Using data from the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education, this study examined non-native English-speaking (NNES) students on selected college experiences and outcomes. The results suggested that NNES students were less likely to have close relationships with faculty and satisfying relationships with peers. They also experienced greater…

While most community colleges admit all students who apply for admission, the vast majority have required students to demonstrate specified levels of literacy and numeracy before they can take college-level courses. Typically, students have been assessed using a single placement test, such as the College Board's ACCUPLACER. Colleges--or sometimes…

Since 1990, Indiana's 21st Century Scholars program has been leading the way as a model for early college promise programs across the country. It is Indiana's promise to students that no matter life's circumstances or obstacles, college is an option for them. In this report, students are broken out into three groups by income level: scholars,…

Colleges and universities employ conditional admission policies to identify students with subpar academic qualifications, who may need additional support to succeed. Using institutional data of more than 2,000 students, the study applies labeling theory to a quasi-experimental design (difference-in-differences testing), measuring the effects of a…

Despite evidence suggesting that standardized tests are an imperfect measure of academic readiness, many community colleges across the country rely on them alone to determine student course placement. However, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced campuses to transition to remote operations in spring 2020, proctoring in-person placement tests became…

In the past eleven years we have developed several papers for ASCUE about hybrid classes. The initial paper we shared our experience developing a hybrid course and followed with comparisons of student opinions about face-to-face, hybrid, and online classes and finally a paper reviewing components that we were using in hybrid and online classes. It…

Exacerbated by the pandemic, the decline in Indiana's college-going rate for recent high school graduates has accelerated. This presents stark challenges which must be addressed with urgency and thoughtfulness. Fewer Hoosiers are pursuing education or training after high school. The state's college-going rate fell from 59 percent for the high…

Identifying at-risk students at an early stage is a challenging task for colleges and universities. In this paper, we use students' oncampus network traffic volume to construct several useful features in predicting their first semester GPA. In particular, we build proxies for their attendance, class engagement, and out-of-class study hours based…

The pandemic exacerbated many of the challenges facing higher education in Indiana--declining college-going rates, widening equity gaps, the persistent questioning of the value of higher education--all now compounded by issues of learning loss and economic upheaval. This report provides a pre-pandemic baseline for consideration, as education…

The purpose of this report is to demonstrate the power of connecting Children's Savings Account (CSAs) to college access-success programs and show that, when done together, they produce greater outcomes. First, we briefly describe these closely related fields and explain the merit of partnerships between CSA initiatives and college access and…

Institutional withdrawal policies allow students with academic and personal difficulties to avert or minimize damage to the GPA by dropping a course in which they may risk a grade of "D" or "F," or to reduce credit hours to better manage those that remain. Offsetting costs involve lost tuition, delay of progress, and perhaps…

This study explores the role of community service learning (CSL) in promoting undergraduate persistence relative to other experiences students have in college, their entering characteristics, and institutional features. By following the 2009 freshmen cohort at three Midwestern universities over three years, this study finds that students'…

In an age of assessment and accountability, academic libraries feel much pressure to prove their value according to new university measurements of student success. This study describes a methodology for how libraries may examine student interactions with services to assess whether library usage impacts student grade point averages (GPAs) and…

Curricular reform is a widespread trend among medical schools. Assessing the impact that pedagogical changes have on students is a vital step in review process. This study examined how a shift from discipline-focused instruction and assessment to integrated instruction and assessment affected student performance in a second-year medical school…

Underrepresentation of women in economics is documented in many studies. Investigation of its sources at the undergraduate level is examined through students' decisions to persist in economics, either beyond an introductory course or in their major choices. The authors add to the literature by analyzing students' decisions to take their first…