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Relationships between selected teacher characteristics and student withdrawal from community college political science courses

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Relationships between selected teacher characteristics and student withdrawal from community college political science courses

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Content RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN SELECTED TEACHER CHARACTERISTICS AND STUDENT WITHDRAWAL FROM COMMUNITY COLLEGE POLITICAL SCIENCE COURSES by Je rry M oreno Brown A D issertation P resented to the FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In P artial Fulfillm ent of the R equirem ents for the D egree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (Education) June 1973 INFORMATION TO USERS This material was producad from a microfilm copy of the original document. While the most advanced technological means to photograph and reproduce this document have been used, the quality is heavily dependent upon the quality of the original submitted. The following explanation of techniques is provided to help you understand markings or patterns which may appear on this reproduction. 1. The sign or "target" for pages apparently lacking from the document photographed is "Missing Pagsls}". If it was possible to obtain the missing page(s) or section, they are spliced into the film along with adjacent pages. This may have necessitated cutting thru an image and duplicating adjacent pages to insure you complete continuity. 2. When an image on the film is obliterated with a large round black mark, it is an indication that the photographer suspected that the copy may have moved during exposure and thus cause a blurred image. You will find a good image of the paga in the adjacent frame. 3. Whan a map, drawing or chart, etc., was port of the material being photographed the photographer followed a definite method in "sectioning" the material. It is customary to begin photoing at the upper left hand corner of a large sheet and to continue photoing from left to right in equal sections with a small overlap. If necessary, sectioning is continued again - beginning below the first row and continuing on until complete. 4. The majority of users indicate that the textual content is of greatest value, however, a somewhat higher quality reproduction could be made from "photographs" if essential to the understanding of the dissertation. Silver prints of "photographs" may be ordered at additional charge by writing the Order Department, giving the catalog number, title, author and specific pages you wish reproduced. 5. PLEASE NOTE: Some pages may have indistinct print. Filmed as received. Xerox University Microfilms 300 N orth Z **b R ood Ann Arbor, Michigan 43106 • f I I 73-31,328 B R O W N , J e rry M oreno, 1938- RELATIONSHIPS B E T W E E N SELBCTED T E A C H E R CHARACTERISTICS A N D S T U D E N T W T H D R A M A L F R C M CCMUNITY C O L L B G E POLITICAL SCIENCE COURSES. U n iv e rsity o f Southern C a lifo rn ia , Ph.D., 1973 E d u catio n , h ig h er University Microfilms, A X E R O X Company , Ann Arbor, Michigan C op yrigh t by J e r r y Moreno Brown 1973 THIS DISSERTATION HAS BEEN MICROFILMED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED. UNIVERSITY O F SO U TH ER N CALIFORNIA TH E QRADUATE SC H O O L UN IVERSITY H R K LO S A N O ELES. C A L IFO R N IA S 0 0 0 7 This dissertation, written by under the direction of Ala.... Dissertation Com mittee, and approved by all its members, has been presented to and accepted by The Graduate School, tn partial fulfillment of requirements of the degree of JERRY MORENO BROWN D O C T O R OF P H IL O S O P H Y Dale.... DISSERTATION COM MITTEE TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................ iv C hapter I. IN TROD UCTION.............................................................. I Background of the Problem Problem Situation Purpose of the Study Assum ptions T heoretical F ram ew ork Im portance of the Study Definitions of T erm s D elim itations of the Study Lim itations of the Study O rganization of the R em ainder of the Study C hapter Sum m ary II. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ............................. 13 Introduction National Surveys Academ ic F acto rs Biological F acto rs Socioeconomic F acto rs M otivation and Goal O rientation Persona ilty Institutional F acto rs T each er C h ara cteristic s C hapter Sum m ary III. METHODS AND PROCEDURES.................................... 38 The R esearch Design The R esearch Hypotheses ii Chapter Page Selection of Subjects Instrum entation and Data C ollection Data Processing and T reatm en t of the Raw Data S tatistical T reatm ent of the Refined Data C hapter Sum mary IV. FINDINGS.................................................................................. 49 C om parison of F allrS pring W ithdrawal Rate T est of Hypotheses D iscussion of Findings C hapter Sum m ary V. SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOM MENDATIONS .................................................................... 81 Sum m ary Conclusions Recom m endations BIBLIOGRAPHY......................................................................................... 97 A PPEN D IX ...................................................................................................... 105 lil LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. A nalysis of the D ifference Between Mean W ithdrawal Rate for F all, 1967, and Spring, 1968 ........................... 50 2. Frequency of W ithdrawal V ersus P ersisten ce of Community College Students During the F all S em ester, 1967, R elative to C lasses C ategorized by the G rading P attern of the I n s t r u c to r s .................... 52 3. Frequency of W ithdrawal V ersus P ersisten cy of Community College Students During the Spring S em ester, 1968, R elative to C lasses C ategorized by the G rading P attern of the I n s tr u c to r s .................... 53 4. Combined Frequency of W ithdrawal V ersus P ersisten ce of Community College Students During the F all, 1967, and Spring, 1968, S em esters, R elative to C lasses C ategorized by the G rading P attern of the I n s t r u c t o r s ................................................... 54 5. F requency of W ithdrawal V ersus P ersisten ce of Community C ollege Students During the F all S em ester, 1967, R elative to C lasses C ategorized by Age of the In stru c to rs .................................................. 56 6. F requency of W ithdrawal V ersus P ersisten ce of Community College Students During the Spring S em ester, 1968, R elative to C lasses C ategorized by Age of the In stru c to rs .................................................. 57 7. Frequency of W ithdrawal V ersus P ersisten ce of Community College Students During the F all S em ester, 1967, and Spring S em ester, 1968, R elative to C lasses C ategorized by Age of the I n s tr u c to r s ................................ 