Purpose: The purpose of this quantitative, correlational study is to determine the impact of prerequisite course type on student final quantitative research methods final grade after controlling for mathematics anxiety, statistics anxiety, and task presentation/performance. The additional purpose is to determine if there are significant…

Associate degree allied health programs (ADAHP) face multiple pressures to admit students who are likely to succeed and enter the workforce. In 2016, the Assessment Technologies Institute Test of Essential Academic Skills (ATI TEAS) was added as a required criterion of the supplemental program application at a community college in the southeastern…

To practice physical therapy, physical therapist assistants (PTAs) must graduate from an accredited program and pass the National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE). There is a lack of evidence exploring the relationships between admission processes in PTA programs with no pre-requisites. The first purpose of this study was to determine whether…

This dissertation investigates whether dual credit students' academic performance in subsequent university courses is comparable to that of non-dual-credit students. The study uses data from a Midwest regional public university over a ten-year period and employs propensity score matching and proportional odds ordinal logistic regression to create…

The United States is not graduating enough science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) majors for the increasing number of available employment opportunities and national security needs. The purpose of this study was to quantify the magnitude of STEM attrition at the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA), a military service academy…

Committing to a major is a fateful step in an undergraduate education, yet the relationship between courses taken early in an academic career and ultimate major issuance remains little studied at scale. Using transcript data capturing the academic careers of 26,892 undergraduates enrolled at a private university between 2000 and 2020, we describe…

Gatekeeper courses such as Anatomy and Physiology are often referenced in discussions regarding the national shortage of persons in allied health professions. In an attempt to bolster access to STEM professions, some community colleges are mandating prerequisite courses such as Natural Sciences and/or General Biology for STEM gatekeeping courses.…

Previous studies have compared student performance for the same or similar classes delivered both online and face-to-face. However, few studies have explored the role that a change in learning environment plays in the student's ability to transfer skills and knowledge gained in prerequisite courses to follow-on, or post-requisite, courses. The…

The 1st step in successfully intervening with students who may fail a course is to identify them as early as possible in the semester. The objective of this study was to create a model to predict student performance in FDSC 4304, the required capstone Food Chemistry class, using academic performance in prerequisite courses as potential predictors.…

In this study, the different types of research designs used to assess the impact of prerequisite courses are presented. Supported by an in-depth literature review, the challenges that are faced in the assessment of the impact of prerequisites, from statistical to political, are identified and their pitfalls are pointed out. In particular, the…

This study was undertaken to determine whether a biology preparatory course given at an urban community college was helping students to develop the proper skills and background necessary to successfully complete follow-up courses in biology. Data indicated a mathematics score was the main discriminator between pass/fail groups of the preparatory…

A study was conducted at Donnelly College, in Kansas, to determine whether taking a math course prerequisite affected students' final course grades in an introductory chemistry course. From a sample of 329 students who finished the chemistry course between fall 1985 and fall 1993, course grades were compared for 30 students who had completed the…

A study investigated the relationship of scores in the Texas Academic Skills Program, a minimum competency test for college-bound students, and performance in freshman and sophomore courses, and uses for that information in setting course prerequisites. Data were drawn from 18 courses at one community college. Results showed existing course…

At Oregon's Lane Community College (LCC), all full-time students and students enrolled in English Composition (WR121) are required to take a 35-item writing placement test. Students with test scores deemed "marginal" (i.e, those scoring between 20 and 24 points) are advised to take a preparatory course (WR120) before enrolling in WR121,…