Abstract
Receiving a ‘W’ for a class withdrawal differs from earning a grade of ‘D’ or ‘F,’ yet studies typically combine these elements. This study focuses on the ‘W’: 1) to urge teacher-scholars to investigate its importance and 2) scholarly teachers to engage in methods that may avert student withdrawals as well as to facilitate students to make more informed decisions before taking a ‘W.’ The article addresses the scant literature on the ‘W’ to re-contextualize a student’s decision to withdraw from a course in the broader student success literature. Studies of retention, persistence, and completion of higher educational goals widely recognize both academic and non-cognitive influences that may move a student to withdraw from college. Results of the authors’ case study presented here suggest parallels in student decisions to withdraw from a course, hoping to raise awareness within the scholarship of teaching community of the need to probe this topic, in view of in their wisdom for teaching and learning their passion to educate students for a better quality of life and work.
Highlights
The authors first learned of studies on student success as part of a chancellor-appointed task force to inform the campus in its effective principles and practices for strategic planning
The results raised other questions, including, “What help may the student success literature give to address ‘W’ behaviors—whether taking a ‘w’ or taking a ‘W’?” 5 “What insights do studies of withdrawal offer? In seeking answers to these and related issues, the authors have since reviewed the literature of withdrawal, revisited ‘W’-relevant topics within studies of retention and persistence, and looked more deeply into the potential implications of their case study, each resource shaping the present article
This research has explored the limitations of the literature on the ‘W’ in juxtaposition to the promises that contemporary research has associated with student success
Summary
The authors first learned of studies on student success as part of a chancellor-appointed task force to inform the campus in its effective principles and practices for strategic planning. In seeking answers to these and related issues, the authors have since reviewed the literature of withdrawal, revisited ‘W’-relevant topics within studies of retention and persistence, and looked more deeply into the potential implications of their case study, each resource shaping the present article. They encourage readers to consider the ideas and practices reported here, as well as the opportunities they suggest to assist students to make wise decisions about withdrawals
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