58 iv F requency of W ithdrawal V ersus P ersisten ce of Community College Students During the F all S em ester, 1967, R elative to C lasses C ategorized by the D egree Level of the In stru c to rs . ............... F requency erf W ithdrawal V ersus P ersisten ce of Com munity College Students During the Spring S em ester, 1968, R elative to C lasses C ategorized by the D egree Level of the In stru c to rs ..................... F requency of W ithdrawal V ersus P ersisten ce of Community College Students D uring the F all S em ester, 1967, and Spring S em ester, 1968, R elative to C lasses C ategorized by the D egree Level of the I n s t r u c t o r s .................. * ................. . . , . Frequency of W ithdrawal V ersus P e rsisten ce of Community College Students During the F all S em ester, 1967, R elative to C lasses C ategorized by the Subject M atter A rea of In stru c to rs' Highest D e g r e e s ................................................................. Frequency of W ithdrawal V ersus P ersisten ce of Community College Students During the Spring S em ester, 1968, R elative to C lasses C ategorized by the Subject M atter A rea of In stru c to rs’ Highest D egrees ................................................................................ F requency of W ithdrawal V ersus P ersisten ce of Community College Students D uring the F all S em ester, 1967, and Spring S em ester, 1968, R elative to C lasses C ategorized by the Subject M atter A rea of the In stru c to rs’ Highest D egrees F requency of W ithdrawal V ersus P ersisten ce of Community College Students During the F all S em ester, 1967, R elative to C lasses C ategorized by the Y ears of Secondary School Teaching E xperience of the In stru c to rs ...................................... Frequency of W ithdrawal V ersus P ersisten ce of Community C ollege Students During the Spring S em ester, 1968, R elative to C lasses C ategorized by the Y ears of Secondary School T eaching E xperience of the In stru cto rs .................................................................. Frequency of W ithdrawal V ersus P ersisten ce of Community College Students During the F all S em ester, 1967, and Spring S em ester, 1968, R elative to C lasses C ategorized by the Y ears of Secondary School T eaching E xperience of the In stru cto rs ............................................................................. Frequency of W ithdrawal V ersus P ersisten ce of Com munity C ollege Students During the F all S em ester, 1967, R elative to C lasses C ategorized by the In stru c to rs' Y ears of C ollege Teaching E xperience .............................................................................. F requency of W ithdrawal V ersus P ersisten ce of Com munity C ollege Students During the Spring S em ester, 1968, R elative to C lasses C ategorized by the In stru c to rs' Y ears of College Teaching E xperience .............................................................................. F requency of W ithdrawal V ersu s P ersisten ce of Com m unity C ollege Students During the F all S em ester, 1967, and Spring S em ester, 1968, R elative to C lasses C ategorized by the Instructors* Y ears of C ollege Teaching E xperience ........................ CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Background of the Problem The problem of student attritio n In A m erican higher education Is not a new phenomenon. D espite the extensive changes which have taken place in society and in higher education during the last q u arte r of a century, the a ttritio n ra te In fo u r-y e a r institutions has rem ained alarm ingly stable at approxim ately 40 per cent (55). At the com m unity college level, attritio n during the firs t year of attendance is very high; and tw o-thirds of the students in tra n sfe r pro g ram s do not tra n sfe r to fo u r-y e a r institutions. T h ere has been grow ing concern on the p a rt of the taxpayer that he is not getting his m oney’s w orth. The C alifornia taxpayer has increasingly voted down local bond Issues and tax o v errid es in o rd e r to p ro tect against the state and local tax sp iral that has Increased by over 60 p er cent in less than five years. The dem and for accountability has been heard from the 1 2 state leg islatu re as w ell as from the g eneral public. In C alifornia, the legislative push tow ard pro g ram and te a c h e r accountability has been reflected in legislation on program budgeting and teac h er evaluation. Sentim ent of the general public was m easured in a 1970 Gallup poll which indicated that 80 p e r cent favored g re a te r account ability in education (42). Coupled with taxpayer un rest has been the student unrest which has been very much concerned with relevance. Students have become increasingly vocal in th e ir c ritic ism s of higher education. It is im portant to note that w hereas academ ic failu re is an Im portant cause of dropouts, one cannot p resum e that ali dropouts a re lacking in academ ic ability. Iffert indicated that o ne-third of the m ost intelligent college en tran ts decided to withdraw before the com pletion of th e ir studies (35). Such a high percentage of academ ically gifted dropouts should ra is e questions about the institutional factors that contribute to the dropout problem . T h ere have been a m ultitude of dropout studies In recent y ears; how ever, th e re seem s to be little advancem ent of knowledge on the subject. Knoell recom m ended a m oratorium on so -called "autopsy stu d ies" w here students a re asked th eir reasons fo r w ith draw ing (5:70). The student is only one side of the attritio n picture. T h ere is another asp ect of the attritio n problem that focuses 3 on the institution instead of the student. F ro m this aspect, the question to be ra ise d is--d o e s the institution drop the student? The bulk of the lite ra tu re has g enerally ignored this aspect of the problem and yet it is p re cisely in this a re a of re se a rc h on environ m ental determ inants of attritio n that S um m ersklll pointed to in his discussion of needed directions fo r future re se a rc h (13:648). Problem Situation In the C alifornia com m unity colleges the introductory co u rse in political science m ust be com pleted to fulfill degree o r tra n sfe r requirem ents. D espite the fact that the co u rse is req u ired , th ere is s till a substantial w ithdraw al problem . The expense of excessive dropouts is a luxury that education can no longer afford. It is esse n tia l to reduce the financial and human lo sses which resu lt from high attritio n ra te s. In spite of a fo rty -y e a r history of re se a rc h on college student dropouts, S um m ersklll rep o rted that knowledge of the attritio n p ro c ess is su rp risin g ly m eager (13:627). P art of the problem is the fact that m ost of the re se a rc h on college attritio n is focused on the student. L ess attention Is paid to the institutional setting and to the in stru cto r him self. It is stran g e that the in stru cto r and the institution have been slighted in the lite ra tu re despite the 4 fact that a substantial num ber of the studies indicate that the students did not like college o r w ere not m otivated. Both Knoell and S um m ersklll concur that th e re Is a g reat need for re se a rc h on the college environm ent as it re la te s to college attritio n . F u rth e rm o re , the com m unity college has been singled out as an a re a In need of p a rtic u la r em phasis because of its e x tra o rd in ary growth in recen t y ears. Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study was to analyze selected c h a ra c te r istics of com m unity college political science in stru cto rs in an effort to a sc e rta in the possible relationships between th ese c h a ra c te ristic s and the w ithdraw al ra te from the introductory co u rse In A m erican G overnm ent. T his investigation was ad d ressed to the following questions: 1. What does the lite ra tu re rev eal regarding with draw als at the com m unity college level? 2. Is th e re a relationship between the student with draw al ra te and the in stru c to r's grading pattern? 