Factors driving low graduation rates among Black non-Hispanic students at Glendale Community College

LOW STUDENT GRADUATION AT GLENDALE

Scholarly Works Synthesis Template

Instructions:

Type your central research question below. Then, you will choose two different scholarly peer reviewed journal articles that were published within the last five years that pertain to your research topic. Complete the table below for each article. Then, you will use the comparative template that follows to make a comparison of the two articles. Your voice should be evident in the comparative template. Assignment instructions and the rubric are applicable to this assignment.

Central Research Question

What factors drive the low graduation rates among black non-Hispanic students at Glendale Community College?

Article One

Individual Scholarly Works Template

Insert correctly formatted reference and link to the scholarly peer-reviewed work below

Almenaie, O. (2018). Factors affecting the rate of completion of undergraduate students. Journal of Education and Practice, 9(36), 37-46. https://www.iiste.org/Journals/index.php/JEP/article/download/45776/47260

What is the theoretical or conceptual framework, if presented

The study does not present a conceptual or theoretical framework

What data collection methods were used?

The study made use of secondary data obtained through a review of the academic records of 7,443 students enrolled at the King Saud University in the 2007 academic year. The researchers collected data on students’ grade point averages (GPA), academic discipline, individual scores on the GCSE and aptitude tests prior to university acceptance, marital status, age, gender, nationality, economic rewards, and career status.

What data analysis methods were used?

Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and multiple regressions were carried out to determine the extent of the relationship between the rate of completion, which was the dependent variable, and the various independent variables measuring academic factors, admission criteria, social factors, and economic factors. The students were allotted values 6 to 19 based on when they completed their studies, with those who completed earlier receiving higher scores, while those who took the maximum allowable time of 19 semesters receiving the least score. The conventional course completion period is eight semesters, although some students opted to combine units from several semesters in order to graduate within 6 or 7 semesters. The independent variables were grade point averages (GPA), academic discipline (academic factors), individual scores on the GCSE and achievement tests prior to university acceptance (admission criteria), marital status, age, gender, and nationality (social factors), economic rewards, and career status (economic factors).

What are the results of the study?

The study found that both GPA and academic discipline (academic factors) have a significant positive effect on undergraduate students’ rate of completion. However, GPA was found to have a stronger effect than academic discipline given the higher Beta value obtained from the results of regression. T-tests comparing retention rates across academic disciplines found that medical students and those in scientific disciplines complete their courses faster than those taking humanities and that students with higher GPAs were more likely to complete their courses on time than those with lower GPAs.

In research question 2, the study found a significant relationship between admission criteria and rate of completion. The study concluded that high GCSE (Certificate of Secondary Education) and Aptitude Test performance prior to admission was associated with a higher rate of completion. However, performance in the achievement test was more influential than GCSE.

On research question 3, the study found a significant relationship between both gender and age on the rate of completion. Nationality and marital status were both found to be insignificant predictors of the completion rate. T-tests comparing retention rates between males and females found that females completed earlier than males. Age yielded a negative association with rate of completion, implying that younger students complete their courses faster than older students.

Finally, regarding research question 4, ANOVA showed no significant relationship between the economic variables (career status (whether a student is employed) and rewards (whether or not they have received career awards) and rate of completion.

What are the strengths of the article?

The article focuses on both academic and non-academic factors, which helps provide a more accurate and wider view of why students fail to complete their courses on time. Studies that concentrate on academic or non-academic factors alone give a limiting view of the range of factors that influence students’ decision-making.

What are the limitations of the article?

The article limits itself to two variables in each category, leaving out crucial variables such as tuition standards, availability of financial aid, on-campus accommodation, peer supports systems, and faculty-student relationships. Further, the study is limited to undergraduate students and its findings may not be generalizable to students in other levels of education.

How does this article address the problem?

