Browsing by Subject "Focusing on the First Year"

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    Dusting Off the Data: Using the 2007 CIRP Data to Predict First-Year Students’ Four-Year Outcomes
    (2013-02-12) Soria, Krista M.
    In summer 2007, the majority of first-year (non-transfer) students (4,500+) completed the Cooperative Institutional Research Program (CIRP) survey during Orientation sessions at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. The CIRP provides practitioners and administrators with valuable insights into college student behaviors, academic preparedness, college expectations, values and goals, motivations for attending the University, and interactions with peers and faculty. Four years later, it is time to take the data off the shelf, dust it off, and utilize this substantive source of information to examine factors predictive of first-year students’ first term/year grade point averages, ongoing retention, and four-year graduation rates. Practitioners and administrators attending this session can learn more about the factors (e.g. behaviors, goals, expectations, etc.) predicting first-year students’ retention, graduation, and grade point averages. The results of these analyses can be used to promote data-driven decision-making for the purposes of developing interventions to reach out to the students most at risk for attrition and prioritizing initiatives to enhance students’ long-term success.
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    Mapping the Academic and Social Engagement of First-Year Students @ UMNTC
    (2011-02-16) Soria, Krista M.; Stebleton, Michael J.; Huesman, Ronald L. Jr.
    Nationally, student attrition is more likely to occur in a student's first-year of college (Pascarella & Terenzini, 2005). Retention literature often points to the importance of academic and social engagement of students in their persistence and completion (Kuh, 2009); therefore, this study examines the academic and social engagement of first-year students at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. Academic engagement factors, such as preparedness for class, time spent reading and studying for class, and contributions to classes will be explored. Additionally, social engagement factors, such as participation in clubs or organizations, time spent socializing with friends or partying, and sense of social belonging will also be examined. The data is drawn from the 2010 Student Experience in the Research University survey, which was completed by approximately 2,000 first-year students in spring 2010. In addition to developing a picture around first-year students academic and social engagement, this study further explores the relationship between academic and social engagement and students' cumulative grade point averages; for example, preliminary findings indicate that academic disengagement behaviors, such as turning in assignments late and skipping class, have a negative relationship with grade point average, while positive engagement behaviors, such as revising papers before submission and contributing to class discussions, have a positive relationship with grade point average. This presentation will provide participants with an enhanced understanding of the academic and social engagement of first-year students at the University of Minnesota.