Understanding Student Development Tasks Related to Sophomores and Their Academic Success

Understanding Student Development Tasks Related to Sophomores and Their Academic Success PDF Author: Michael Thayer D'Arcangelo
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
ABSTRACTHistorically, retaining students and maximizing their academic achievement has been a challenge for administrators in American colleges and universities. Since the mid-twentieth century, the sophomore year has increasingly been suspected of being a gateway to declining grades, decreased morale, and increased attrition amongcollege students. During the twenty-first century, this dynamic has worsened, in part due to the national movement of freshman year experience programs which has deferred students' attrition and achievement issues to the sophomore year; there is also conjecture that these trends may be amplified or altered by the shifting demographicsin the composition of students attending college, with notable increases among women and Students of Color. Regardless, there has been little research conducted regarding the sophomore year experience, and how it differs from the experiences of students enrolled in other years in school, especially for students of different genders or races. This study examined the sophomore year experience through the lens of the student development theory, identified as tasks. Additionally, the study examined if student development tasks could predict academic achievement of sophomores as compared to underclass and upperclass students regarding cumulative grade point averages, both immediate andlong-term. Finally, the study was intended to identify which student development tasks could predict retention of sophomores. In this study, an institutional sample of 469 students was solicited from a large university in the northeastern United States. The randomly selected sample completed a web-based instrument, The Student Developmental Task and Lifestyle Assessment, to assess levels of behaviors and attitudes associated with student development tasks; data was then grouped according to students' year in school, race, and gender. Using a number of statistical analysis (Multivariate analysis, Regression analysis, Univariate analysis, and Same sample/group t-test analysis), the connectivity among the variables, and extent of their influence were determined. Several important findings emerged. Most importantly, clear developmental differences, as defined by the SDTLA, constitute a sophomore year experience and syndrome, different from the experiences of freshmen, junior and senior years. This is based in part on a decline in engagement in Cultural Participation during the sophomore year, as compared to the freshman year. Additionally, six interrelated developmental tasks form two behavioral clusters related to autonomy and relationships; these can sometimes exist in mutual conflict, leading students to make forced choices wherefulfillment of one developmental task occurs at the expense of another. Furthermore, the significant tasks and subtasks of the sophomore year flat-line (from the freshman year) leading to a sense of stagnation where forward momentum may feel compromised in comparison to the freshman year. It is also important to note that student development tasks served as predictors of academic achievement for sophomores, as it did somewhat consistently for other students groups, usually involving the subtasks, Academic Autonomy and a set of interchangeable variables regarding relationships. These results mirrored and re-enforced the effects of tasks and subtasks associated with the sophomores' profile of engagement. Together, these elements and the sophomore profile of engagement mirrored a low-grade malaise often identified as the sophomore slump or syndrome. Finally, groupings of other students demonstrated that the sophomores' profiles of engagement most likely vary, particularly by race, and gender, although these differences are not unique to sophomore students only. The implications of this study are discussed, focusing on student affairs-led interdepartmental and intentional programming initiatives, sophomore year learning communities, a sophomore curriculum focused on Intergroup Dialogue, and sophomore developmental advising. In sum, this study contributes to the previously referenced and limited literature addressing the sophomore year experience, as an issue for higher education administrators today.

Understanding Student Development Tasks Related to Sophomores and Their Academic Success

Understanding Student Development Tasks Related to Sophomores and Their Academic Success PDF Author: Michael Thayer D'Arcangelo
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 288

