This paper explores undergraduate academic probation policies in United States universities from a policy discourse analysis perspective. Academic probation policies from 32 institutions were characterized by normalization and regulation. These encompassed classification, exclusion, and sanctions of students in order to produce retention.…

Student engagement can be thought as the intersection between student behaviors and institutional conditions (Kuh et al., 2007). Focusing on what the institution does, academic probation is a policy intended to enable student engagement (Arcand, 2013; Duffy, 2010; Houle, 2013; Holland, 2005). However, academic probation is also a classification…

This qualitative study explored the experiences of former probationary students to understand how their academic self-efficacy was enhanced. For this reason, I drew upon the self-efficacy theoretical framework. Narrative data were generated in interviews with 13 participants of a public research-intensive four-year college located in the…

Limited existing research examines how undergraduate students in the United States experience the process of being identified as deficient due to their academic performance. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of college students on academic probation who were labeled academically deficient. Students…