Solving the Problem of Low Graduation Rates at GCC

Introduction (we adjust the last sentence to include all the subtopics in the introduction chapter)

This introduction section covers the organization profile, introduction to the problem, significance of the study to various stakeholders, purpose statement, and definition of key terms.

Organizational Profile (additional information on the history of the organization)

The institution began as a result of a public voting exercise, when residents of the target areas voted to have the Glendale Unified School District introduce a junior college (GCC, “About GCC”, 2022). The first semester enrolled 139 students who took their classes from the Glendale Union High School. The student population grew quite fast over the first three years of operation, hitting 435 in 1929, with 27 faculty members (GCC, “About GCC”, 2022). With the help of a Works Progress Administration (WPA) grant and proceeds from a bond election, Glendale Junior college purchased and moved to the current 59-acre site in 1937, and its name officially changed to Glendale Community College in 1971 (GCC, “About GCC”, 2022). Today, GCC is a dynamic institution of higher learning, with over 25,000 students enrolled in various campuses, including Montrose, Garfield, and Verdugo (GCC, “About GCC”, 2022).

Significance of the Research (add significance to faculty members)

For the faculty, high graduation rates would be an indicator of high teacher efficacy, which is a measure of how well they execute their instructor as well as mentoring roles to realize the best possible student outcomes (Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2001). Studies have associated high teacher efficacy with a range of positive educational outcomes including commitment, enthusiasm, and persistence, which help the organization retain its top talent (Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2001). For students, high teacher efficacy enhances outcomes such as self-efficacy beliefs, motivation, and achievement, all of which lead to improved academic performance (Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2001).

Purpose Statement (to ensure coherence with the procedures section, faculty will not be involved in the survey as earlier planned. Please take this as the final draft of the purpose statement).

The purpose of this study is to provide recommendations to help address the problem of low graduation rates among Hispanic minority students at Glendale Community College in Glendale, California. To realize this purpose, the study will employ both quantitative and qualitative data collection techniques. Quantitative data will be collected through an online survey that will be administered via the Google forms web-based platform to 50 students at GCC. The researcher will invite interested students to participate through the Latino Student Association at GCC. They will attend several meetings organized by the association every week to advertise the study and invite interested participants to register their email address, where they will receive the link to the online survey.

As part of the qualitative data collection, the researcher will conduct semi-structured interviews with 10 Hispanic student leaders at GCC. The research targets 10 of the 15 leaders of the Latino Student Association on campus. The final data collection approach will be document review, which will seek to obtain insights about the institutional climate at GCC. Documents of interest for this review will include the curriculum map in use currently, records of past student satisfaction surveys, admission guidelines, financial aid beneficiary records, faculty’s supplemental instruction reports, reports from past student surveys, and student class attendance registers.

The use of multiple data sources will enhance the reliability and validity of results as the researcher could corroborate findings using data obtained from different sources (Bazeley, 2017). Further, it provides a means to use the strengths of one data source to compensate for weaknesses of another, which enhances the overall quality of the research (Bazeley, 2017).

Procedures

Interview procedures

The study limits the interviewees to English speakers because the researcher is monolingual in English and does not plan to hire a translator. Translation may affect the flow of interviews given the researcher’s limited experience (Clark et al., 2017). The interviews will be guided by an interview guide with pre-determined questions and will be conducted personally by the researcher. This will ensure they can ask follow up questions and obtain as much relevant information as possible from participants (Clark et al., 2017).

Survey Procedures (additional information on the study hypothesis in the paragraph immediately before the last)

The chi-square statistic on SPSS will be used to measure the relationship between

Intrinsic motivation and whether or not a student is on course to timely completion/graduation (Muth, 2019). At the same time, the researcher will do multiple regression to determine which of the three drivers of intrinsic motivation of the SDT has the greatest influence on the likelihood of timely graduation among Hispanic students at GCC (Muth, 2019). This would provide the management with crucial insights on where to focus their efforts as they seek to improve the target group’s graduation. The study hypothesizes that there will be a strong positive association between the level of intrinsic motivation and the likelihood of timely graduation. As such, students who report high levels of motivation will equally report a higher likelihood of timely graduation. Further, the study hypothesizes that generally, Hispanic students will report low levels of intrinsic motivation and will be less likely to complete their studies on time.