This study focused on the relationship between students' Advanced Placement Program[R] (AP[R]) performance in AP English Language, Biology, Calculus, and U.S. History, and their subsequent college success. For each AP Exam studied, students were divided into three groups according to their AP Exam performance (no AP Exam taken, score of 1 or 2,…

The college sophomore has long been characterized as the "middle child" of the college experience. The limited focus by researchers on the college sophomore has become of increasing concern for the academic community given sophomore retention rates which are often not as high as desired. The study examined the degree to which social alienation,…

This study examined factors that relate to the persistence of first-generation undergraduate students in a 4-year public university in the Southeastern United States. Results were analyzed from a 2011 two-part survey: CARES-I (College Assessment of Readiness for Entering Students-Intent) and CARES-A (College Assessment of Readiness for Entering…

In most Western countries where English is the medium of instruction, there is a substantial gap in student success between immigrant English as a second language (ESL) students and non-ESL students. In the United States, this situation has been observed in particular with Latino ESL students. This article describes a longitudinal study of two…

With the current concern over the growing need for more engineers, there is an immediate need to improve freshman engineering retention. A working model for freshman engineering retention is needed. This paper proposes such a model based on Tinto's Interactionalist Theory. Emphasis in this model is placed on pre-college characteristics as…

This study focused on the relationship between students' Advanced Placement Program® (AP®) performance in AP English Language, Biology, Calculus, and U.S. History, and their subsequent college success. For each AP Exam studied, students were divided into three groups according to their AP Exam performance (no AP Exam taken, score of 1 or 2, and a…

This article reviews recent research related to the study of college student retention, specifically examining research related to individual student demographic characteristics. The increasing diversity of undergraduate college students requires a new, thorough examination of those student variables previously understood to predict retention. The…

This paper uses administrative data from the University of Texas-Austin to examine whether high school peer networks at college entry influence college achievement, measured by grade point average (GPA) and persistence. For each freshman cohort from 1993 through 2003 we calculate the number and ethnic makeup of college freshmen from each Texas…

Research indicates that programs designed to target first year students increase their likelihood of success during that year and their chances of completing an undergraduate education (Bureau & Rromrey, 1994; Conner & Colton, 1999). Theoretically, such programs should help in part because they foster integration into campus communities…

Each year, thousands of American students enter postsecondary institutions unprepared for college-level work and are subsequently placed in remedial or developmental courses. Several recent studies have examined the impact of these courses on student outcomes, but such studies focus exclusively on students who need just one or two classes; the…

Many postsecondary students possess risk factors that are associated with decreased rates of persistence and credential completion. Traditional students, those without risk factors and with greater rates of postsecondary success are in the minority. Using data from Achieving the Dream: Community College Count, this issue of "Data Notes" examines…

Research in higher education over the past several decades has extensively examined the extent to which various aspects of the college environment affect student persistence (Astin, 1962, 1993; Bean, 1980; Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005; Tinto, 1975, 1988, 1993). Furthermore, researchers have noted the importance of the residential living…

This study aims to determine the relationships between key student behaviors and the institutional practices and conditions that foster student success. To do so, student-level records from different types of colleges and universities are merged to examine the links between student engagement and two key outcomes of college: academic achievement…

The authors used the data from the "Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study" survey (BPS:04/06) to (a) examine the characteristics of the national sample of college students with disabilities and (b) identify the factors that influenced their first-to-second-year persistence in U.S. postsecondary institutions. Students with…

The purpose of this dissertation research was to analyze a nationally representative dataset of first-year beginning students to examine the factors that affect Mexican-origin Latinos undergraduate students' persistence and degree attainment outcomes. Several theoretical perspectives are used in this research in order to address the complex…