Curriculum research is an important tool for understanding complex processes within a degree program. In particular, stochastic graphical models and simulations on related curriculum graphs have been used to make predictions about dropout rates, grades, and degree completion time. There exists, however, little research on changes in the curriculum…

A comparative longitudinal data analysis between two online non-thesis master's programs--natural resource management and environmental science--in a college of natural resources to determine the relationship between student characteristics and disenrollment risks. Risks varied between the two programs, with significance found to increase the risk…

The unprecedented growth in the use of AI and its related technologies will put a tremendous stress on US institutions to produce the required number of technologically prepared workers to fill critically important job openings. In the US, low-income and URM students participate less vigorously in STEM-related fields; the problem is even more…

There is a critical need to develop new educational technology applications that analyze the data collected by universities to ensure that students graduate in a timely fashion (4 to 6 years); and they are well prepared for jobs in their respective fields of study. In this paper, we present a novel approach for analyzing historical educational…

Each year, roughly 30% of first-year students at US baccalaureate institutions do not return for their second year and billions of dollars are spent educating these students. Yet, little quantitative research has analyzed the causes and possible remedies for student attrition. What's more, most of the previous attempts to model attrition at…

We explore generalizability and fairness across sociodemographic groups for predicting on-time college graduation using a national dataset of 41,359 college applications. Our features include sociodemographics, institutional graduation rates, academic achievement, standardized test scores, engagement in extracurricular activities, and work…

Course selection can be a daunting task, especially for first year students. Sub-optimal selection can lead to bad performance of students and increase the dropout rate. Given the availability of historic data about student performances, it is possible to aid students in the selection of appropriate courses. Here, we propose a method to compose a…

Increasing 4-year graduation rates among US students, particularly those historically disadvantaged in higher education, is a national imperative. The purpose of this study is to test the efficacy of the multifaceted Research Aligned Mentorship Program in advancing the academic success of low income, first generation college, and minority students…

Validity evidence to support the use of exam scores for admission to postsecondary institutions is generally provided in the form of correlation coefficients. The measures used to establish the correlations are scores on a particular entrance exam and most typically a student's first-year college grade point average (FYGPA). Correlations…

Research shows that students who double major have higher earnings and are more satisfied with their educational experience in college than those who graduate with a single major. In this study, we examine the extent to which a student's experience with academic acceleration programs in high school, specifically successful participation in the…

Using data from the 2003 to 2013 "Survey of Doctorate Recipients" we included salary among other individual, institutional, and early employment factors that contribute to examine the career paths of recent doctorates who enter postsecondary academic appointments. Findings showed some noteworthy differences by gender including lower…

Undergraduate programs for teachers often do not satisfy future teacher needs. The goal of this project was to improve the undergraduate experiences of future teachers at a California State University in two areas: the quality of pedagogy in content courses and creating cohorts for better scheduling and on-time graduation. Students participated in…

Social support from the supervisor and the researcher community has been identified as one of the determinants for successful completion of doctoral studies. The study explores interrelations between the doctoral students' supervisory experience, satisfaction with supervision, experienced burnout, time-to-candidacy, and attrition intentions.…

This Innovative Practice Category Work In Progress paper presents an application of machine learning and data mining to student performance data in an undergraduate electrical engineering program. We are developing an analytical approach to enhance retention in the program especially among underrepresented groups. Our approach will provide…

Postsecondary leaders and policy-makers have turned to performance-based aid programs as one way reduce time to degree completion and improve completion rates among low income students. By tying aid eligibility to minimum academic performance standards in college, it is thought that greater academic commitment can be promoted. Underlying these…