Dissertation Defense Announcement

College of Education announces the Final Dissertation Defense of

Scedella Clemons

for the Degree of Doctor of Education

July 31, 2019 at 1:30 PM in Ball Hall ,Room 320

Advisor: Craig Shepherd

Assessing the Effectiveness of the Academic Strategies course for students on first academic probation status.

ABSTRACT: The purpose of this quantitative, correlational study was to examine the influence that completion of course module activities in an academic strategies course have on academic probation students' academic achievement (change in term GPA) and semester-to semester retention, while considering potentially influential demographic and environmental variables. There were two research questions included in this study. The first research question is: How does completion of course module activities (predictor variable) predict academic achievement (criterion variable), measured by change in term GPA, of first-time academic probation students enrolled in an academic strategies course? The second research question is: How does completion of course module activities (predictor variable) predict semester to semester retention (criterion variable) of first-time academic probation students enrolled in an academic strategies course? A predictive correlation design was used in this study. The predictive correlation design was found to be the most appropriate design for this study because a predictive correlational design allows you to predict academic achievement outcomes, including GPA. The results of the multiple regression analysis showed the model was a good fit to statistically predict change of term GPA of first time academic probation students enrolled in the academic strategies course, F(5, 938) = 26.156, p = .000. The predictor variables, gender (p = .420), classification (p = .101), and program of study/College (p = .566) were not statistically significant to predict the criterion variable, change of term GPA. The results of the binomial logistics regression analysis indicated predictor variables, course completion (p = .000), classification (p = .000), and race (p = .013) were statistically significant to predict the criterion variable, retention, as the p values were below the threshold of .05. The predictor variables, gender (p = .379) and program of study/College (p = .191) were not statistically significant to predict the criterion variable, retention.