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A study was conducted to see how the matriculation components of assessment, counseling, and developing a student education plan (SEP) contribute to student persistence. The present research is a replication of a study conducted in 2003 using data from three colleges within one region in California. This study uses the same structure of the previous one but differs in two ways: more colleges throughout the state were asked to supply data (with a total of 26 colleges who were able to participate) and the terms in question were updated to reflect more current data. Though there are other components of matriculation, these three services are intended to help students as they start college. Orientation is also intended to provide information to students at the beginning of their college careers, but in the original study, many colleges provided orientation as a structural part of assessment and could not therefore provide data to distinguish between the two services. This same limitation was used in the present study.
Data Shows Services Improve Persistence
Colleges were asked to provide data for first-time college students in Fall semesters 2001 to 2004 and who indicated a goal of completing a bachelor’s degree, an associate’s degree or a certificate. Data for these students were provided regarding various demographics and whether or not they received assessment, counseling or an SEP. Though an SEP requires contact with a counselor, the interaction was considered to be sufficiently different to warrant it as a separate variable. Information was provided to determine whether the student persisted to the following Spring semester. Seven colleges were excluded from the analysis because the data they provided showed a lack of variability in one or more of the services. The remaining sample of students (n=99,609) showed that 70% (69,687) received assessment, 56% (55,538) received counseling, and 24% (23,370) received an SEP.
Analysis of the data (using logit analysis and hierarchical loglinear analysis) showed that the interaction of the three services had a significant effect on persistence. The chart shows that as students receive services, they are more likely to persist. Students who receive assessment are generally more likely to persist, unless a student has more interaction with a counselor in terms of a counseling contact as well as an SEP. For more information, please contact the author at Daniel.Martinez@rcc.edu.
Figure 1: Effect of Matriculation on Persistence of First-time College Students, Fall Cohorts 2001 to 2004
Notes:
AN = No Assessment; AY = Assessment
CN = No Counseling; CY = Counseling
SN = No SEP; SY = SEP
Larger copy of Figure 1
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