3. Is th e re a relationship between the student w ith draw al ra te and the in stru c to r's age? 4. Is th e re a difference between the student with- draw al ra te from cla sse s taught by in stru cto rs with a m a s te r's degree and the student with draw al ra te from c la sse s taught by in stru cto rs with a doctorate? Is th e re a difference between the student with draw al ra te from c la sse s taught by in stru cto rs teaching in the m ajo r a re a of th e ir highest earned degree and the student w ithdraw al ra te from c la sse s taught by in stru c to rs teaching out of the m ajor a re a of the highest earn ed degree? Is th e re a relationship between the student w ith draw al ra te and the in stru c to r's y ears of secondary school teaching experience? Is th e re a relationship betw een the student with draw al ra te and the in stru c to r's y ears of college teaching experience. A ssum ptions It is assum ed that c la ss ro ll books provide re liab le reco rd s on grading p a tte rn s, w ithdraw al ra te s, and c la ss size. It is assum ed that com puter m aintained reco rd 6 system s provide reliab le re c o rd s on grading p atte rn s, w ithdraw al ra te s , and c la ss size. 3. It Is assum ed that college personnel flies provide re liab le re c o rd s on an in s tru c to r's age, years of experience, and the subject m a tte r and level of his highest earn ed degree. T h eo retical Fram ew ork T his study was not based upon a p a rtic u la r theory of college student attritio n . It did, how ever, utilize K noell's suggested m odel fo r the flow of students In higher education. A ttrition is viewed as one type of re su lt of the interaction of student, institution, and system v ariab les. The student is but one facto r in the m odel for the flow. The collegiate institution and the system of higher education of which the institution is a p a rt a re seen as factors of equal im portance (5:63). The collegiate institution is influenced by a num ber of variab les. T his study did not attem pt to explore the num erous institutional v ariab les which could influence student withdraw al. The only institutional v ariab le that was exam ined was the faculty. The study was p rim a rily concerned with providing knowledge on the possible relationship of selected teac h er c h a ra c te ristic s to student 7 w ithdraw al. Im portance of the Study One of the m ost significant expenditures In C alifornia Community College education Is for In stru c to rs’ s a la rie s . The num ber of in stru c to rs needed for a given se m e ste r Is based upon the num ber of students who en ro ll and com plete the se m e ste r. With the increasing pinch on the educational d o llar and the concom itant need fo r g re a te r efficiency, it becom es n e c e ssa ry to p red ict the w ith draw al ra tio p e r in stru cto r with g re a te r sophistication than is done at the p resen t tim e. U nless the fa cto rs asso ciated with student w ithdraw al a re m ore accu rately pinned down, institutions will continue to w aste precious educational d o llars by hiring m ore in stru cto rs than a re needed in som e a re a s and few er In stru cto rs than a re needed in o th er a re a s. A nother c rite rio n of significance is w hether a study re la te s to a wide population. In the past ten y e a rs, student enrollm ent in the com m unity colleges throughout the United S tates has increased fourfold. In C alifornia higher education the com m unity colleges account fo r approxim ately 60 p e r cent of the total enrollm ent. In addition to being a larg e population, the com m unity college population has recen tly become potentially m ore powerful. 8 Now that the eig h teen -y ear-o ld vote has becom e a re a lity , v irtually the en tire population of the com m unity college is eligible to vote in fed eral, sta te , and local elections. In spite of the extensive num ber of studies on college attritio n , knowledge on the subject is s till quite lim ited. The m ajo rity of the studies have focused on the student and have ignored the institutional fa c to rs. T his study is im portant because it focuses cm an im portant institutional v a ria b le --th e in stru cto r. By building up m ore inform ation on the institutional facto rs relating to attritio n , it w ill then be possible fo r future studies to explore the total relationship between the student, the institution, and the system of higher education. Definitions of T e rm s The following te rm s a re defined fo r this study in o rd e r to avoid confusion with th ese te rm s as they a re som etim es used in the g en eral lite ra tu re and to clarify the m eaning of som e of the v ariables in the study. Community co lleg e. - -Som etim es re fe rre d to as the junior college o r the com m unity junior college, this te rm re fe rs to the tw o-year public institution in C alifornia higher education. D ropout. —T his re fe rs to the student who leaves the college 9 p rio r to the com pletion of his academ ic goals at that institution. The reaso n for leaving may be p erso n al o r academ ic and would not include tra n sfe r to another educational institution. In stru c to r’s age. - -In this investigation, the variable of in stru c to r’s age re fe rs to the age of the in stru cto r as of Septem ber, 1967. In stru c to r’s years of e x p e rien ce--co lleg e. --In this investi gation, the in stru c to r's years of experience include the 1967-68 school y ear. A firs t year teach er is listed as having one year of experience. In stru c to r’s grading p a tte rn . - -In this investigation, the in stru cto rs w ere divided into th ree categories based on m ean grade point average: easy, average, and difficult. The "easy" category is the upper q u artile of the sam ple, the "av erag e" category includes the second and third q u artiles, and the "difficult" category is the low er quartile. Mean grade point average (GPA). —In this investigation, m ean grade point average re fe rs to m ean grade point average accum ulated by the in stru c to r's students in com bined sam ple classe s of that se m e ste r. P e rs is te r. --In this investigation, a p e r s ls te r is a student who rem ains enrolled in the co u rse for the e n tire sem ester. 10 Student w ithdraw al r a te . --In th is Investigation,this re fe rs to the combined student withdraw al from the four sam ple c la sse s of the in stru cto r. It covers a period of two se m e ste rs. W ithdraw al. - -In th is investigation, w ithdraw al indicates th at a student has dropped out of the p a rtic u la r course included in the sam ple. It does not m ean that the student has withdrawn from the institution. D elim itations erf the Study T his study Involves five large com m unity colleges in Southern C alifornia. Each of the com m unity colleges has m ore than 10,000 in enrollm ent and each draw s from a larg e urban area. The study covers the two consecutive se m e ste rs from the fall of 1967 through the spring of 1968. This tim e period was selected because it re p resen ted a period when ex tern al factors such as the d raft w ere then not creating g reat instability in withdrawal p attern s. The study includes only fu ll-tim e contract in stru cto rs who taught a m inim um of two c la sse s in the introductory co u rse in A m erican Governm ent during the fall se m e ste r of 1967 and a m inim um of two classe s in the introductory co u rse in A m erican G overnm ent during the spring of 1968. 