Browsing by Subject "College readiness"

Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
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    The Personal Readiness Evaluation for Postsecondary (PREP): a development and validation study
    (2012-09) Pohl, Angie J.
    The purpose of this study was to develop and establish validity evidence for the Personal Readiness Evaluation for Postsecondary (PREP), a tool designed to measure personal readiness for college of high school students early enough in the students' journey to college that the information can be used to inform interventions that can in turn increase the students' readiness for success in postsecondary education. Personal readiness for college was defined as the dimension of college readiness pertaining to students' self-regulated learning ability including their self-efficacy and their ability to engage in academic behaviors such as planning, setting learning goals, managing their time, using study skills, putting forth effort, and persisting in the face of challenges. This study was conducted in three phases: Phase I - instrument development, Phase II - pilot study and instrument refinement, and Phase III - testing of the refined instrument. The study consisted of one sample of 7th-12th graders (n = 451) and three separate samples of 9-12th grade students (sample 1: n = 1643, sample 2: n = 497, and sample 3 n = 385), all in a Midwestern state. Analyses utilized included confirmatory factor analysis, correlation analysis, reliability analysis, and chi-square tests. Validity evidence gathered included evidence based on theory, content, internal structure, and relations to other variables. Findings from the study suggest that the PREP can be used appropriately with high school students to measure their self-efficacy and expectations, effort and persistence, and self-regulated learning (aspects of personal readiness for college), and that information obtained through students' completion of the PREP can provide students, parents, and teachers with an indicator of whether or not the students are in need of extra support in developing personal readiness for college.
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    To take or not to take: factors that influence the decisions that students make about taking college-level courses in high school
    (2012-05) Pekel, Kent Stephen
    This descriptive and exploratory study investigates the factors that influence the decisions that students make about taking college-level courses in high school. While the study examines the decisions of high school students from across the distribution of student achievement, it pays particular attention to the decisions of students in the academic middle. Ten factors with the potential to influence those decisions were identified through a review of relevant literature on college readiness, high school reform, academic motivation and adolescent decision making. To capture students' perspectives on those potential factors, a survey was developed and administered in a diverse group of seven high schools in the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area in the spring of 2012. Qualitative data were also gathered at two of those schools, both of which were large suburban high schools. Through the focus groups and interviews conducted at those schools, two additional factors that could influence student decisions about college-level course taking were identified. The study concludes that the following three factors are highly influential in shaping students' decisions about taking college-level courses: (1) the economic incentives of earning college credit in high school, (2) the signals that higher education institutions send to high school students, and (3) the level of effort that students exert in school. The study also concludes that insufficient access to college-level courses is not a major factor in students' course taking decisions at any of the schools that were studied. Finally, the study concludes that the following factors play a moderate role in course taking decisions, but that further research is needed to more precisely determine the degree and type of influence these factors exert: The course registration process;An inherent college-going orientation; Students' actual and perceived level of academic readiness; Interaction with adults at school; Interaction with parents; Interaction with peers; Commitments outside of school; The learning environment in college-level courses; Interest in the subject being studied.