behavior, neither of the other two factors were as equally predictive as measures of student retention.     

Moving on: A cooperative study of student transfer

With no statewide student tracking system in place for California's tripartite postsecondary education system, three of the state's leading institutions joined in a study of the effectiveness of student transfer—the bridge between community college and university-level education. Transfer success was measured by student preparation, persistence, and performance both before and after transfer. The study examined whether the need for remediation before transfer affected students' progress and degree attainment. The findings run counter to the traditional notion that few remedial students persevere and transfer. A comparison of graduation rates with other community college transfers and with native university students indicated these transfers performed better.Presented at the Thirty-first Annual Forum of the Association for Institutional Research, San Francisco, May 26–29, 1991.     

‘What drives students’ affective commitment towards their university?’

How can universities build ongoing, committed relationships with students, able to withstand the financial and emotional challenges of studying in higher education? The research proposes that students’ ongoing attachment to their university, based on positive feelings towards the university, is an important aspect of the student experience. This ongoing attachment is conceptualised here as students’ affective commitment towards their institution. Using an online survey-method and a research sample comprising undergraduate students studying in the UK, this research identifies three factors which drive students’ affective commitment towards their institution. These factors include students’ affective commitment towards academics and students’ calculative commitment towards the institution; factors which draw from the relational literature. A third factor, commitment balance, was developed within this research. Commitment balance occurs when a student’s commitment to their university is perceived to be reciprocated by the university’s commitment to the student. The study found that commitment balance was the most important driver of students’ ongoing attachment to their institution. The paper proposes that commitment balance is a key idea to consider within relational studies generally, but has a particular relevance in the higher education context for understanding the student experience. Commitment balance reflects the pulse of reciprocity which energises relational exchanges between students and institution. The findings of this research reinforce how critically important it is for universities and academics to build relationships with students. The desired outcome is to enhance the student experience, create positive attachment between students and university and ultimately improve student retention.     

Toward the validation of Tinto's model of college student attrition: A review of recent studies

This paper describes the salient findings of six studies undertaken to assess the construct validity of Tinto's model of college student attrition. The studies are based on three independent data collections over a three-year period and indicate that students' informal contacts with faculty members are consistently related to subsequent persistence/withdrawal decisions. Background characteristics appear not to be reliably related to attrition by themselves, but they are significantly involved in the ways they interact with the college experience. The findings suggest that Tinto's model is a conceptually useful framework for thinking about student attrition—whether by researchers for purposes of future study, or by administrators for practical action.Paper presented at the Nineteenth Annual Forum of the Association for Institutional Research, San Diego, May 1979. An earlier version was presented at the annual conference of the North East Association for Institutional Research, University Park, PA, October 1978.     

Predicting freshman persistence and voluntary dropout decisions: A replication

This paper describes the results of a replication of a study testing the predictive validity of a 34-item instrument designed to assess the fundamental constructs of Tinto's model of college student attrition. A design, variables, and analytical procedures virtually identical to those of the original study (done at a large independent university) were used, and this research was conducted at a large public university. The five-factor structure, found in the original study to underlie the 34 items, was replicated almost exactly. As in the earlier work, the Institutional and Goal Commitment Scale was a significant predictor of attendance behavior even after controlling for a variety of students' precollege characteristics. Potential institutional differences in faculty members' influence on retention were identified. A cross-validation classification procedure suggests the five factors are reasonably stable predictors of attrition.An earlier version of this paper was presented to the annual conference of the American Educational Research Association, Boston, April 1980.     

Student dropout in distance education: An application of Tinto's model

The primary purpose of this study was to validate Tinto's theoretical model of student dropout in a distance education programme enrolling adult students. The variables used in adapting the model to the distance education situation were consistent with accepted definitions of the essential elements in Tinto's model: student background characteristics, academic and social integration, goal satisfaction, institutional commitment, and the criterion, student dropout. The study surveyed 356 students enrolled in university‐level courses at The Open Learning Institute (OLI) located in Richmond, British Columbia. Discriminant and path analyses were the basic statistical procedures used to assess the predictive validity of the model and determine the pattern of association among model variables. Previous validation studies of Tinto's model suggested social integration factors would have little effect on dropout behaviour among non‐traditional student groups. However, in the present study, direct telephone contact between faculty and students significantly influenced student commitment and persistence. Overall, the Tinto model appears to be a useful framework within which to investigate the process of student attrition‐persistence in a distance education institution.     

