This quantitative study investigated community college student reenrollment choices, course-taking patterns, and course outcomes after a D/F/W in an online class. The sample included freshmen students with fewer than 30 credit hours, enrolled in a fully online or fully face-to-face (F2F) section of a gateway general education course.…

This study calls for a broadening of the perspective on academic success. While passing exams is an essential objective of higher education, it should not overshadow another important objective which is the development of students' skills, such as becoming curious, autonomous and reflective in the learning process. This study used Academic…

First-year mathematics instructors at universities across North America and the globe have been noticing a decline in the mathematics skills and preparation of their incoming students, who have been failing out of first-year mathematics courses at alarming rates. Though some universities have implemented placement or diagnostic tests to measure…

In this longitudinal study, we investigate how demographic, cognitive and meta-cognitive variables affect students' success in chemistry and physics exams in two Science-Technology-Engineering-Mathematics undergraduate courses, biology and engineering. Independent variables include high school final examination performance, chemistry and physics…

Providing early predictions of academic performance is necessary for identifying at-risk students and subsequently providing them with timely intervention for critical factors affecting their academic performance. Although e-book systems are often used to provide students with teaching/learning materials in university courses, seldom has research…

Misalignments in teaching pedagogies between secondary schools and tertiary institutions have exacerbated educational disparities among students from different backgrounds. Given the variation in students' educational background and competencies, there was a need to develop an Anatomy and Physiology (A&P) Foundational Knowledge Assessment to…

One of the major objectives of precision education is to improve prediction of educational outcome. This study combined theory-driven and data-driven approaches to address the limitations of current practice of predicting learning outcomes only using a single approach. The study identified the online learning patterns by using students'…

A successful first year is of vital importance to academic achievement in higher education. How can we identify those students at risk at a very early stage, i.e. even before they have entered university? This study focuses on three pre-university factors, namely academic self-efficacy, self-regulated learning, in terms of autonomous motivation…

Feeling a sense of belonging in a learning environment can have positive effects on student success. The impact of this psychosocial variable on undergraduates' achievement and retention has been demonstrated in STEM disciplines, especially for women within physical sciences where large disparities in gender representation persist. The current…

In the United States, first-generation college students are significantly less likely to persist in college and complete a four-year college degree than continuing-generation students (Cataldi, Bennett, & Chen, 2018; DeAngelo & Franke, 2016; Engle & Tinto, 2008; Pascarella, Pierson, Wolniak, & Terenzini, 2004). The same is true at…

This study examines different factors' relative importance for students' performance in the transition to university mathematics. Students' characteristics (motivation, actions and beliefs) were measured when entering the university and at the end of the first year. Principal component analysis revealed four important constructs:…

Underrepresented college students are more likely than majority students to underperform and drop out of college. Perceptions of status relative to other students may play a key role in this process. The current study uses subjective social status (SSS) to predict underrepresented students' grade point average via their sense of academic…

Low-income, historically underrepresented, first-generation, and academically underprepared students are expected to attend college at increasingly higher rates in the coming decades, yet these high-risk students tend to graduate at lower rates than their counterparts, reflecting wider systemic inequities that persist in the United States. This…

The first-year grade point average (FYGPA) is the predominant measure of student success in most studies on university admission. Previous cognitive achievements measured with high school grades or standardized tests have been found to be the strongest predictors of FYGPA. For this reason, standardized tests measuring cognitive achievement are…

The purpose of this study was to assess the merit of the Watson-Glaser Critical Thinking Appraisal as a pre-admission criterion in conjunction with the frequently utilized admission criteria of the college prerequisite grade point average and the National League of Nursing pre-admission test. Data were collected from 192 first-year nursing…