This study was designed to identify those learner attributes that may be used to predict student success (in terms of grade point average) in a Web-based distance education setting. Students enrolled in six Web-based, general education distance education courses at a community college were asked to complete the Group Embedded Figures Test for…

Using data from Achieving the Dream: Community College Count, this issue of "Data Notes" compares students in the 2002 Achieving the Dream cohort in terms of achievement and persistence over three academic years based on Pell Grant receipt. The results reveal a complicated relationship between Pell Grant receipt and measures of student success.…

A recurring issue among community colleges is the perceived high rate of attrition of their students. Summers (2000) conducted a study at a Midwest comprehensive community college to examine the relationship between student enrollment behaviors and various outcomes. He found that students who persisted enrolled earlier than those who did not. He…

Although numerous quality ratings exist in today's media-centric environment (Money Magazine, and U.S. News and World Report, etc.), it is quite difficult to provide any reasonably meaningful estimates of institutional quality, either qualitative or quantitative. Global ratings of university "quality" abound, despite the fact that there…

The "good fruit, bad fruit" parable provides a metaphor for sound accountability. If one wants to assess the source of problems to determine quality, then one must look at what has been produced. Unfortunately, many researchers and practitioners have examined the fruit without determining the quality of the tree. This failure has allowed…

Research that has traditionally supported program accreditation has tended to be primarily descriptive in nature, focusing on outcomes such as the satisfaction of graduates and passing rates on licensure exams. The study reported here illustrates how research employing multivariate methodologies can go beyond such descriptive reporting to address…

During the spring semesters of 1999 through 2003, the general education subcommittee of Oakton Community College's (Des Plaines, Illinois) Student Academic Assessment Team (SAAT) implemented a locally developed institutional approach for assessing students' achievement of general education objectives. The overall process remained essentially the…

Grade inflation has occurred in postsecondary institutions and has been accompanied by a concomitant rise in grade-point average. Nursing educators are expected to prepare competent future nurses. Because many nursing programs use grade-point average as admission, retention, and progression criteria, it is imperative that grades accurately reflect…

The purpose of this study was to explore levels of academic attainment and performance among students whose course placement test scores identified them as underprepared. It was expected that students who developed college-level reading skills (i.e., remediated) before attempting college-level work would ultimately perform at higher levels and…

The purpose of this study was to identify cognitive and non-cognitive variables that will predict a student's ability to achieve success in the lowest level developmental mathematics course at San Jacinto College. The study examined the ability of cognitive variables (standardized entrance examinations, high school grade point average, and type of…

This research examined the high school transcripts of honors scholarship recipients to identify a better criterion for awarding scholarships than high school grade point average (GPA) alone. Specifically, this study compared the honors scholarship retention rate when the scholarship was awarded based on completed advanced high school math classes…

Recently, business education programs have experienced a decline in enrollment and an increase in attrition. To understand these issues and recommend solutions, the learning styles of 503 first-year business majors at an urban community college were examined. The results demonstrated that: (a) 94% of the participants were analytic learners; (b)…

In 2004, the Lumina Foundation for Education approved a generous grant to support validation research to explore and document the validity of the Community College Student Report (CCSR), add to the higher education field's understanding of student engagement, and help to identify research or institutional practices that require further attention.…

This study analyzed student characteristics that impact persistence among first-year students attending a large, metropolitan community college. The Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) Freshmen Survey was administered to first-time students during orientation. Factor analysis was used to classify students' personality and behavioral…

Transcripts of 19,736 students who consecutively attended Florida high schools for four years and graduated in the spring of 1994 were analyzed to determine how course choice, grades, tenth grade standardized test score results, race, and gender affected performance on a computerized placement test (CPT) administered upon entry to community…