The place of the practicum in pre‐service teacher education: the voice of the students

The focus of this paper is the importance student teachers attribute to the practical experience of their teacher education program, the practicum. Four hundred and eighty student teachers from the largest teacher education institution in Israel responded to a questionnaire with 68 closed items asking for their evaluation of various components of the teacher education program in relation to preparing them for teaching, and about sources for support during the practicum. The main findings show that the practicum is evaluated highly by a large majority of students; however, students find importance in the more theoretical aspects of their education as well. Institutional‐based supervisors of the practicum were perceived by student teachers to provide the strongest support, alongside peers and school‐based mentors. School principals were perceived not to be supportive of student teachers during the practicum. The findings align with previous research in terms of importance of the practical aspects in preparation for teaching, however not as a replacement for theoretical courses. Moreover, findings suggest that school principals do not include school‐based teacher education as part of their professional responsibility.     

Table of Contents

The Status of Diversity Enrollment The Role of Student Characteristics The Challenge of Involvement Theories of Involvement Cultural Pluralism Intergroup Relations Demography Summary Institutional Responses to Diversity Approaches of Successful Institutions Summary Implications: An Expanded Focus Organizing for Diversity: Fundamental Issues Diversification of Faculty and Staff Mission and Values Dealing with Conflict The Quality of Interaction on Campus Educating for Diversity The Perceived Conflict Between Access and Quality The Changing Climate Assessment and Implications Institutional Assessment Research Coordination Among Sectors National Issues Costs and Commitment Leadership Conclusion Appendix: Institutional Characteristics References Name Index Subject Index About the Authors     

基于质量保障体系的学生评教指标研究

通过对学生评教的发展历程和指标体系构建方法的研究,明确了学生评教的功能和指标编制的理念、方法和技术。依据现代高等教育质量保障体系的观点,构建了基于质量保障体系的学生评教指标,拓宽了学生评教的内涵、营造了全校重视教学的氛围、激发了教师教育教学改革的动力、树立了"以学生为中心"的教学理念。     

Community College Student Dropouts from Higher Education: Toward a Comprehensive Conceptual Model

ABSTRACT

Historically, higher education research has focused on traditional students (i.e., recent high school graduates at a residential, 4-year institutions), but community college students are quickly becoming the new traditional student (Jenkins, 2012). In the fall of 2011, more than one third (36%) of all students enrolled in postsecondary education and almost half (46.7%) of all students enrolled in a public postsecondary institution were enrolled at a community college (Knapp, Kelly-Reid, & Ginder, 2012). However, community colleges have struggled to match the persistence rates at other institutional types. The 2011 2-year public community college national 3-year persistence-to-degree rate was 26.9% (American College Testing [ACT], 2011). The purpose of this paper is to review the literature regarding the most prominent theoretical frameworks for community college student persistence and suggest a new theoretical construct. The resultant framework is termed the Collective Affiliation Model because it views the student’s sense of belonging with the college as only one of many senses of belonging in the student’s life (e.g., family, work). The Collective Affiliation Model does not view student dropout as the student’s inability to integrate into the life of the institution; rather, it views it as the institution’s inability to collectively affiliate with the student. This model’s strength is that it does not work from a student deficit model. Instead, it provides a new framework for researchers and practitioners to better understand and address student drop-out at community colleges.     