11 L im itations of the Study 1. T his study has been confined to political science In stru cto rs and is not intended to be generalizable to all subject m a tte r a re a s. R eplications of this study would be n e c e ssa ry in o th er subject m a tte r a re a s before any g eneralizations could be m ade. 2. The sam ple institutions have been draw n from large urban com m unity colleges in Southern C alifornia. No inference is m ade regarding the applicability of findings to sm all com m unity colleges o r those in predom inantly r u ra l settin g s. O rganization of the R em ainder of the Study C hapter II Is a review of the related lite ra tu re on college attritio n . P articu lar em phasis is placed upon those segm ents of the lite ra tu re which a re concerned with the com m unity college and with institutional facto rs re la te d to attritio n . C hapter III d esc rib es the methodology including: re se a rc h design, subjects, instrum entation, p ro ced u res, and data collection and processing. C hapter IV re p o rts the findings. C hapter V p re se n ts a sum m ary of the study, conclusions, 12 and recom m endations. C hapter Sum m ary C hapter I p resented the background of the problem , the problem situation, the purpose of the study, the assum ptions, the th eo retical fram ew ork, and the im portance of the study. Specific te rm s which a re subject to m ultiple in terp retatio n s w ere defined fo r the purposes of this study. The delim itations and lim itations of the study w ere stated and the organization of the rem aining chapters was outlined. CHAPTER II REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE Introduction T his chapter Is ad d ressed to the extensive lite ra tu re on college dropouts. T h ere a re many studies on student attrition; how ever, this review is p rim a rily concerned with studies at the college level. The problem of the high school dropout is a sep a rate concern which will not ~be discussed h ere. The em phasis on the lite ra tu re review ed has been placed on the last tw enty-five y ears of re se a rc h . While lite ra tu re on the college dropout extends back som e fifty y ea rs, it was decided to om it e a rlie r studies unless they w ere p a rtic u la rly germ ane to this investigation. N ational Surveys National studies provide a good deal of useful inform ation on the extent of the problem and the a re a s in need of exam ination. In 13 14 the United S tates, se v e ra l m ajo r national studies on college a ttritio n have been conducted. One of the e a r lie r studies was conducted by M cNeeley in 1931. His survey included tw enty-five u n iv ersities and encom passed 15,000 students. The study revealed that 52 p er cent of the students withdrew during the fo u r-y e a r period. T his figure is som ewhat inflated by students tra n sfe rrin g to o ther institutions; how ever, even a fte r adjusting the figures to exclude the tra n s fe r students, the w ithdraw al ra te was in excess of 45 p e r cent (56). In 1950 the D epartm ent of H ealth, Education, and W elfare sponsored a national survey under the supervision of Iffert. T his survey was d irected at the problem of attritio n among a sam ple of 12,667 students at 149 institutions of higher education. The findings revealed that only 39.5 p e r cent succeeded in graduating in a fo u r- year period. Through extrapolation, Iffert cam e up with 59 p e r cent as the probable m axim um p ercentage of entering freshm an to eventually graduate. One of the findings of th is study that has p a rtic u la r relevance fo r the com m unity college is the fact that approxim ately 50 p e r cent of the total w ithdraw als occur before the sophom ore year. The freshm an year th ere fo re serv es as a screening function for many colleges (54), In 1961 a national sam ple covered 127,212 students and 15 provided inform ation on th e ir socioeconom ic backgrounds, educa tional achievem ents, and asp iratio n s (43). The Office of R esearch of the A m erican Council on Education conducted a follow -up study on random ly selected sam ples of students from each of the colleges and un iv ersities Included in the 1961 survey. The findings revealed that 65 p e r cent of the students in the population had com pleted four o r m ore y ears of college at the tim e of the study (43:60). The 65 p er cent figure cited in this study only indicated that the students had com pleted four o r m ore academ ic y ears of college work, not whether he had received a degree. By the tim e a degree is earned the find ings should appear close to the 59 p e r cent rep o rted by Iffert ten y ears previously (36). T hus, the ra te of attritio n on a national scale has rem ained relativ ely constant over the last forty years. A pproxi m ately 40 p e r cent of the entering students will receiv e a degree in four y ears. An additional 20 p er cent w ill com plete th eir d eg rees at a la te r tim e and som etim es at another institution. A cadem ic F acto rs High school re co rd In te rm s of prediction, the lite ra tu re indicates that high school g rad es a re the best existing p re d ic to r of grades in college. In S u m m e rsk iirs review on this subject, ‘'dropouts" had low er average 16 grad es in high school than did graduate (13:634). G iu sti's extensive review in the area of high school averages as a p red icto r of college su ccess indicates that the lite ra tu re from 1926 to 1953 is in a g re e m ent on the fact that the high school g rade point average is the single best p re d ic to r of college su ccess (31). This is fu rth e r substantiated by G adzella and Bentall who a lso found the high school grade point average to be an im portant p re d ic to r of college su ccess (29). In a study of the relationship of selected student c h a ra c te r istic s to p ersisten c e and w ithdraw al at N orthern V irginia Community C ollege, Eddy found that high school ra n k -in -c la ss was a significant d iscrim in ato r between the a ttritio n -su rv iv a l groups (58). Academ ic perform ance at college In S u m m e rsk iirs extensive review he indicated that th ere is a significant relationship between college grades and attritio n . Thousands of students drop out of college because they a re not able to m eet the academ ic req u irem en ts. The percentage of students who fall In this category com prise approxim ately o ne-third of the total (13:636). A cadem ic difficulties continue to be cited as an Im portant facto r even when selective adm ission policies a re followed. L ittle rep o rted on the U niversity of W isconsin study w here rigid adm ission 17 standards w ere enforced. The findings revealed that 40 p e r cent of the dropouts w ere due to academ ic fa ilu re (38:238). While academ ic failu re is an im portant facto r in attritio n , it is im portant to rem em b er that a m ajority of students leave college for non-academ ic reaso n s. In the tw enty-three studies which Sum m ersklll cited, tw o-thirds of the w ithdraw als a re for non- academ ic reaso n s (13:636). Panos and A stin cam e up with an even higher figure, placing 74. 