Student-Professor Learning Communities: Assessment of a Program to Improve
Student Performance and Increase Retention*
20th Anniversary Meeting of International FYE Conference July 10, 2007 Hawaii
Clifford Gardiner, Augusta State University, Augusta, Georgia USA
[email protected]
This poster session presents the results of an assessment of an ongoing program at a small state university.
In this program, freshmen college students volunteer to join learning communities that link a first-year
seminar course with a core curriculum course. The distinguishing feature of this program is that the
professor teaching the freshman seminar joins the students in taking the core curriculum course.
The first-year seminar at Augusta State University functions as one of the institution’s most important
initiatives to address the problem of the many underprepared students who matriculate as freshmen and as
transfer students. Implicit in this initiative is the objective to increase the rate of student retention and
graduation.
Categorized as a “less selective” four-year university, Augusta State University has a six-year retention and
graduation rates of 17.7% and 18.2%, respectively (fall 2001 first-time freshmen cohort), far below the
average range of similarly situated state university system schools (35-38%).
The learning communities program at ASU has been in operation since 2001. The key features are
summarized below:
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freshman seminar instructor becomes a fellow student in the core curriculum course, completing
regular assignments, taking quizzes and tests, etc.
instructor models the process of being a student in real time, as a fellow learner
at first (2001-2003), limited to a homogeneous group of nontraditional freshmen (more successful
performance outcomes, but limited in size)
later (2005 ff.), LC’s were opened to traditional and nontraditional freshmen (retention and
graduation data in early stages)
students take two courses together: the freshman seminar and a core curriculum course (thus far,
American History, Introductory Psychology, Introductory Sociology)
provides an authentic, meaningful context for the study skills component of the freshman seminar;
missing in stand-alone FYE courses where there is no shared experience outside the FYE seminar
Descriptive statistical data (see Table 1) show that the students in nontraditional freshmen learning
communities outperformed the general freshmen population in the following areas:
 Retention rates in all years 1-6
 Graduation rates for 5th and 6th years
Mean institutional GPA for retained students in these groups thus far have been higher than those in the
mixed-cohort groups. While definitive statistical comparisons have not yet been complete, a record of
high achievement in terms of grade point average is clear among students who enrolled in the
homogeneous nontraditional LC’s.
Results for mixed-cohort groups do not yet have sufficient history to draw many conclusions (see Table 2).
Sources of statistical assistance have recently been identified. Future analyses will compare outcomes with
groups appropriately matched in terms of student classification, admission type, and ability levels and
allow for tests of significant differences.
*Posters were prepared for this presentation. To receive an electronic copy of the posters (the file is
in Microsoft Publisher), please send request to presenter at [email protected].
Table 1. Retention Table Student/Professor Learning Communities
Homogeneous Nontraditional Groups
Students Who Earned C or Above in Academic Orientation Course
Nontraditional Freshmen
cohorts
Fall 2001
N active (%)
N graduated (%)
Mean GPA
Spring 2002
N active (%)
N graduated (%)
Mean GPA
Fall 2002
N active (%)
N graduated (%)
Mean GPA
Spring 2003
N active (%)
N graduated (%)
Mean GPA
paired
course
HIST2112
# who earned a, b, or c
IN Asuo 1000
1yr
ret
2yr
ret
3yr
ret
4yr
ret
5yr
ret
6yr
ret
12 (100%)
11 (92%)
11 (92%)
3.11
3.07
5 (42%)
3 (25%)
3.03
5 (42%)
3 (25%)
3.09
4 (33%)
4 (33%)
3.17
2 (17%)
5 (42%)
3.20
8 (73%)
6 (55%)
2 (18%)
2.49
2.80
2.69
1 (9%)
1 (9%)
2.70
1 (9%)
1 (9%)
2.69
1 (9%)
1 (9%)
2.81
5 (100%)
5 (100%)
2.93
3 (60%)
2.55
1 (20%)
3.69
1 (20%)
3.78
1 (20%)
3.83
4 (100%)
4 (100%)
3 (75%)
3 (75%)
2 (50%)
3.29
28 (88%)
Retained
2.93
Mean GPA
3.61
23 (72%)
Retained
2.97
Mean GPA
3.69
14 (44%)
Retained
3.17
Mean GPA
3.86
13 (41%)
Retained
3.20
Mean GPA
1 (25%)
1 (25%)
3.89
13 (41%)
Retained
3.26
Mean GPA
PSYC1101
11 (100%)
PSYC1101
PSYC1101
32 students
Cohort Totals
9 (32%)
Retained
3.11
Mean GPA
Retention and graduation rates exceed those for first-time freshmen of same matriculation year(s). It should be noted, however, that appropriate control groups would be matched in terms of nontraditional status, measures of
ability such as SAT/ACT scores or predicted college grade point average, and demographic representation. Comparisons with such control groups could vary from the reported data.
