Student Degree Attainment Research Articles

Should Students Falling Behind in School Take Dual Enrollment Courses?

This study examined the effect of dual enrollment (DE) on college enrollment and degree completion for students with lower prior academic achievement who attended public high schools in Texas. We employed a propensity score matching method to reduce selection bias arising from DE participation and supplemented the analysis with a bounds test. The results showed that DE students were predicted to have a higher likelihood of entering college immediately after high school by 20 percentage points and completing a degree within four and eight years of high school graduation by 7 and 14 percentage points, respectively, compared to similar students who did not take DE courses. This evidence suggested that DE programs contributed to a reduction in educational inequities in college access and degree attainment for students at risk of academic failure. On the other hand, students who were racial or ethnic minorities and students from low-income families were not only less likely to participate in DE programs but were also predicted to have smaller participation effects on college degree attainment than their counterparts, stressing the need for higher education institutions and partnering school districts to provide more robust support to these underserved students for participating in DE programs and making a successful transition into college.

Disrupting Racialized Practice in a Post-Pandemic Context

This article prompts a new examination of advising practice. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted normal modes of operation, it presents a unique opportunity to determine new approaches that address the equity gap in student degree attainment. A specific theory of racialized organizations is used as a lens for examining advising practice and for critiquing how our advising practice either reinforces or disrupts systemic racial inequities in higher education. Reflective questions also provided a way to think about and question our practice from an organizational perspective. This paper proposes treating the COVID-19 pandemic as a catalyst for broadening the discussion of advisement beyond individual advisor actions and toward advising organizations that are more oriented toward social justice.

The effects of the OPT visa extension rule on STEM business programs in the U.S.

ABSTRACT I investigate the effects of STEM Optional Practical Training (OPT) visa extension rule on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) programme offerings and student degree attainment. The extension rule enables international students with STEM degrees to apply for a 17-month extension of the OPT period to work in the United States. Compared to studies on student choices, little is known about supply side responses to immigration policies. I use U.S. universities’ major code-level data from 2007 to 2018 and exploit a business major code designated as a STEM major in May 2012. Using a difference-in-differences model, I find that the OPT extension rule increases the probability of offering STEM-designated business programmes by 4 percentage points (16.2%) at the bachelor’s level and 12.2 percentage points (90.3%) at the master’s level. Event-study estimates show that the probability of offering STEM business programmes increases by 5.5 to 25.5 percentage points one to five years after the visa policy change at the master’s level. In addition, the extension of the OPT period increases the number of degrees awarded to international students by 62.2% at the master’s level in STEM business majors.

The Effects of the OPT Extension Rule on Stem Business Programs in the U.S.

I investigate the effects of STEM Optional Practical Training (OPT) visa extension rule on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) program offerings and student degree attainment. The extension rule enables international students with STEM degrees to apply for a 17-month extension of the OPT period to work in the United States. Compared to studies on student choices, little is known about supply side responses to immigration policies. I use U.S. universities’ major code level data from 2006-2018 and exploit a business major code designated as a STEM major in May 2012. Using a difference-in-differences model, I find that the OPT extension rule increases the probability of offering STEM-designated business programs by 4 percentage points (16.2%) at the bachelor's level and 12.2 percentage points (90.3%) at the master's level. Event-study estimates show that the probability of offering STEM business programs increases by 5.5 to 25.5 percentage points one to five years after the visa policy change at the master’s level. In addition, the extension of the OPT period increases the number of degrees awarded to international students by 62.2% at the master’s level in STEM business majors.

A Culturally Responsive Curricular Revision to Improve Engagement and Learning in an Undergraduate Microbiology Lab Course.

We seek to increase student engagement and success to subsequently lead to increased retention and degree attainment for students at our Hispanic-serving institution. We hypothesized that using a culturally responsive approach in an undergraduate microbiology lab would increase engagement and learning gains. Using a culturally responsive approach allowed students to start their learning from their own place of understanding—centering students’ lived experiences. Students interviewed family members to learn about “home remedies,” and then devised experiments to test whether those home remedies affected growth of bacteria commonly implicated in gastrointestinal distress (Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, and Escherichia coli) or sore throat (Neisseria gonorrhoeae, Streptococcus pyogenes, and Mycoplasma pneumoniae). As a final assessment, students generated project posters which they presented at a class symposium. Implementation of a culturally responsive research experience focused on the gut microbiome resulted in increased learning gains as evidenced by movement up Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy Scale. Student feedback indicated increased engagement, increased confidence in communicating science and a deeper understanding and appreciation for microbiology. Taken together, the results indicate that students appreciate a more culturally responsive and student-centered approach to learning in microbiology and encourages expansion of this approach to other modules in the course. This paper includes responsive data to support this claim, as well as a sample course calendar and supplementary learning material to support the human microbiome approach to microbiology.

