Success of Conditionally Admitted Students 21

SUCCESS OF CONDITIONALLY ADMITTED STUDENTS 21

Student Success of Conditionally Admitted Students at Indiana State University

Sarah Naji and Emily Severeid

Indiana State University

SAHE 651- Program Evaluation

November 18, 2013

Table of Contents

Executive Summary 3

Overview of Study 4

Methods 5

Participants 5

Procedures 7

Results 7

Average GPA and Retention 7

Ethnicity 8

Residence Life 14

LEAP v Conditionally Admitted Students 17

Limitations 19

Discussion and Conclusion 19

References 22

Executive Summary

This program evaluation focuses on the success of conditionally admitted students at Indiana State University during the 2012-2013 academic year. We examined student success through assessing demographics of ethnicity, Pell Grant status, LEAP program participation, and living arrangements. Our findings suggest that LEAP students perform better than the overall conditionally admitted students on campus. We also suggest there to be more programming for conditionally admitted students between the fall and spring semesters since GPA’s dropped drastically during the spring semester.

Overview of Study

This paper will examine conditionally admitted first time, full time, bachelor’s degree seeking (FTFTBDS) students who entered Indiana State University (ISU) in the Fall of 2012. All of our assessment data will be based on conditionally admitted students who were apart of the Academic Opportunity Program (AOP), which is now called Sycamore Academy. These students are conditionally admitted to Indiana State for several reasons including low high school GPA, SAT/ACT scores, and other mitigating factors. Out of the conditionally admitted students there are a small percentage selected for the Learn Engage Achieve Persist (LEAP) Program. This program takes conditionally admitted students and brings them to ISU during the summer before their freshman year. This program enrolls them in ENG 101 and UNIV 101 and they must earn C’s in both classes in order to attend ISU during the fall semester.

We will look at all conditionally admitted students to see at what rates they are retained to the Spring of 2013 and to the Fall of 2013. We will also look at their overall GPA’s at the end of each semester. Within the factors of semester to semester retention and GPA we will be looking at varying demographics such as gender, ethnicity, Pell Grant status, 21st Century Scholar status, LEAP participation, and living arrangements. We will also be looking at some social factors including satisfaction with living arrangements and making connections with peers.

Interested parties for our evaluation include the Center for Student Success, who oversees the Academic Opportunity Program, as well as Enrollment Management who admits conditionally admitted students. Another interested party includes Residential Life who houses a great percentage of FTFTBDS conditionally admitted students and who has the ability to help facilitate academic programming and outreach within residence halls. Others interested parties may be identified at a later date.

This information will prove valuable in helping to evaluate what pre-determined factors help or hinder student success in conditionally admitted students. After evaluating which factors lead students to be the most successful we can better assess who our most at risk students are at Indiana State University and attempt to reach out to them in a campus wide effort to retain them.

Methods

Participants

Three hundred and thirty three undergraduates (157 female, 176 male) were pulled for this data assessment because they were conditionally admitted for the Fall of 2012 and a part of the Academic Opportunity Program at Indiana State University.

Gender / Count / Percent
Female / 157 / 47.1%
Male / 176 / 52.9%

Out of 333 students 149 were White, 141 were African American, 22 were Multiple Race/Ethnicity, 17 were Hispanic, 3 chose not to disclose, and 1 student was Asian. All of this data was self-reported by the students.

Race/Ethnicity / Count / Percent
African American / 141 / 42.3%
Asian / 1 / 0.3%
Hispanic / 17 / 5.1%
Multiple Race/Ethnicity / 22 / 6.6%
Not Reported / 3 / 0.9%
White / 149 / 44.7%
Total / 333 / 100.0%

Out of the 333 students 221 were Pell Grant recipients. Pell Grant recipients receive money from the federal government, which does not have to be repaid, in order to attend college. These students must meet certain financial criteria determined by a formula that the federal government produces in order to obtain Pell eligibility. This formula uses data from the student’s Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and pulls data from the Expected Family Contribution (EFC), cost of attendance at desired school, enrollment status at school, and attendance for a full academic year (U.S. Department of Education, Federal Pell Grant Program, 2012).

Pell Grant Recipient / Count / Percent
Yes / 221 / 66.4%
No / 112 / 33.6%

Out of 333 students, 133 were a part of the LEAP program. These students attended Indiana State during the summer before their first semester in college. These students took an ENG 101 and UNIV 101 course to help prepare for the college environment. They had to pass both courses with a C in order to attend Indiana State in the Fall of 2012.

LEAP / Count / Percent
Yes / 133 / 39.9%
No / 200 / 60.1%

Out of 333 students, 79 were a part of the 21st Century Scholars Program. This is a program for Indiana residents only. Students must sign up prior to attending high school and have qualifying factors such as both parents not earning a college degree. This program pays for tuition for four years at any public institution in the state of Indiana. Students must meet certain milestones of growth and achievement in GPA and credit hours each semester in order to continue to receive the scholarship.

