Knowledge and Community: The Effect of a First-Year Seminar on Student Persistence

This study explores the effects of an academic seminar on the persistence of first-year college students, including effects on students most at risk of dropping out. A secondary interest was demonstrating the utility of using classification and regression tree analysis to identify relevant predictor...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of general education (University Park, Pa.) Pa.), 2016, Vol.65 (1), p.48-65
Main Authors: Pittendrigh, Adele, Borkowski, John, Swinford, Steven, Plumb, Carolyn
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic Persistence
At Risk Students
Carts
Class discussion
Classification
College Freshmen
College students
Colleges
Communities
Dropout Prevention
Education
First Year Seminars
first-year seminar
General Interest
Graduation Rate
persistence
Predictor Variables
Program Effectiveness
Regression (Statistics)
Relevance (Education)
retention
School dropouts
Statistical Analysis
Student Attitudes
Student Participation
Student Surveys
United States (Intermountain West)
Universities
Vigilance
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Summary:This study explores the effects of an academic seminar on the persistence of first-year college students, including effects on students most at risk of dropping out. A secondary interest was demonstrating the utility of using classification and regression tree analysis to identify relevant predictors of student persistence. The results of the study showed that persistence rates improved for all students who took the seminar and, most importantly, that the persistence rate for higher-risk students showed double the improvement of that of lower-risk students. Results also suggest that changes in student perception of the value of a college education and engagement in classroom discussion are factors for improving the persistence of higher-risk students.
ISSN:0021-3667
1527-2060
DOI:10.5325/jgeneeduc.65.1.0048