7 p er cent of the m ales and 89 p e r cent of the fem ales who withdrew from college in the voluntary o r non- academ ic w ithdraw al category (43:61). As M arsh indicated in his review of the lite ra tu re on college dropouts, the problem of the dropout is one of g reat com plexity which should not be reduced to the assum ption that the dropout Is m erely lacking in intelligence (39:476). Biological F acto rs The sex of the dropout appears to be of little value in predicting o verall attritio n . S u m m e rsk iirs review of studies over the y ears found little sex difference in attritio n ra te s (10:631). In Iffe rt's nationwide study, attritio n ra te s of 61 p e r cent fo r men and 59 per cent for women w ere found to be of no significant difference (29). S im ilarly, Panos and A stin found the co rrelatio n between sex and com pleting four o r m ore y ears of college was not significant 18 (43:62). The sim ila rity in the w ithdraw al ra te s fo r men and women students does not n e c e ssa rily m ean sim ila r reasons for dropping out. Iffe rt's study suggested that women experience less academ ic failu re than m en but that th e ir w ithdraw al ra te equals that of the men due to non-academ ic reasons f with m a rria g e heading the top of the list (54). It is in terestin g to note that when women w ere m atched on the basis of academ ic ability, Panos and A stin found that they w ere m ore apt to drop than men (43:65). Socioeconom ic F acto rs The degree to which a student's econom ic and social background affect his perform ance In college is a subject which has led to equivocal findings in re se a rc h . Socioeconom ic facto rs which have typically been linked to the p a re n ts' level of education have been m ore re la te d to academ ic achievem ent than to attritio n (13:632). S u m m ersk ill's extensive review provides som e support fo r the contention that students who com e from relativ ely low socio econom ic backgrounds experience higher attritio n . This view was qualified by pointing to re se a rc h that indicated differences did not ex ist when students w ere m atched on the b asis of high school perform ance (13:632). A m ore re cen t study by M o rrisey actually 19 indicated an Inverse relatio n sh ip when the academ ic ability facto r was controlled. He rep o rted that 80 p e r cent of the high ability students from fam ilies of low socioeconom ic status p e rsiste d , while only 43 p e r cent of the high ability students from fam ilies of high socioeconom ic statu s p e rsiste d (40:284). Thus the relationship between attritio n and socioeconom ic background rem ains am biguous and should be explored in future re se a rc h . In te rm s of achievem ent, the socioeconom ic background of the p aren ts is m ore p red ictiv e, p a rtic u la rly when the socioeconom ic facto r is re p resen ted by the p a re n ts’ level of education. F arnsw orth indicated that th e re is a relationship between student su ccess and the educational level of th e ir p aren ts (27). A nother study which suggests a paren tal tra n s fe r of educational values was com pleted at the U niversity of Oklahoma. The findings revealed that freshm en m ales whose p aren ts com pleted th e ir educational goals, re g ard less of the educational level, w ere m ore likely to com plete th e ir own goals than w ere m ales whose p aren ts had failed in th e ir educational objectives (52:468). S im ilarly, Panos and A stin rep o rted that both the fa th e r’s and the m o th er's educational levels w ere predictive of com pleting four o r m ore y ears of college (43:10). To sum m arize, lite ra tu re which has been concerned with the issue of a student's econom ic and so cial background as a 20 significant facto r in attritio n has led to equivocal findings. At the sam e tim e "overachievem ent" has been m ore specifically re la te d to socioeconom ic facto rs. The relationship has been m ost strongly tied to the educational level of the p aren ts. F arnsw orth Indicated that a student who com es from a home environm ent w here educational and intellectual m a tte rs a re highly p rized w ill take on these values unless he Is blocked in his identification with his parents (27). M otivation and G oal O rientation The lite ra tu re suggests that the la rg e st num ber of dropouts a re due to m otivational fa cto rs. However, the percentage of d ro p outs who indicate m otivational fa cto rs as reaso n s fo r w ithdraw al w ill vary considerably, depending on what category resp o n ses a re placed in. In a national study, college m ales gave the following re aso n s fo r leaving college: changed c a re e r plans, 22 p e r cent; d issatisfied with college environm ent, 26 p e r cent; scholarship term inated, 2 p er cent; wanted tim e to reco n sid er in te re sts and goals, 26 p e r cent; m a rria g e , 7 p e r cent; pregnancy, 1 p e r cent; tire d of being a student, 11 p er cent; academ ic reco rd unsatisfactory, 15 p e r cent; drafted, 1 p e r cent (43:62). The percentage totals in this study, as in m ost sim ila r stu d ies, exceed 100 p e r cent, indicating that the individuals w ere classified m ore than once. Thus, 21 it is difficult to p re c ise ly iso late the percentage of dropouts which Is solely attrib u tab le to m otivational fa c to rs. In a study at N orthern M ichigan U niversity the facto rs m ost frequently re p o rted as influencing dropping out of college w ere grouped into th re e categ o ries: (1) non-academ ic reaso n s including em ploym ent, financial pro b lem s, m ilitary se rv ic e fo r m en, and m arria g e for women; (2) fa c to rs which might be asso ciated with low m otivation fo r college, nam ely, a lack of in te re st in studies and discouragem ent by low g rad es; and (3) g en eral d issatisfactio n . It is of in te re st that these reaso n s a re p rim a rily non-academ ic in nature. F u rth e rm o re , even fo r students who re p o rt academ ic difficulty as a reaso n for w ithdraw al, the author suggests that the underlying problem is lack of m otivation which is m anifested in poor s c h o la r ship (50:170). L im ited evidence supports the contention that the ea rly selection of academ ic or vocational goals can have positive effects on academ ic achievem ent. In a study at F lo rid a State U niversity, G ustavus rep o rted that th e re was a significant relationship between e a rly com m itm ent to an academ ic m ajo r and degree of su ccess in college (60). When students exhibit positive m otivation and have definite vocational goals, they a re m ore likely to be o v erach iev ers at college 22 and to graduate fro m college (54). In the study by Angers at Fordham U niversity, vocational disorganization was the m ost out standing reason for leaving that was given by students during the exit interview . The students did not have definite vocational o bjec tives and th e re fo re th e ir educational objectives w ere unclear also (16:34-35). T h e re is som e evidence that students who a re taking a vocational cu rricu lu m see th e ir educational objectives m ore clea rly and thus perform at a higher level. A study at the U niversity of Illinois indicated that p e rsiste n c e in vocational cu rricu lu m was significantly g re a te r than p ersiste n c e in non-vocational curriculum (48:7). The stu d en t's attitude tow ard the vocational curriculum is also influential. Gekoski and Schw artz rep o rted that an im portant facto r in determ ining w hether the student leaves the university is w hether o r not the student can see the re a l vocational use in the instructional pro g ram (30:193). P ersonality The degree to which p erso n ality Influences attritio n v arie s considerably with who is being asked. Dropouts a re inclined to give little weight to this facto r; how ever, psychologists and counselors a re m ore concerned over the weight that this facto r has on attritio n . The co n trad icto ry nature of the findings on perso n ality 23 fa cto rs la revealed in S u m m ersk ill's review , w here he rep o rted that no significant differences w ere found in the controlled studies using the Bell A djustm ent Inventory (G riffiths, 1945), the M innesota M ultiphasic P ersonality (Palubinskas, 1952), and a developm ental scale (W ebster, 1956). At the sam e tim e, how ever, he did rep o rt on re se a rc h which indicated co rrelatio n s between attritio n and test sco res in studies employing the Bell (F isc h e r, 1943), certain M innesota M ultiphasic P ersonality Inventory Scales (G race, 1957), the R orschach (M unroe, 1945), and ratings of social developm ent (A lexander and Woodruff, 1940) (13:644). While it may not be possible at the p resen t tim e to determ ine the degree to which personality Influences attritio n , som e studies have provided inform ation about the p erso n ality c h a ra c te ristic s of the college dropout. G race employed the M innesota M ultiphasic P ersonality Inventory to find the dropout less responsible, m ore anxious, and m ore dependent (32). M ore recen t studies have not concurred with the p o rtray al of the dropout as a dependent Individual. B arger and Hall also em ployed the M innesota M ultiphasic P ersonality Inventory and Identified the dropouts as rebellious and non-conforming (17). Brown em ployed the M innesota Counseling Inventory and found the men tending tow ard irre sp o n sib ility and non-conform ity, while the women tended tow ard introversion and so cial Isolation (8:281-82). 24 The p ictu re of the dropout as a m ore ag g ressiv e, non- conform ing individual is also substantiated by H eilbrun’s study at the U niversity of Iowa w here firs t y ea r freshm an students w ere m atched on ability sc o re s. He found p e rsiste n c e to be re la te d to passiv en ess and conform ity to institutional values. The dropout encounters difficulty in conform ing to the academ ic and so cial regim entation of the large university and is likely to be m ore a sse rtiv e (34). In a study at the U niversity of C alifornia, Berkeley cam pus, R ossm an and Kirk found that students withdraw ing in good standing from the university had higher verbal ability, exhibited a g re a te r need for independence, and w ere m ore intellectually oriented than p e rs is te rs (46). Rose and Elton em ployed the R abner Incom plete Sentence Blank (IBS) and the Omnibus P ersonality Inventory (OPI) In a study which explored p erso n ality differences of dropouts: They found the dropouts to be m ore m aladjusted, irra tio n a l, and significantly m ore hostile than students who p e rsiste d (45). C ham bers and o th ers, in using the P icture Identification T est (PIT), found that dropouts indicated m ore ag g ressio n and m ore re sista n c e to authority than p e rs is te rs (20). The studies that have been conducted thus fa r have led to ra th e r inconclusive and co n trad icto ry re su lts. No one perso n ality 25 facto r is predictive of college attritio n and no one instrum ent has provided the consistency which would facilitate the prediction of college su ccess or failure. The lite ra tu re does rev eal, how ever, that a pattern of hostility, anxiety, and non-conform ity is m ore consistent with the dropout than with the p e rs is te r. Institutional F acto rs Up to this point, this review has been concerned with c h a ra c te ristic s of students that have a relationship to attritio n . However, the student does not learn in a vacuum . He learn s in an a rtific ia l setting which is som etim es re fe rre d to as the "college environm ent. " The college environm ent that the student finds him self in can be an im portant elem ent in his decision to p e rsist o r to withdraw. Sanford went even fa rth e r and indicated that rigorous re se a rc h on environm ental determ inants of attritio n m ight show that w ithdraw al is m ore related to institutional facto rs than with student re la te d facto rs (47). Some investigators have contended that the theory of work adjustm ent can also be applied to the study of student adjustm ent. The student is likened to the em ployee who m ust in teract effectively with his work environm ent. The stu d en t's work is study; to fulfill the req u irem en ts of the college environm ent, he m ust m eet m inim um 26 academ ic stan d ard s. The college environm ent m ust in tu rn be m eeting the needs of the student. The findings of a recent study at Iowa State U niversity support the prediction that satisfaction with the college environm ent is related to w hether o r not the student rem ains in that environm ent <49:321). Institutional types: V arious types of institutions will have differing attritio n ra te s. Iffert rep o rted that attritio n is higher in technological Institutions, te a c h e rs colleges, and publicly controlled institutions (36). N elson's study of fo u r-y e a r institutions was in agreem ent that attritio n is higher in public institutions than in p riv ate ones. The findings also rev ealed that the size of the Institution and the size of the com m unity in which it is situated appear to be related to its freshm an attritio n ra te . The evidence indicated that sm a lle r institutions a re asso ciated with a low freshm an attritio n ra te (41:1048-49). In th e ir national sam ple of 248 colleges and u n iv ersities, Panos and A stin found support fo r the concept that educational outcom es a re determ ined both by the personality c h a ra c te ristic s of the individual student and by the college environm ent. T h eir findings regarding the effects of the college environm ent on student attritio n m ay be conceptually divided into two p a tte rn s. Both p attern s w ere found to in crease the stu d en t's chances of dropping out of college. 27 The firs t p attern which focused on in terp erso n al relationships indicated a high level of student com petitiveness and risk taking, a good deal of inform al dating, and lim ited opportunities for e x tra c u rric u la r involvem ent with the faculty. The second p attern, which focused on Institutional policy, Indicated relativ ely se v e re grading p ra c tic e s, a faculty that was not concerned with the individual student, and little o r no stru c tu re for the individual student on the selection of c o u rse s <43:68-69). In N elson's study of college c h a ra c te ristic s asso ciated with freshm an attritio n , he com pared 100 random ly selected fo u r-y ear institutions with very low freshm an dropout ra te s with a com parable group of institutions which had freshm an attritio n ra te s that w ere not "low. " Of the fifteen v ariab les of sta tistic a l significance, five of these related to Institutional c h a ra c te ristic s. The sm a lle r institutions located in sm all com m unities w ere asso ciated with low er freshm an dropout ra te s . Institutions w here the costs of room , board, fees, and tuition w ere higher w ere associated with low er freshm an dropout ra te s. The m ore affluent institutions which could afford a low er faculty-student ratio w ere asso ciated with low er freshm an dropout ra te s. The m ore selectiv e institutions w ere asso ciated with low er freshm an dropout ra te s (41:1048-49). The existence of such findings, while not conclusive, 28 Is indicative of the fact that institutional fa cto rs m ust be taken into consideration when dealing with the problem of attritio n . T each er C h a ra c te ristic s U nless it is assum ed that the student him self Is totally resp o n sib le fo r his su ccess o r failu re in college, it is difficult to ignore the ro le of the faculty within the institutional setting. The landm ark teac h er c h a ra c te ristic s study was d irec te d by Ryans in 1960 (11). The purposes of the study a re identified