It provides crucial insights on the effect of GPA, academic discipline, age, nationality, marital status, gender, employment while schooling, career rewards, and past academic performance on students’ rate of completion. From the insights presented, college administrators and staff can identify at-risk students and begin early interventions to enhance their completion rates.

How does this article neglect to address the problem or topic?

It leaves fails to consider the effect of the school climate on completion rate. The school climate, as indicated by the availability of financial aid, accommodation, strong peer support systems, and strong interactions between faculty and students have a significant effect on GPA and completion rate.

What evidence does the article present regarding the problem or topic?

The article shows that students are more likely to graduate on time if they have high GPAs and high past academic performance in secondary school or pre-admission aptitude tests. Further, students in the medical field and science courses are generally more likely to complete on time than those in humanities. Moreover, female and younger students are more likely to graduate on time as compared to male and older students. Being employed while schooling, nationality, marital status, and career rewards all have no influence on the rate of completion. These findings help inform policymakers and institutions about where to focus their effort to improve completion rates.

How does this article relate to your study?

The proposed study seeks to determine how Glendale Community College could improve the graduation rates of black non-Hispanic students. To do so, the study will need to establish the factors that drive students at the institution to not complete their courses on time. The variables and research design adopted in this article will go a long way towards informing the design of the proposed study.

Include two quotes containing key information that you may want to use in your literature review

“In general, the previous tables have demonstrated that most of the factors affecting rate of completion are academic factors, with r2= 0.038, while admission criteria are the second mots influential” (Almenaie, 2018, p. 43)

“Students in medical disciplines exhibit a higher rate of completion than humanities and science students” (Almenaie, 2018, p. 43).

Article 2

Individual Scholarly Works Template

Insert correctly formatted reference and link to the scholarly peer-reviewed work below

Margarit, V., & Kennedy, J. (2019). Students’ variables predicting timely graduation at a community college. Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice, 19(6), 97-117. https://doi.org/10.33423/jhetp.v19i6.2308

What is the theoretical or conceptual framework, if presented

The study is based on Tinto’s (1975, 1997) model of student integration, which argues that student persistence is based on the degree of fit between the college environment and the individual student. According to Tinto, students join a school with a range of background characteristics shaped by educational contexts, past academic achievements, aptitude, and race among others. These traits inform their initial commitments and their subsequent commitment depends on how well the school environment fosters both academic and social integration.

What are the major topics presented?

The study uses the case of a Florida-based community college to examine the factors that influence the completion and graduation rates of students in such colleges. More specifically, the study analyses the effect of background, academic, financial, and institution integration variables on the timely graduation of community college students. The article recognizes that community colleges play a crucial role in serving their communities’ cultural and social needs by getting students prepared for the workforce in line with these needs.

As part of the problem statement, the article reckons that over 60 percent of the 21st century jobs require at least a college degree, yet only 32 percent of adults in Florida have an associate degree. Thus, the authors argue that it is prudent that the selected community college devises effective ways of graduating more students rather than retaining them.

The study emphasizes the need to analyze retention in community colleges differently from four-year colleges because they have different characteristics. Students in community colleges are often working, non-traditional students with children who may not navigate the four-year college system because of their busy schedules. The background factors studied included parental level of education, age, race, and gender, while the financial factors included employment while schooling, financial aid, and financial support. Academic factors included developmental courses, campus activities, and high school performance. Finally, institutional integration factors included factors that fostered effective teaching, such as academic feedback and faculty-student interactions.

Which words /authors are repeated often?

The key words in the study are graduation rates, community college, student academic factors, institution integration, student engagement, and student retention.

What data collection methods were used?

The study made use of primary data obtained through an online questionnaire that was administered on SurveyMonkey.com. The target population was first-time, full-time students who graduated from the college from 2011 to 2013. The study was limited to first-time students graduating between 2011 and 2013 so as to explore the factors that influenced their timely graduation. From the targeted population, a sample of 100 students was obtained through random sampling. The selected respondents received letters inviting them to take part in the study and informing them that their participation was voluntary. The SurveyMonkey.com platform allowed the researcher to track responses and also obtain respondents’ contact information that they used to send personalized emails

What data analysis methods were used?