Interested instructors: A composite portrait of individual differences and effectiveness

The present study is a multi-phased, mixed methodological investigation of teacher interest. In Phase 1, 12th grade students nominated and quantitatively evaluated teachers who were perceived as helping them learn and become interested in a high school core subject. Exploratory factor analysis revealed that student perceptions of teacher interest were represented by items related to both teacher effectiveness and individual differences. In Phase 2, the top three nominees and a stratified random sample of their current students were examined using qualitative research methods. Findings indicate that teacher interest is a complex construct comprised of cognitive, affective, motivational, and volitional dimensions.     

Professional staff contributions to student retention and success in higher education

ABSTRACT

Student attrition remains a persistent problem within the Australian higher education sector. Contributing factors include financial, reputational and quality issues, which can pose significant risks for a university’s sustainability. Institutional culture is fundamental to decisions student make about withdrawing or remaining in higher education. Therefore, student retention requires a sustained, deeply embedded commitment from all parts of the institution, placing student experience at the forefront of all activities in the student lifecycle. Applying a lifecycle approach to the way in which institutions think about student retention benefits students by providing comprehensive and consistent support. Given that less is known about how professional staff contribute to student academic learning journeys as part of whole of institution responses to student retention, this paper focusses on the contributions that professional staff make within the student lifecycle and how they can most readily map their contributions to student retention and success.     

Multiple audience rating form strategies for student evaluation of college teaching

Michael Scriven has suggested that student rating forms, for the purpose of evaluating college teaching, be designed for multiple audiences (instructor, administrator, student), and with a single global item for summative functions (determination of merit, retention, or promotion). This study reviewed approaches to rating form construction, e.g., factor analytic strategies of Marsh, and recommended the multiple audience design of Scriven. An empirical test of the representativeness of the single global item was reported from an analysis of 1,378 forms collected in a university department of education. The global item correlated most satisfactorily with other items, a computed total of items, items that represented underlying factors, and various triplets of items selected to represent all possible combinations of items. It was concluded that a multiple audience rating form showed distinct advantages in design and that the single global item most fairly and highly represented the overall teaching performance, as judged by students, for decisions about retention, promotion, and merit made by administrators.     

Predicting student evaluations of teaching using decision tree analysis

Abstract

This study uses decision tree analysis to determine the most important variables that predict high overall teaching and course scores on a student evaluation of teaching (SET) instrument at a large public research university in the United States. Decision tree analysis is a more robust and intuitive approach for analysing and interpreting SET scores compared to more common parametric statistical approaches. Variables in this analysis included individual items on the SET instrument, self-reported student characteristics, course characteristics and instructor characteristics. The results show that items on the SET instrument that most directly address fundamental issues of teaching and learning, such as helping the student to better understand the course material, are most predictive of high overall teaching and course scores. SET items less directly related to student learning, such as those related to course grading policies, have little importance in predicting high overall teaching and course scores. Variables irrelevant to the construct, such as an instructor’s gender and race/ethnicity, were not predictive of high overall teaching and course scores. These findings provide evidence of criterion and discriminant validity, and show that high SET scores do not reflect student biases against an instructor’s gender or race/ethnicity.     

A Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scales Approach to Institutional Self-assessment in Higher Education

Institutional self-assessment is considered to be a crucial quality assurance mechanism in higher education. However, the criteria employed in self-assessments tend to ignore the overall organisational effectiveness of the institution. This paper describes a study which employed the effectiveness criteria contained in the Competing Values Model of Organisational Effectiveness (Quinn & Rohrbaugh, 1981, 1983) to produce a set of organisational effectiveness self-rating scales for Hong Kong higher educational institutions. The scales were developed using the behaviourally anchored rating scales (BARS) procedure. The study produced scales which address the organisational effectiveness of an institution and appear to be a useful addition to the array of quality assurance mechanisms in higher education. The paper highlights the qualitative benefits of the scale development procedure and resulting scales and notes that the procedure could be employed, and the qualitative benefits enjoyed, in other higher educational systems.     