as follows: T he T each er C h a ra c te ristic s Study was conducted with two possible uses of the re su lts in mind: fir s t, by the school system s as an aid in identifying te a c h e rs who, at the tim e of selection fo r em ploym ent o r perhaps in connection with projection, have c h a ra c te ristic s s im ila r to those deem ed im portant and d esira b le by the p a rtic u la r school system and the culture it re p re se n ts; and, second, by teach er education institutions as an aid to a b etter understanding of teach er c h a ra c te ristic s and asso ciated conditions, which would contribute to im proved proced u res fo r selectin g teac h er candidates and to the Im provem ent of p rofessional co u rses and cu rricu la. (11:11) During the six y ears of the study, approxim ately 6,000 teac h ers in 1,700 schools p articipated in the study. The p a rtic u la r study was undertaken at the elem entary and secondary level and was not intended fo r generalizability to higher education. However, because the study took a look at a broad c ro ss section of A m erican teac h ers during the firs t half of the 1950s, illu strativ e findings on som e of the c h a ra c te ristic s a r e worthy of note. 29 1. Age and experience; T ea ch ers over fifty-five years of age and those with extended teaching experience com pared unfavorably with the younger teach ers except fro m the standpoint sy stem atic and b u sin ess like classro o m behavior. 2. A cadem ic achievem ent: T each ers who reported having been outstanding students sco red higher than o ther groups on m ost sc a le s. 3. Size of school and com m unity: T ea ch ers in la rg e r schools sco red higher than those from sm all schools. T each ers in the la rg e r com m unities also sco red hig h er than those in sm a ll com m unities with an im portant exception. T ea ch ers in the larg est cities (1,000,000 and over) scored about as low as teac h ers from the v ery sm all com m unities (11:389-96). In an attem pt to provide m ore understanding of the values and perceptions of junior college faculty, Park studied 238 staff m em bers of th re e selected junior colleges in th re e different counties In Southern C alifornia. Two m ajo r findings of the study a re worth noting: F ir s t, faculty m em bers did not understand the junior college philosophy and viewed the institution negatively. Second, faculty 30 m em bers w ere m ore concerned with p re stig e and fulfillm ent of p erso n al needs than they w ere with teaching (9:49-50). P ark 's study re p re se n ts quite an indictm ent of the com m unity college Instru cto r. If replication of the study should bear out his findings, the reputation of com m unity colleges as "teaching" institutions will stand rev isio n and th e re will be re a l doubt about the ability of these institutions to se rv e the needs of the students. L ite ra tu re on the c h a ra c te ristic s of com m unity college in stru cto rs has been ra th e r slow to develop but the last decade has w itnessed a m arked in crease. One of the c u rre n t tren d s L s to m ake use of typological schem es to group com m unity college in stru cto rs according to common c h a ra c te ris tic s. F rie d m a n 's classification schem e of com m unity college in stru c to rs categorized faculty m em bers into th re e groups on the b asis of th e ir p rio r institutional affiliation: high sc h o o le rs, graduate stu d en ts, and p ro fe s s o rs . A c h a ra c te ristic exhibited by m ost of the in stru c to rs in F ried m an 's study re g a rd le ss of th e ir fo rm e r institutional background is that of subject m a tte rists (28:233). Braw er developed a colorful typology fo r the com m unity college based on ro les typically assum ed by faculty m em bers: the e n d -o f-th e -ro a d e rs, the la d d e r-c lim b e rs, the clockpunchers, and the defined-purpose ro u ters. The end -of -the - ro ad ers perceive the 31 com m unity college as th e ir perm anent station (2). F o r som e, this is seen as the epitom e of su ccess afte r y ears of secondary teaching. F o r o th ers, it re p re se n ts settling for what they consider to be an in ferior p a rt of higher education. T h eir d e sire to be teaching at a fo u r-y e a r college o r university has been perm anently thw arted. The lad d er-clim b ers see the com m unity college as a tem p o rary stop on the way to a b etter job. In this category a re university students working tow ard advanced degrees o r young in stru c to rs waiting fo r an "opening. " The clockpunchers use the com m unity college as a base of operations to fu rth e r th e ir own p ro fessional Im ages outside of the institutions. T h eir jobs a re seen as an incom e opportunity, not as an opportunity to im prove them selves o r prom ote th eir discipline. The defined-purpose ro u te rs view the com m unity college as a teaching institution. They a r e able to define th e ir subject m atter in te rm s of educational objectives and help th e ir students reach those objectives. T hese a re the dedicated teac h ers that provide a sp ark to learning. T he use of typologies as a tool in understanding the c h a ra c te ristic s of com m unity college in stru c to rs can be useful as long as rig id ity is avoided. The rapid expansion of com m unity college education has left its m ark upon the faculty. As G arriso n 32 stated , "T he ju n io r college te a c h e r is - - o r may be becom ing--a new breed of in stru c to r in higher education" (4:15). F aculty im pact on students W hether o r not a student w ithdraw s from an Institution o r p e rs is ts is often a re su lt of the interaction of the student and his college environm ent. T he academ ic asp ects of the college environ m ent a re highly visible In te rm s of faculty im pact upon the students. T h ere a re other a re a s of faculty influence, how ever, that also bear investigation. One of the cu rre n t tren d s is to view attritio n as a function of the institutional effectiveness in m eeting the "needs" of the student. No one is In a b etter position than the Instru cto r to m eet, o r ignore, the needs of the students. F aculty influence can take a v arie ty of fo rm s. The in stru c to r m ay se rv e as an identification m odel. Coelho, Hamburg, and M urphey rep o rted that positive m odeling can take place even in the absence of any close p erso n al contact outside of the classro o m . T hese investigators found that even p a rtia l identification was influential in the students* reexam inations of th e ir own attitudes and abilities (22). In te rm s of occupational choice and educational asp iratio n s, Feldm an and Newcomb cited a num ber of studies which Indicate that faculty Influence is an im portant so u rce of vocational planning. In 33 fact, faculty influence In this area is seen to equal parental influence <3:253). As was discussed e a rlie r, a positive vocational goal is an im portant motivating factor to persistence. Faculty im pact on students can vary by the fields in which they teach. Thistlethw aite found that students in the a rts, hum ani tie s, and social sciences responded to different faculty c h a ra c te ris tics than students m ajoring in the natural and biological sciences (51:227). Thus, faculty im pact can take many form s but the net affect can either make the students m ore at ease in the college setting or increase his discom fort and in so doing, increase his chances of academ ic failu re o r withdrawal. C hapter Sum mary C hapter II has presented a discussion of research and related lite ra tu re on college