Get Book Here

Book Description
ABSTRACTHistorically, retaining students and maximizing their academic achievement has been a challenge for administrators in American colleges and universities. Since the mid-twentieth century, the sophomore year has increasingly been suspected of being a gateway to declining grades, decreased morale, and increased attrition amongcollege students. During the twenty-first century, this dynamic has worsened, in part due to the national movement of freshman year experience programs which has deferred students' attrition and achievement issues to the sophomore year; there is also conjecture that these trends may be amplified or altered by the shifting demographicsin the composition of students attending college, with notable increases among women and Students of Color. Regardless, there has been little research conducted regarding the sophomore year experience, and how it differs from the experiences of students enrolled in other years in school, especially for students of different genders or races. This study examined the sophomore year experience through the lens of the student development theory, identified as tasks. Additionally, the study examined if student development tasks could predict academic achievement of sophomores as compared to underclass and upperclass students regarding cumulative grade point averages, both immediate andlong-term. Finally, the study was intended to identify which student development tasks could predict retention of sophomores. In this study, an institutional sample of 469 students was solicited from a large university in the northeastern United States. The randomly selected sample completed a web-based instrument, The Student Developmental Task and Lifestyle Assessment, to assess levels of behaviors and attitudes associated with student development tasks; data was then grouped according to students' year in school, race, and gender. Using a number of statistical analysis (Multivariate analysis, Regression analysis, Univariate analysis, and Same sample/group t-test analysis), the connectivity among the variables, and extent of their influence were determined. Several important findings emerged. Most importantly, clear developmental differences, as defined by the SDTLA, constitute a sophomore year experience and syndrome, different from the experiences of freshmen, junior and senior years. This is based in part on a decline in engagement in Cultural Participation during the sophomore year, as compared to the freshman year. Additionally, six interrelated developmental tasks form two behavioral clusters related to autonomy and relationships; these can sometimes exist in mutual conflict, leading students to make forced choices wherefulfillment of one developmental task occurs at the expense of another. Furthermore, the significant tasks and subtasks of the sophomore year flat-line (from the freshman year) leading to a sense of stagnation where forward momentum may feel compromised in comparison to the freshman year. It is also important to note that student development tasks served as predictors of academic achievement for sophomores, as it did somewhat consistently for other students groups, usually involving the subtasks, Academic Autonomy and a set of interchangeable variables regarding relationships. These results mirrored and re-enforced the effects of tasks and subtasks associated with the sophomores' profile of engagement. Together, these elements and the sophomore profile of engagement mirrored a low-grade malaise often identified as the sophomore slump or syndrome. Finally, groupings of other students demonstrated that the sophomores' profiles of engagement most likely vary, particularly by race, and gender, although these differences are not unique to sophomore students only. The implications of this study are discussed, focusing on student affairs-led interdepartmental and intentional programming initiatives, sophomore year learning communities, a sophomore curriculum focused on Intergroup Dialogue, and sophomore developmental advising. In sum, this study contributes to the previously referenced and limited literature addressing the sophomore year experience, as an issue for higher education administrators today.

Helping Sophomores Succeed

Helping Sophomores Succeed PDF Author: Mary Stuart Hunter
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 047053852X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 337

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Book Description
Helping Sophomores Succeed offers an in-depth, comprehensive understanding of the common challenges that arise in a student's second year of college. Sponsored by the University of South Carolina's National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience® and Students in Transition, this groundbreaking book offers an examination of second-year student success and satisfaction using both quantitative and qualitative measures from national research findings. Helping Sophomores Succeed serves as a foundation for designing programs and services for the second-year student population that will help to promote retention, academic and career development, and personal transition and growth. Praise for Helping Sophomores Succeed "Lost, lonely, stressed, pressured, unsupported, frequently indecisive, and invisible, many sophomores fall off the radar of campus educators at a time when they may most be seeking purpose, meaning, direction, intellectual challenge, and intellectual capacity building. The fine scholars who focused educators on the first-year and senior transitions have done it again?a magnificent book to focus on the sophomore year!" ?Susan R. Komives, College Student Personnel Program, University of Maryland "For years, student-centered institutions have front-loaded resources to promote student success in the first college year. This volume is rich with instructive ideas for how to sustain this important work in the second year of college." ?George D. Kuh, Chancellor's Professor and director, Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research "A pioneering work, this brilliant text explores in practical and meaningful ways the all but neglected sophomore-year experience, when students face critical choices about their major, their profession, their life purpose." ?Betty L. Siegel, president emeritus, Kennesaw State University? "All members of the campus community?faculty, student affairs educators, staff, and students?will benefit from learning about the unique challenges of the second college year. The book provides research and best practices to help educators and students craft an integrated, comprehensive approach to helping second-year students succeed." ?Marcia Baxter Magolda, distinguished professor, Educational Leadership, Miami University The National Resource Center for The First-Year Experience® and Students in Transition supports and advances efforts to improve student learning and transitions into and through higher education by providing opportunities for the exchange of practical, theory-based information and ideas.