21st Century Scholars / Count / Percent
Yes / 79 / 23.7%
No / 254 / 76.3%

The living environment for the 333 students used in our assessment can be seen in the table below.

Resident Hall / Count / Percent
Blumberg / 66 / 19.8%
Burford / 1 / 0.3%
Cromwell / 59 / 17.7%
Hines / 14 / 4.2%
Jones / 11 / 3.3%
Lincoln Quad / 19 / 5.7%
Mills / 79 / 23.7%
Pickerl / 1 / 0.3%
Rhoads / 45 / 13.5%
Sandison / 10 / 3.0%
Off-campus / 28 / 8.4%
Total / 333 / 100.0%

Procedures

For our assessment all the data has been pulled from ARGOS and BANNER which are the permanent record keeping systems for Indiana State University. All of this data had been uploaded previously and we enlisted the help of Christopher Childs, a Research Analyst in the Office of Student Success, to sort through the data and retrieve the information that we desired. We also utilized data from the Map-Works survey, from the Fall of 2012, again retrieved by Christopher Childs (Office of Student Success, 2013).

Results

Average GPA and Retention

Out of the 333 students analyzed the average GPA’s are as follows:

Fall GPA / Spring GPA / Cumulative GPA
2.098 / 1.88 / 2.02

Out of the 333 students analyzed the following table shows their academic standing at the end of the Fall semester of 2012.

Academic Standing / Count / Percent
Academic Dismissal / 43 / 12.9%
Good Standing / 183 / 55%
Probation / 77 / 23.1%
1st Semester Dismissal / 24 / 7.2%

Out of the 333 students analyzed the following table shows the retention rates of these students from the Fall of 2012 to the Spring of 2013 semester.

Retention / Count / Percent
Retained / 265 / 79.6%
Not Retained / 68 / 20.4%

Out of the 333 students analyzed, the following table shows the retention rates of these students from the Fall of 2012 to the Fall of 2013 semester. Overall, more half of these students (54.4%) were not retained to the Fall of 2013.

Retention / Count / Percent
Retained / 152 / 45.6%
Not Retained / 181 / 54.4%

Ethnicity

Below is the table that details the overall GPA averages by ethnicity that is broken down by Fall 2012, Spring 2013, and cumulative GPA’s. Looking at the cumulative GPA’s, students who chose not to report their ethnicity had the best overall cumulative GPA with a 2.7, followed by Hispanics with a cumulative GPA of 2.18. Overall, the two ethnicities with the lowest cumulative GPA’s include the Asian student with a 1.12 cumulative GPA and Multi Race/Ethnicity students with a 1.69 cumulative GPA.

The GPA’s for the Fall of 2012 and Spring of 2013 can be seen in the table below. When looking at the ethnicities with the most students, Whites and African Americans, the White students had the highest GPA’s each semester and overall. In addition to this data, there was an overall drop in GPA from the Fall of 2012 to the Spring of 2013 for every single ethnicity except for the students who chose not to report their ethnicity.

GPA Averages by Race and Ethnicity
Race/Ethnicity / Fall GPA / Spring GPA / Cumulative GPA
African American / 2.04 / 1.76 / 1.95
Asian / 1.54 / 0.18 / 1.12
Hispanic / 2.28 / 2.04 / 2.18
Multi Race/Ethnicity / 1.76 / 1.72 / 1.69
Not Reported / 2.01 / 2.64 / 2.70
White / 2.18 / 1.98 / 2.11

The table below lists the retention rates from the Fall of 2012 to the Spring of 2013 by ethnicity. Our findings suggest that Hispanics had the highest retention of any ethnic group, retaining 16 out of the 17 students that started. However, African Americans had the lowest retention rate, with only 110 students retuning out 141. The number of students that returned from the Fall of 2012 to the Spring of 2013 can be influenced by many factors including academic dismissal, financial ability to return, transferring out, or choosing to leave college.

Ethnicity * Official Spring 2013 Retention Crosstabulation /
/ OfficialSpringRetention / Total /
Not Retained / Retained /
Ethnicity / Afri / Count / 31 / 110 / 141 /
% within Ethnicity / 22.0% / 78.0% / 100.0% /
% within / 45.6% / 41.5% / 42.3% /
% of Total / 9.3% / 33.0% / 42.3% /
Asian / Count / 0 / 1 / 1 /
% within Ethnicity / .0% / 100.0% / 100.0% /
% within / .0% / .4% / .3% /
% of Total / .0% / .3% / .3% /
Hispanic / Count / 1 / 16 / 17 /
% within Ethnicity / 5.9% / 94.1% / 100.0% /
% within / 1.5% / 6.0% / 5.1% /
% of Total / .3% / 4.8% / 5.1% /
Multi / Count / 7 / 15 / 22 /
% within Ethnicity / 31.8% / 68.2% / 100.0% /
% within / 10.3% / 5.7% / 6.6% /
% of Total / 2.1% / 4.5% / 6.6% /
Not Reported / Count / 0 / 3 / 3 /
% within Ethnicity / .0% / 100.0% / 100.0% /
% within / .0% / 1.1% / .9% /
% of Total / .0% / .9% / .9% /
White / Count / 29 / 120 / 149 /
% within Ethnicity / 19.5% / 80.5% / 100.0% /
% within / 42.6% / 45.3% / 44.7% /
% of Total / 8.7% / 36.0% / 44.7% /
Total / Count / 68 / 265 / 333 /
% within Ethnicity / 20.4% / 79.6% / 100.0% /
% within / 100.0% / 100.0% / 100.0% /
% of Total / 20.4% / 79.6% / 100.0%