The collected data was analysed using both correlation analysis and multiple regression. Correlation was used to identify the direction and strength of the relationship between the dependent variable (timely education) and various independent variables. Multiple regression was used to define the extent to which the independent variables predicted changes in the dependent variables. The independent variables were father’s education, mother’s education, high school preparation for college, self-motivation, academic preparation for college, financial support, working to support family, and gender.

What are the results of the study?

The findings showed a strong positive relationship between father’s and mother’s education and timely graduation, indicating that students with educated parents were more likely to graduate on time. Further, correlation results showed a strong, positive association between timely graduation and both self-motivation to do well in academics and high school preparation for college.

The findings also showed a positive association between availability of financial aid and timely graduation, implying that students were less likely to graduate on time if they lacked financial aid. A strong positive association was also evident between a supportive institutional climate and timely graduation. A strong negative association was evident between working while schooling and timely graduation, implying that students who worked to support their families while in college were less likely to graduate on time. However, only the lack of financial aid and institutional climate emerged as significant predictors of timely graduation on regression. The influence of the rest of the variables was insignificant.

What are the strengths of the article?

The article’s greatest strength is that is uses primary data, which ensures that the researchers obtain first-hand accounts of the variables under analysis from participants. Further, the article focuses specifically on community colleges, which enhances the relevance of its findings better than studies that focus on universities.

What are the limitations of the article?

The article only focuses on students’ graduation from the community college, with no focus on transfer to baccalaureate programs, which is one of such colleges’ primary mission. It would be interesting to determine how the findings compare when the dependent variable is transfer rather than graduation.

How does this article address the problem?

It provides crucial insights on the effect of background factors such as parental education, age, and race; economic factors, and institutional integration factors on the graduation rates of community college students. Further, it helps to address a knowledge gap – the article states that most studies focus on four-year colleges, yet the two have different characteristics. By studying community colleges, this study provides more relevant insights to policymakers in community colleges.

How does this article neglect to address the problem or topic?

Studies have shown that completion rates in college differ by race, with black Americans at a disadvantage. However, the article fails to analyse the effect of race or to consider the effect of the variables on students of different races.

What evidence does the article present regarding the problem or topic?

The article shows that community college students are more likely to graduate on time if their parents have formal education, if they are young, if they have access to financial aid, and if they have supportive environments at school. These findings point to the importance of creating support systems for college students by building learning communities, where students can engage and collaborate in classwork, strengthening feedback mechanisms, and fostering positive faculty-student relationships.

How does this article relate to your study?

The article identifies the background, economic, and institutional integration factors influencing timely graduation in community colleges. Since the proposed study focuses on community colleges, this study provides an invaluable platform for comparing the behaviour of independent variables common across the two studies. This way, deviations can be identified and explained.

Include two quotes containing key information that you may want to use in your literature review

“although background and academic integration factors exerted a significant influence on community college students’ overall satisfaction, …academic integration variables surpassed background variables in their influence” (Margarit & Kennedy, 2019, p. 112).

“of all the background factors, persistence in college had the most decisive effect” (Margarit & Kennedy, 2019, p. 113).

Comparative Scholarly Works Template

Comparative Scholarly Works Template

Insert the correctly formatted reference and link to the first scholarly work.

Almenaie, O. (2018). Factors affecting the rate of completion of undergraduate students. Journal of Education and Practice, 9(36), 37-46. https://www.iiste.org/Journals/index.php/JEP/article/download/45776/47260

Insert the correctly formatted reference and link to the second scholarly work

Margarit, V., & Kennedy, J. (2019). Students’ variables predicting timely graduation at a community college. Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice, 19(6), 97-117. https://doi.org/10.33423/jhetp.v19i6.2308

What do these articles have in common? Write two sentences that demonstrate a synthesis of the two articles. Include at least one in-text citation in each sentence.