College Student Development

College Student Development PDF Author: Wendy K. Killam, PhD, NCC, CRC, LPC
Publisher: Springer Publishing Company
ISBN: 082611816X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 267

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Book Description
Prepares readers to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse college student population This is a timely and comprehensive overview of key theories of student development that illustrates their application across a range of student services with diverse student populations. It is distinguished by its focus on nontraditional student populations including adults changing careers, parents, veterans, and international students. The book examines relevant theories of cognitive, ethical, moral, and personality development and theories of identity development in terms of ethnicity, gender, and ability. Also covered are theories relevant to disability issues, LGBT identity issues, and to choice of career and major/degree. Unique to the text is information on how theories can be applied, beyond understanding individual students, to student groups and to guide the coordination of student affairs services across the campus. Engaging case vignettes immerse readers in diverse perspectives and demonstrate the application of theory to a wide range of student types and issues. The book covers the history and development of each theory along with its strengths and limitations. Also included are useful suggestions on how to best assist students with current challenges. Reflective questions concluding each chapter help students to reinforce information. An insightful text for courses in college student development in relevant graduate programs and for student affairs professionals who wish to enhance their abilities, this book reflects the realities of contemporary college student life and student affairs practices. Key Features: Applies student development theories primarily to non-traditional college students Presents chapter-opening/closing examples reflecting student diversity Explores the strengths and limitations of each theory Describes how theories can be applied in varied student affairs settings and in broader contexts of student affairs Includes instructor’s resources

Student Development Theory in Higher Education

Student Development Theory in Higher Education PDF Author: Terrell L. Strayhorn
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135045054
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 198

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Book Description
Moving beyond the theories traditionally used to describe college student development, this engaging book introduces social psychological theories that address the most relevant issues in higher education today. Covering theories of ecological systems, sense of belonging, prejudice and discrimination, positive psychology, social capital, personality theory, mentoring, and hope theory, this book promotes the understanding and application of social psychological theories to various higher education contexts. Examples from diverse student populations encourage learners’ application to situations in their own contexts. Comprehensive enough to be used as a main text but accessible enough to be used alongside another, this important textbook bridges research, theory, and practice to help practicing and aspiring higher education and student affairs professionals effectively work with college students. Special Features Include: • Reflective exercises that combine theory and practice and help students apply their knowledge solving problems. • Case studies and scenarios for further connections to the reader’s university and college settings. • Guiding questions that encourage students to think beyond the current literature and practice. • List of further readings and references for readers to explore topics in more depth.

Student Development in College

Student Development in College PDF Author: Nancy J. Evans
Publisher: Jossey-Bass
ISBN: 0470557109
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 480

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Book Description
The second edition of Student Development in College will help student affairs practitioners understand the developmental challenges facing today's college students. It will provide scholars with a comprehensive and inclusive overview of the most important student development theories and related research, including new approaches with which they may not be familiar, particularly related to social identity development. Most importantly, it will assist student affairs professionals in designing individual, group, and institutional approaches to work more effectively with students at various developmental levels and to facilitate student growth. This second edition includes the "foundational theories" of student development found in the first edition, but also offers newer integrative social identity theories that look at student development in a more holistic way. These theories are critical for understanding the diverse student populations of the twenty-first century. TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface Part One: Understanding and Using Student Development Theory Part Two: Foundational Theories Part Three: Integrative Theories Part Four: Social Identity Development References

Cultivating Student Success

Cultivating Student Success PDF Author: Tisha A. Duncan
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0197586694
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 153

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Book Description
Higher education in the United States is facing a critical juncture. Tuition costs are rising, while measures of success are declining. Students struggle to meet the most basic academic requirements, barely passing their courses, while others battle physical and mental health difficulties that profoundly impact their ability to do well in college. This book responds to these challenges, offering a holistic collection of practices to guide those working with emerging adults in higher education. Beginning with an introduction to the developmental period of emerging adulthood, the volume examines how the social and emotional development of emerging adults is relevant to struggles and successes in higher education. Subsequent chapters focus on how technology has impacted on learning and communication for today's students and how faculty and staff can best work with students through meaningful relationships. Consisting of chapters from experts in a variety of disciplines, the volume provides faculty, administrators, and staff with the knowledge and skills needed to help today's students succeed.

Ready, Willing, and Able

Ready, Willing, and Able PDF Author: Mandy Savitz-Romer
Publisher: Harvard Education Press
ISBN: 1612502652
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
How can an understanding of adolescent development inform strategies and practices for supporting first-generation college goers? In Ready, Willing, and Able, Mandy Savitz-Romer and Suzanne Bouffard focus on the developmental tasks and competencies that young people need to develop in order to plan for and succeed in higher education. These include identity development, articulating aspirations and expectations, forming and maintaining strong peer and adult relationships, motivation and goal-setting, and self-regulatory skills, such as planning. The authors challenge the predominant approach of giving young people information and leaving it to them to figure out how to apply it. They show how well-intended college-access efforts can miss the mark—for instance, by focusing on students who already see themselves as college material, rather than working to help all students develop a “college-going identity.” In addition, most college-access programs and practices focus almost exclusively on providing academic preparation and financial support. In Ready, Willing, and Able, Savitz-Romer and Bouffard call for a new approach: one that emphasizes the key developmental tasks and processes of adolescence and integrates them into existing college-access practices in meaningful ways. Rather than treating young people as passive recipients of services, they argue, adults can engage them as active agents in the construction of their own futures.