A Mixed Methods Study of Factors that Enhance Louis Stokes Mississippi Alliance for Minority Participation (LSMAMP) Students Degree Attainment in STEM

The purpose of this study was to advance the literature addressing best practices capable of bridging the retention and completion gap in STEM education for underrepresent minority students. Using a mixed-methods design, this article delineates Louis Stokes Mississippi Alliance for Minority Participation (LSMAMP) program experiences, instructional strategies, institutional practices and students’ persistence within the LSMAMP community. Five main themes emerged from the student interviews and survey results: (1) early exposure to STEM and familial support; (2) hands on involvement and academic intervention activities; (3) Peer group support; (4) institutional environment and infrastructural support; and (5) financial incentives. The top choices of faculty about institutional and instructional practices and learning strategies that enhance student learning and degree attainment were faculty mentoring, student opportunities to present research at or attend professional conferences, faculty advising, faculty tutoring/study sessions, peer tutoring, interactive lectures, and student opportunities to connect prior learning to new lecture content.

Modeling the Effect of the Reverse Credit Transfer Associate's Degree: Evidence from Two States

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of receiving an associate's degree via reverse credit transfer on retention and bachelor's degree attainment for students in Hawaii and Minnesota who transferred from a community college to a university before earning an associate's degree. Results showed mostly positive evidence with some null results, and we found no evidence that reverse credit transfer negatively influences students' progress toward the bachelor's degree. The results have implications for states and institutions who are developing and implementing reverse credit transfer programs and policies.

Delayed Enrollment and Student Involvement: Linkages to College Degree Attainment

ABSTRACTStudents who delay college enrollment after they graduate from high school have a lower chance of completing a college degree compared to students who enroll in college immediately after high school. This article explores delayers’ involvement in high-impact postsecondary campus activities to understand whether participation in high-impact activities is associated with bachelor’s degree attainment for students who delay enrollment. This study found that overall involvement in high-impact activities was associated with greater odds of bachelor’s degree attainment for all students, but students who delay entry into college do not benefit any differently than immediate-enrollment students from involvement in these activities. Participation in high-impact activities is only related to bachelor’s degree attainment in a minor way compared to other variables like students’ socioeconomic background and high school grade point average. This finding suggests that although high-impact practices may play a role in promoting student success in college, they are not as important as other social background and precollege student characteristics.

Exploring the Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) Student Attainment Gap: What Did It Tell Us? Actions to Address Home BME Undergraduate Students’ Degree Attainment

This paper explores work in progress on six key actions derived from a project exploring Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) student degree attainment at Leeds Beckett University (LBU). In 2014–15, in common with the wider national picture in higher education, at LBU there was a significant disparity between the percentage achievement of good degrees (Firsts and 2:1 classification) between the white students (64%, who comprise 84% of the total institutional student population) and the BME students (49%, who comprise 16% of the total institutional student population). This attainment gap existed across all the degree programmes after controlling for UCAS tariff points on entry. Indeed, it has been indicated in the literature that the degree attainment gap is strongly related to the experience of teaching and learning at a university (Stephenson, 2012; Office for Fair Access [OFFA], 2015). This context provided the opportunity to examine the particular nature of the BME student experience with a view to using this information to develop local University strategy and actions in relation to identified priority areas. This research used a mixed methods approach of i) documentary analysis of course documentation wording to explore the visibility of inclusive curricular issues and ii) focus groups and interviews to explore staff and student views on BME student experience and achievement. This paper presents findings from student and staff focus groups and documentary evidence from course documents of the five courses in our University which had the highest numbers of enrolled BME students. The findings focused on the BME students’ low confidence, their classroom and placement experience, curricular content, reading lists and delivery. Discussion of these findings by staff and students generated six priorities for short term action. Progress on these actions and proposed future developments are outlined.