The Influence of Term Length on Student Success

This document describes a study of term length and student success at Santa Monica College in California. Based on past feedback and enrollment data, the college had determined that the compressed sessions (6week, 8week) offered at the college, in addition to the regular 16-week semester, were popul...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors Geltner, Peter, Logan, Ruth
Format Report
LanguageEnglish
Published 20.04.2001
Subjects
Academic Achievement
Community Colleges
Comparative Analysis
Enrollment
Santa Monica College CA
Student Attitudes
Two Year Colleges
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Summary:This document describes a study of term length and student success at Santa Monica College in California. Based on past feedback and enrollment data, the college had determined that the compressed sessions (6week, 8week) offered at the college, in addition to the regular 16-week semester, were popular with both students and faculty. This study sought to determine the relationship between compressed courses and student success, which is defined as earning an A, B, C or Cr in a course. A total of 414,076 student enrollments in term lengths of 6, 8, and 16-week courses were studied, covering the period between fall 1998 and winter 2001, of which 77% were 16 week enrollments, 17% 6-week enrollments and 6% 8-week enrollments. Overall, the study found that students have higher success rates in the shorter-term courses as well as higher average grades and lower withdrawal rates with 6-week courses than 8-week courses, and both had better success rates than 16-week courses. This result held for all ability levels, but there was some evidence that for certain disciplines and courses the shorter-term courses did not work as well. Includes details by ethnicity, age, goals and GPAs of the students, as well as information by discipline. (LD)