Localizing College Retention Efforts: The Distance between Theoretical Orientation and Institution-Specific Needs

The study used a theoretically guided questionnaire to examine student experience in college and to gain a better understanding about how college environment affects student persistence. Data were collected from a single four-year institution; the findings suggest that institutional control over academic quality is the most critical factor in reducing students’ dropout intention along with their ability to pay for college education. The results highlight the inconsistency between the specific needs of students in their particular academic settings and the dominant theoretical frameworks that focus on academic and social engagement, and these results offer encouragement for localized retention interventions based on sufficient understanding of students’ experiences.     

An Examination of the Influence of Institutional Context on Student Persistence at 4-Year Colleges and Universities: A Multilevel Approach

Using constructs from Bean's (1990) [In: D. Hossler and J. P. Bean (Eds.), The strategic management of college enrollments. San Francisco:Jossey-Bass] student attrition model and the Berger and Milem (2000) [In: J. C. Smart (Ed.), Higher education: Handbook of theory and research (Vol. XV, pp. 268–338). New York: Agathon Press] college impact model, national survey data, and multilevel modeling techniques, this study examines the extent to which persistence is influenced by the institutional context. The analytic sample is limited to first-time, full-time, degree-seeking undergraduates attending 4-year colleges and universities nationwide. This study finds that selectivity, as measured by the average student academic ability at an institution, has a contextual effect on college student persistence that reflects a positive increment to the chance of persistence that accrues to a student beyond student-level predictors of persistence. Although the implications of the findings are mainly for theory and methods, policy implications are discussed.     

The tutor/facilitator role in student retention

Open and distance learning provide particular (and sometimes overlapping) contexts for discussions of student retention. This paper argues that the environment for learning created by distance learning tutors is a key factor in student retention, whether retention is taken to refer to student completion of a single course or student persistence through a programme of study. Discussion of tutors' roles in retaining students is stimulated by the recent symposium on student retention and draws on a new analysis of three linked empirical inquiries located within the UK Open University. A fruitful integration of questionnaire surveys, project evaluation and practitioner action inquiries suggest that, where questions of retention focus on the student and their learning experience, tutors' facilitative roles are complex and valuable. Institutional policies and course design practices need to support tutors in their retention roles by using and sharing appropriate pedagogies, systems, student information and integrated professional development opportunities.     

Observations and student perceptions of the quality of preservice teachers’ teaching behaviour: construct representation and predictive quality

Observations and student perceptions are recognised as important tools for examining teaching behaviour, but little is known about whether both perspectives share similar construct representations and how both perspectives link with student academic outcomes. The present study compared the construct representation of preservice teachers’ teaching behaviour as perceived by trained teacher observers and students. It also examined the predictive power of both measures of teaching behaviour for student academic engagement. The theoretical framework of teaching behaviour used in this study is based on evidence-based research derived from empirical teacher effectiveness research. The study was part of a national project that included 2164 students and 108 teachers in The Netherlands. Results suggest that, although observations and student perceptions of teaching behaviour shared similar theoretical considerations, the construct representations seemed to differ to some extent. Furthermore, although both perspectives are significant predictors of student academic engagement, student perceptions appeared to be more predictive of their perceived academic engagement than observations. Implications for research on learning environments and teacher education are discussed.     

A comparison of white and black student academic success using noncognitive variables: A LISREL analysis

The structural relation of the seven noncognitive dimensions proposed by Sedlacek and Brooks in 1976 and traditional definitions of academic ability, as indicated by Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores, to first semester grade-point average (GPA) and persistence after three and five semesters was examined in this study. Random samples of entrants at one predominantly white state university were administered the Non-cognitive Questionnaire (NCQ) during summer orientation in 1979 and 1980. The NCQ results and the SAT scores were used to derive structural models (using LISREL) or early academic success for both black and white students. The structural models for the black and white students were found to be very different. For black students, traditional academic ability was related to first semester GPA, but neither GPA nor academic ability was related to persistence. Only the noncognitive dimensions were predictive of black student persistence. For white students, academic ability was the best predictor of first semester grades, and these grades were the major predictor of subsequent persistence. The noncognitive dimensions were not important in white student academic success, whereas they were crucial in black student academic success.