Both articles pursue the objective of identifying the factors that influence college students’ completion and graduation rates. The articles are also similar in the fact that they both use linear regression to predict the relationship between the dependent and independent variables. Both articles acknowledge that students’ timely completion and graduation are influenced by a range of academic and non-academic factors. On the academic front, Almanaie (2018) found that a student’s high school (GCSE) performance as well as their performance in preadmission Aptitude Tests influenced their rate of college course completion. Students who scored highly in these tests was more likely to complete their college course on time. This finding closely mirrors that of Margarit and Kennedy (2019), who found that college students were more likely to graduate on time if they had higher levels of academic and high school preparedness for college. Both articles point to high school as a significant determinant of timely college completion.

Both articles also agree that background factors have a significant influence on students’ college completion rates. Gender and race are the two background factors common across the two studies. Like Almanaie (2018), Margarit and Kennedy (2019) found that females were more resilient and more likely to persist in school than their male counterparts. The authors posit that this is because females are more likely to access social supports and more likely to join peer learning organizations than males (Margarit & Kennedy, 2019). Both articles found race and nationality to be insignificant predictors of completion rate among college students, which is contrary to what one would realistically expect that African-American students would take longer to complete their courses and graduate. Both articles are also similar in that they assess the effects of economic factors on students’ completion and graduation rates. The studies yield similar results, particularly in regard to employment while schooling, where both find that employment does not significantly influence how soon one completes their course or graduates from college. Thus, contrary to popular belief, there is no guarantee that a student who works while schooling would complete their course later than their peer who attends school full-time.

How are the results of these two articles different? Write two sentences that demonstrate a synthesis of the two articles. Include at least one in-text citation in each sentence.

The results of the two articles differ on several fronts. On the area of economic variables, Almeniae (2018) found no effect on the rate of completion, upon measuring two variables – employment while schooling and career rewards. However, this finding differs significantly from Margarit and Kennedy’s (2019), whose analysis of economic variables showed a relatively strong association with timely graduation. Margarit and Kennedy (2019) found that students were more likely to graduate on time if they had access to financial aid while in school, and that the association was significant on regression.

Further, Almeniae (20180 found academic variables to have the greatest influence on college students’ completion rates as compared to admission criteria, social and economic variables. This contradicts Margarit & Kennedy’s (2019) findings, which found that institutional variables were the greatest determinants of timely graduation after they yielded stronger beta regression coefficients than all other variables. Under institutional support, the study assessed availability of learning communities, positive and regular feedback mechanisms, and strong faculty-student relationships. From the analysis, these institutional factors shape the school climate, which dictates the level of student satisfaction and the ability to persist (Margarit & Kennedy, 2019).

How does the information in the two sources relate to your proposed study?

The two studies represent the rich literature that is already available in the topic of interest. Many studies have been conducted to identify the factors that influence students’ college completion and graduation rates. The two studies focus on identifying the academic and non-academic factors that influence students’ timely graduation from college. They identify a range of interesting variables that could be highly beneficial to the proposed study. The two studies reviewed are highly relevant to the proposed study because they provide a view of variables that give conflicting outcomes across studies, and which are subject to future research. For instance, the brief review of the two studies indicates that academic variables emerge as the most significant influencers in one study, while the school climate emerges as the most influential factor in the other study. It would be interesting to study both variables in the proposed study to see how they behave in a different context. Thus, the reviewed studies help to inform the selection of variables to be included in the proposed study. They also provide insights on how to effectively measure the said variables in the proposed study. Finally, the reviewed studies indicate the dearth in knowledge in the study topic, which enhances the relevance of the proposed study. From the studies, one can deduce that existing studies focus on four-year colleges, leaving the area of community colleges largely understudied. The proposed study intends to address this gap by focusing specifically on the factors influencing completion rates in community colleges. The study findings will provide crucial insights on student retention for policymakers in such colleges.