Looking at the table below you can see the retention rates from the Spring of 2013 to the Fall of 2013. When looking at the numbers from Fall to Spring, Hispanics retained the most students, however they lost 7/17 students which is a drastic drop from their strong retention the semester prior. Even with this drop, Hispanics still retained the largest percentage of students within their ethnicity. Also, Whites had the biggest decrease in retention from the Spring of 2013 to Fall of 2013, losing an additional 50 students to bring their total to 79 students not retained. Overall both African American and White students were fairly equal in student population at the beginning of Fall 2012 and were found to retain at similar levels to the following Fall semester.

Ethnicity * OfficialFall2013Retention Crosstabulation /
/ OfficialFall2013Retention / Total /
Not Retained / Retained /
Ethnicity / Afri / Count / 75 / 66 / 141 /
% within Ethnicity / 53.2% / 46.8% / 100.0% /
% within / 41.4% / 43.4% / 42.3% /
% of Total / 22.5% / 19.8% / 42.3% /
Asian / Count / 1 / 0 / 1 /
% within Ethnicity / 100.0% / .0% / 100.0% /
% within / .6% / .0% / .3% /
% of Total / .3% / .0% / .3% /
Hispanic / Count / 8 / 9 / 17 /
% within Ethnicity / 47.1% / 52.9% / 100.0% /
% within / 4.4% / 5.9% / 5.1% /
% of Total / 2.4% / 2.7% / 5.1% /
Multi / Count / 16 / 6 / 22 /
% within Ethnicity / 72.7% / 27.3% / 100.0% /
% within / 8.8% / 3.9% / 6.6% /
% of Total / 4.8% / 1.8% / 6.6% /
Not Reported / Count / 2 / 1 / 3 /
% within Ethnicity / 66.7% / 33.3% / 100.0% /
% within / 1.1% / .7% / .9% /
% of Total / .6% / .3% / .9% /
White / Count / 79 / 70 / 149 /
% within Ethnicity / 53.0% / 47.0% / 100.0% /
% within / 43.6% / 46.1% / 44.7% /
% of Total / 23.7% / 21.0% / 44.7% /
Total / Count / 181 / 152 / 333 /
% within Ethnicity / 54.4% / 45.6% / 100.0% /
% within / 100.0% / 100.0% / 100.0% /
% of Total / 54.4% / 45.6% / 100.0%

Of the 333 students in our analysis, 133 of them were a part of the LEAP Program. You can see the distribution of LEAP students by ethnicities in the table below. The percentage of African American to White students is consistent with the overall demographics of the conditionally admitted student population.

LEAP * Ethnicity Crosstabulation /
/ Ethnicity / Total /
African American / Asian / Hispanic / Multi / Not Reported / White /
LEAP / N / Count / 84 / 1 / 9 / 11 / 2 / 93 / 200 /
% within LEAP / 42.0% / .5% / 4.5% / 5.5% / 1.0% / 46.5% / 100.0% /
% within Ethnicity / 59.6% / 100.0% / 52.9% / 50.0% / 66.7% / 62.4% / 60.1% /
% of Total / 25.2% / .3% / 2.7% / 3.3% / .6% / 27.9% / 60.1% /
Y / Count / 57 / 0 / 8 / 11 / 1 / 56 / 133 /
% within LEAP / 42.9% / .0% / 6.0% / 8.3% / .8% / 42.1% / 100.0% /
% within Ethnicity / 40.4% / .0% / 47.1% / 50.0% / 33.3% / 37.6% / 39.9% /
% of Total / 17.1% / .0% / 2.4% / 3.3% / .3% / 16.8% / 39.9% /
Total / Count / 141 / 1 / 17 / 22 / 3 / 149 / 333 /
% within LEAP / 42.3% / .3% / 5.1% / 6.6% / .9% / 44.7% / 100.0% /
% within Ethnicity / 100.0% / 100.0% / 100.0% / 100.0% / 100.0% / 100.0% / 100.0% /
% of Total / 42.3% / .3% / 5.1% / 6.6% / .9% / 44.7% / 100.0%

Of the 333 students we analyzed, 221 are Pell Grand eligible. The table below will show the Pell Grant status broken down by ethnicities. From these results we observe that the majority of Pell Grant receiving students are African American making up for 51.1% of all Pell Grant students. While only half of White students received Pell Grant status, over 88% of Hispanic students received the status.