That limitation being acknowledged, the encouraging data might be accounted for, at least in part, by any of the following factors relating to the academic orientation class:
Very small ASUO 1000 classes—resulting, perhaps, in a more cohesive sense of community and more personal attention to each student.
Grade distribution for Instructor # 1 (instructor held constant across all homogenous nontraditional student LC’s) was closer to normal; grade distribution for Instuctor # 2 (held constant across all mixed-cohort LC’s) were
skewed to the higher grade range. Thus, these students faced a higher degree of academic challenge, reflected in a higher withdrawal rate in these classes as compared to the withdrawal rate in Instructor # 2’s classes.
ASUO instructor emphasized the following pedagogical approaches:
- Established expectation among students that they would be quizzed regularly over assigned readings. Result: high degree of compliance in completing reading assignments.
- In theory, this helps breaks the cycle of dependency (“learned helplessness”) so common among underprepared freshmen.
- Creates a sense of self-reliance and confidence in students, who quickly come to understand that they can digest much of what they are assigned to read in all their classes.
- Less class time spent in the ASUO class on orientation to campus services and policies in these LC’s. Heavy concentration on study skills, contextualized primarily in the paired core curriculum course.
On average, students in these LC’s reported spending more time studying outside of class, in both the ASUO course and the paired core curriculum course, than did students in the mixed-cohort LC’s.
Mean institutional GPA for retained students in these groups thus far have been higher than those in the mixed-cohort groups. While definitive statistical comparisons have not yet been completed, there appears to be a clear
record of high achievement in terms of grade point average, year-to-year retention rate, and graduation rates (five– and six-year rates).
Table 2. Retention Table Student/Professor Learning Communities
Mixed Cohorts: Groups with Traditional and Nontraditional Students
Students Who Earned C or Above in Academic Orientation Course
tRADITIONAL AND
Nontraditional Freshmen
COHORTS
Spring ‘05
N active (%)
N graduated (%)
Mean GPA
Fall ‘05
N active (%)
N graduated (%)
Mean GPA
Fall ‘06
N active (%)
N graduated (%)
Mean GPA
Cohort Totals
paired
course
# who earned a, b,
or c
IN Asuo 1000
1yr
ret
2yr
ret
3yr
ret
14 (100%)
13 (92%)
6 (46%)
4 (31%)
2.04
2.69
2.86
11 (55%)
2 (18%)
2.64
2.69
17/50%
Retained
2.65 mGPA
4 (31%)
Retained
2.86 mGPA
4yr
ret
5yr
ret
6yr
ret
PSYC1101
SOCI1101
20 (100%)
20(100%)
2.23
PSYC1101
22 (100%)
22(100%)
2.25
55 students
55/98%
Retained
2.65 mGPA
Discussion
A number of factors might have contributed to the differences in retention rates and mean grade point average of the mixed cohorts. Among them:
Differences between these populations and comparison groups. Future analyses are planned which will compare all cohort classes with appropriately matched control groups.
Academic orientation classes much larger than those in homogeneous nontraditional communities—resulting, perhaps, in a less cohesive sense of community.
Very high one-year retention rates may fall substantially in successive years. Notable in this connection: much lower student withdrawal rate than that in Instructor # 1’s classes
means, perhaps, that more weaker students survived the first year than in Instructor #1’s freshmen seminar classes.
Different collaborators. None of the instructors for the paired core courses were the same as those who collaborated with Instructor #1. Experiential differences in paired courses
undoubtedly affect the student’s experience in the learning community.
Different pedagogical approaches than those used by instructor in homogeneous cohorts of nontraditional students.