Relationships Between Student Characteristics, Academic Advising and College Student Success

• Main Author: Fricker, Timothy Stephen
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 01.01.2021
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Data Analysis; Educational Objectives; Factor Analysis; Goodness of Fit; Higher education; Learner Engagement; Literature Reviews; Research Methodology; Secondary Education; Student Experience; Student Participation
• ISBN: 9798496550994

This dissertation is about the student success problem: institutional retention rates have remained low for decades and clear evidence about why and how to support more students to persist and graduate is elusive. In Canada, and within Ontario Colleges specifically, there is a dearth of research on this topic. Performance-based funding and the global pandemic has increased the need to improve these outcomes. The three studies that comprise this dissertation investigate the relationships between the characteristics of students at the time they enter college, participation in academic advising, and student success. In the first study, an integrated literature review method was used to analyze two decades of peer-reviewed research related to five constructs – program fit, career clarity, academic self-efficacy, educational commitment, and friend and family support – and the relationships with both advising and student success. Results showed positive relationships. New working definitions for each construct were developed. The second and third studies used a unique administrative dataset from Mohawk College. In the second study, a series of factor analyses identified three latent variables – Career and Program Clarity, Friend and Family Support, and Positive Academic Attitudes – within the Mohawk College student entrance survey. The latent variable measurement model was used as the foundation of a structural equation model (SEM) as part of the third study to analyze the relationships between the latent variables, advising participation, and student success. The SEM did not produce an acceptable fit or find any significant relationships. The concluding chapter used an integrated discussion method to summarize the overall findings. The contributions to the literature include an example of unique methods; new findings related to student success; and evidence of the practical use of college administrative data. Seven implications and next steps for researchers, practitioners and leaders are identified: improving institutional data collection practices; more focused evaluation of academic advising; purposeful outreach to students who do not engage early in admissions or transition processes; continued efforts to work with students to (re)define student success; new investments in research infrastructure; stronger emphasis on good research methods; and new campus commitments to relationship rich education.