Because of their open enrollment policies, community colleges serve large numbers of students whose K-12 education has left them unready to succeed in college-level courses. Colleges typically use test scores such as the ACT to place students into appropriate course levels. However, the use of test-based measures alone has been criticized as being…

The purpose of the studies reported here was to test the hypothesis that college students from cultures that emphasize strong family ties experience familial tethering or a pull to remain connected to home, which then has negative consequences on the student's ability to connect to and succeed at the university. In Study 1, it was found that…

The problem of a prepared workforce is perennial. Part of the challenge is one of supply and demand, as education systems attempt to produce graduates with the technical competencies required for the current jobs available. In the new service- and knowledge-based economy, however, soft skills are cited as a greater need by today's employers.…

The current focus on assessing "college and career readiness" raises an empirical question: How do high school tests compare with college admissions tests in predicting performance in college? We explored this using data from the City University of New York and public colleges in Kentucky. These two systems differ in the choice of…

In 2010, McCracken County, Kentucky implemented the Community Scholarship Program (CSP) to provide graduates of high schools in the county an opportunity to receive a tuition-free community college education. Quantitative data was collected throughout the various stages of student progress through the program. As the first cohort of CSP students…

This study seeks to examine the relationship between the long-term use of academic support services such as tutoring, learning assistance, and supplemental instruction and retention to graduation. Little research has been devoted to the relationship between academic support and retention to graduation in both the literatures on retention and…

This study explored the impact of the English Advanced Placement (AP) program on college success among rural Appalachian students attending four private colleges in central and eastern Kentucky: Alice Lloyd College, Georgetown College, Lindsey Wilson College, and University of the Cumberlands. A Pearson Product-Moment Correlation r and an…

This study examined the effect of the NOVA program, a Students Support Services program at Eastern Kentucky University, on academic success for first-generation and low-income college students. An archival database was used to identify differences in the level of academic success among first-year students in the NOVA program from fall-to-fall of…

This study investigated the effects the demographic variables age, gender, and ethnicity and their interactions had on academic performance in online courses delivered by public two-year colleges in Kentucky. The study controlled for previous academic performance measured by cumulative grade point average (GPA). The study used a random sample (N =…

The purpose of this study was to investigate--by utilizing data obtained from the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) PeopleSoft database-- whether the American College Testing (ACT) assessment was a predictor of student success for students who had graduated from respiratory, radiography, and nursing programs at Southeast…

Education reform has been in progress for at least two decades, yet our nation's postsecondary institutions continue to see increasing numbers of underprepared students. Despite numerous and varied attempts at nationwide reform at the secondary education level, the number of students requiring remedial education courses in postsecondary education…

The present research was a two-year longitudinal study on the effects of a six-day, optional, pre-semester, freshman orientation program on academic credits earned, GPA and college retention. Regression analyses were used to remove the variance associated with other possible predictors of academic success (gender, age, race, developmental need,…