Square Pegs and Round Holes

Square Pegs and Round Holes PDF Author: Fred A. Bonner II
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000977714
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
Developing alternative student development frameworks and models, this groundbreaking book provides student affairs practitioners, as well as faculty, with illuminating perspectives and viable approaches for understanding the development of today’s diverse student populations, and for building the foundation for their academic success and self-authorship. With the increasing number of adult working students, minoritized, multiracial, LGTBQ, and first-generation students, this book offers readers vital insights into –and ways to interrogate– existing practice, and develop relevant responses to the needs of these populations.Building on and critiquing the past frameworks, and integrating the insights of contemporary scholarship on student development, the contributors collectively put forward a robust theoretical and methodological foundation for this work, using Critical Race Theory as their central frame. CRT allows chapter authors to situate race related encounters at the center of their proposed alternative framework or model, and deconstruct and challenge commonly held assumptions about diverse college student development. In the tradition of CRT, each author offers an alternative model or framework that can be applied to the diverse population upon which the chapter is framed, prompting readers to address such questions as:• Who are our college students?• What set of experiences do our students bring to the higher education context? • What role have their environments/contexts (i.e. home, p-12, community, family, peer groups, mentors) played in our student’s lives? • What impact have intervening variables (i.e. race, oppression, power) hadon their experiences?• What strategies do they use to overcome developmental obstacles?• How do they define success, and how they know they have achieved it ?By laying bare the experiences of these diverse college students that inform this volume’s “alternative” frameworks this book contests that notion that they constitute square pegs that must fit into the round holes of traditional frameworks.

First-Generation College Students

First-Generation College Students PDF Author: Lee Ward
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1118233956
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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Book Description
FIRST-GENERATION COLLEGE STUDENTS "...a concise, manageable, lucid summary of the best scholarship, practices, and future-oriented thinking about how to effectively recruit, educate, develop, retain, and ultimately graduate first-generation students." from the foreword by JOHN N. GARDNER First-generation students are frequently marginalized on their campuses, treated with benign disregard, and placed at a competitive disadvantage because of their invisibility. While they include 51% of all undergraduates, or approximately 9.3 million students, they are less likely than their peers to earn degrees. Among students enrolled in two-year institutions, they are significantly less likely to persist into a second year. First-Generation College Students offers academic leaders and student affairs professionals a guide for understanding the special challenges and common barriers these students face and provides the necessary strategies for helping them transition through and graduate from their chosen institutions. Based in solid research, the authors describe best practices and include suggestions and techniques that can help leaders design and implement effective curricula, out-of-class learning experiences, and student support services, as well as develop strategic plans that address issues sure to arise in the future. The authors offer an analysis of first-generation student expectations for college life and academics and examine the powerful role cultural capital plays in shaping their experiences and socialization. Providing a template for other campuses, the book highlights programmatic initiatives at colleges around the county that effectively serve first-generation students and create a powerful learning environment for their success. First-Generation College Students provides a much-needed portrait of the cognitive, developmental, and social factors that affect the college-going experiences and retention rates of this growing population of college students.

How College Students Succeed

How College Students Succeed PDF Author: Nicholas A. Bowman
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000977013
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
Receiving a college education has perhaps never been more important than it is today. While its personal, societal, and overall economic benefits are well documented, too many college students fail to complete their postsecondary education. As colleges and universities are investing substantial resources into efforts to counter these attrition rates and increase retention, they are mostly unaware of the robust literature on student success that is often bounded in disciplinary silos. The purpose of this book is to bring together in a single volume the extensive knowledge on college student success. It includes seven chapters from authors who each synthesize the literature from their own field of study, or perspective. Each describes the theories, models, and concepts they use; summarizes the key findings from their research; and provides implications for practice, policy, and/or research. The disciplinary chapters offer perspectives from higher education, public policy, behavioral economics, social psychology, STEM, sociology, and critical and post-structural theory.