University students who report a history of reading difficulties have been demonstrated to have poorer word reading and reading comprehension skills than their peers; yet, without a diagnosed learning disability, these students do not have access to the same support services, potentially placing them at academic risk. This study provides a…

The Advanced Placement® (AP®) Program offers high school students the opportunity to take rigorous coursework in high school and receive college credit for AP Exam scores that meet or exceed the requirements of their attending institution. Students receiving AP credit are typically exempted from an introductory level course or series of courses…

This study explored the impact of the English Advanced Placement (AP) program on college success among rural Appalachian students attending four private colleges in central and eastern Kentucky: Alice Lloyd College, Georgetown College, Lindsey Wilson College, and University of the Cumberlands. A Pearson Product-Moment Correlation r and an…

This article relates the efforts of faculty at one community college to define standards for achievement of two SLOs (critical thinking and effective communication) and to gather and analyze evidence of how well students meet those standards. Faculty from 13 disciplines assessed writing samples from 265 students. We found that, in general,…

Ten years of College Student Inventory (CSI) data from one Midwestern public land-grant university were used to study the role of motivational factors in predicting academic success and college student retention. Academic success was defined as cumulative grade point average (GPA), cumulative course load capacity (i.e., the number of credits…

Objective: This study examined to what extent differences exist in pre-college characteristics and academic performance between Black male student-athletes and their student-athlete peers. Method: Data provided by the Florida Department of Education's PK-20 Education Data Warehouse (EDW) were analyzed as a function of group membership (gender and…

Only about half of all students who enroll in colleges and universities in the United States earn a four-year degree at the institution where they begin their studies, and many postsecondary institutions are seeking ways to increase the graduation rates of their students. Both student characteristics and institutional factors influence a student's…

The Futures Academy program provides students with the opportunity to fulfill high school graduation requirements while simultaneously earning industry certifications, college credits, and/or an Associate of Applied Science degree by August following their senior year. In addition to taking college courses, Futures Academy students must earn…

Improving the academic achievement of students for success in college in ways that lead to college degree attainment is a growing concern for our nation. Educators are exploring the topic of student engagement to better understand critical issues surrounding college degree attainment. Through analysis of data collected from the Survey of Entering…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the impact of the number of college credits earned in Technical College Preparation (Tech Prep) and Dual Credit (College Now) programs as a predictor of continued success after high school, as measured by first-year college GPA at a Midwest Community College. This study looked at how the…

Although some scholars report that all students are better served by attending more prestigious postsecondary institutions, others have argued that students are better off attending colleges where they are about average in terms of academic ability and suffer worse outcomes if they attend schools that are "out of their league" at which…

This study examined the effect of the NOVA program, a Students Support Services program at Eastern Kentucky University, on academic success for first-generation and low-income college students. An archival database was used to identify differences in the level of academic success among first-year students in the NOVA program from fall-to-fall of…

Although access to postsecondary education for ethnic minorities has increased since desegregation in 1954, the college completion rates for these groups have not, particularly for African Americans. For this reason, it is important to continue to examine strategies that contribute to increases in completion rates for African Americans. The…

Background: Education of nurses from a diploma to a degree is a global phenomenon. However, bridging is often seen as a "backdoor" route to becoming a Registered Nurse and very little evaluation data exists to challenge this notion. Objectives: This research project was undertaken to explore student characteristics, academic performance,…

Assessment of undergraduate research (UR) programs using participant surveys has produced a wealth of information about design, implementation, and perceived benefits of UR programs. However, measurement of student participation university wide, and the potential contribution of research experience to student success, also require the study of…