attrition. The em phasis on the lite ra tu re reviewed has been placed on the last tw enty-five years of re se arc h . L iteratu re on college attritio n extends back over fifty years; however, e a rlie r studies w ere only Included when the background inform ation provided was germ ane to this investigation. T hree national studies w ere reviewed which covered a tim e period from 1931 to 1961. The findings rev eal that the ra te of attrition on a national ra te has rem ained relatively constant over the 34 last forty y ea rs. A ttrition has stabilized around 40 p e r cent. Based on students in fo u r-y e a r colleges, approxim ately 40 p er cent of the entering students will re ceiv e a degree in four y ears. An additional 20 p e r cent w ill com plete th e ir d eg rees at a la te r tim e and som e tim es at another institution. The academ ic facto r in a ttritio n was review ed on the basis of high school grades and academ ic perfo rm an ce in college. In te rm s of pred ictin g the individual stu d en t's p e rsiste n c e o r w ith draw al from college, the lite ra tu re indicates that high school grades a re the best existing p re d ic to r of grades in college. A cadem ic p erfo rm an ce in college has in tu rn been significantly re la te d to attritio n in num erous studies. While the academ ic fa c to r was seen as an im portant factor in attritio n , the lite ra tu re uniform ly indicated that a m ajority of students leave college fo r non-academ ic re aso n s. T hus, the high p red ictiv e value of high school grades relatin g to su ccess in college is attenuated by finding that a m ajo rity of w ithdraw als a re for non- academ ic reaso n s. The lite ra tu re did not re v e a l significant differences between the w ithdraw al ra te s of m en and women. However, th ere w ere different reaso n s cited to account fo r attritio n . Women experience le ss academ ic failu re than m en, but th e ir total w ithdraw al ra te 35 equals that of the men due to non-academ ic reaso n s--w ith m arriag e heading the top of the list. R esearch on a student's social and econom ic background as a significant factor In attrition has led to equivocal findings. E a rlie r studies which linked socioeconom ic factors to attrition had not m atched sam ples on the basis of high school perform ance and thus the relationship is s till unresolved. In term s of achievem ent, the socioeconom ic background of the parents is m ore predictive. The educational level of the parents was reported In the lite ratu re as having a significant effect on completing an educational goal. M otivational factors w ere seen to account for the largest num ber of dropouts. Quantitative analysis of the m otivational factor is obscured by the fact that classification schem es vary with each study; this m akes it difficult to accurately isolate the percentage of attrition that is directly attributed to motivation. The possession of definite vocational goals was identified with overachievem ent and p ersisten ce in college. Coupled with positive m otivation is the need for many students to see the vocational application of the instructional program . The lite ratu re Is replete with studies which have employed a variety of developm ental scales and personality inventories. The findings have not yielded predictive Inform ation regarding the 36 Influence of p erso n ality on attritio n , how ever, the studies have provided som e Inform ation about the p erso n ality c h a ra c te ristic s of the typical college dropout. T he lite ra tu re reveals that a pattern of hostility, anxiety, and non-conform ity Is m ore consistent with the dropout than with the p e rs is te r. Institutional fa cto rs have been receiving increasing attention in recen t y ears as studies Indicate that satisfaction with the college environm ent is related to w hether o r not the student rem ains In that environm ent. The lite ra tu re rev eals that the sm a lle r, private institutions which show faculty concern fo r the individual student a re likely to experience a low er attritio n ra te than large, public, institutions with lim ited opportunities fo r faculty-student Involvement. The faculty com prise an extrem ely im portant elem ent in the institutional setting. L ite ra tu re on the c h a ra c te ristic s and values of com m unity college in stru c to rs has been ra th e r slow to develop but the last decade has w itnessed a m arked Increase. One of the c u rre n t trends is to m ake use of typological schem es to group com m unity college in stru c to rs according to common c h a ra c te ristic s. F aculty influence on the students can take a v ariety of fo rm s. The in stru c to r m ay se rv e as an identification m odel o r as an im portant so u rce of vocational planning. The net affect can eith er make the students m ore a t ease in the college setting o r in crease his 37 discom fort and In so doing. In crease his chances of academ ic failu re o r withdrawal. CHAPTER III METHODS AND PROCEDURES The purpose of this study was to analyze selected c h a ra c te r istics of com m unity college political science In stru cto rs in an effort to a sc e rta in the possible relatio n sh ip s between these c h a ra c te ristic s and the w ithdraw al ra te from introductory co u rses in A m erican G overnm ent. This re se a rc h study em ployed the cau sal-co m p arativ e technique as discussed by Van Dalen and M eyer (14:220-22). C ausal- com parative re se a rc h is "ex post facto" in nature. The data a re collected a fte r a ll the events of In terest have o ccu rred . Because of the nature and com plexity of so cial phenom ena, the cau sal- com parative technique provides an im portant altern ativ e to the experim ental method. Because of ethical considerations it would be unjustified to place students in a controlled environm ent to determ ine w hether academ ic fa ilu re o r w ithdraw al could be Induced. S im ilarly, labo rato ry type controls of the various independent v ariab les would be highly u n re alistic and a rtific ia l. 38 39 The R esearch Design The dependent v ariable The dependent v ariab le for the p resen t study was the student w ithdraw al ra te obtained from random ly selected political science c la sse s during the fall se m e ste r of 1967 and spring se m e ste r of 1968. T he independent v ariables The independent v ariab les w ere as follows: 1. In stru c to r’s y ears erf ex p erien ce--seco n d ary . 2. In stru c to r's y ears of ex p erien ce—college. 3. In stru c to r's grading pattern A. Easy B. A verage C. Difficult 4. In stru c to r’s age 5. D egree level attained A. M a ste r's B. D octorate 6. Subject m atter of highest degree A. Political science B. H istory C. O ther The R esearch Hypotheses The re se a rc h hypotheses a re as follows: 1. T h ere is a relationship between the student withdraw al ra te and the In stru c to r's grading p attern . 2. T here Is a relationship between the student w ithdraw al ra te and the In stru c to r’s age. 3. T h ere L s a difference In the student w ithdraw al ra te from c la sse s taught by in stru c to rs with a m a s te r's degree and the student w ithdraw al ra te from cla sse s taught by in stru c to rs with a doctorate. 4. T h ere is a difference between the student withdraw al ra te fro m c la sse s taught by in stru c to rs teaching in the m ajo r a re a of th e ir highest earned degree and the student w ithdraw al ra te from c la sse s taught by in stru c to rs teaching out of the m ajor a re a of th e ir highest earned degree. 5. T h ere is a relatio n sh ip between the student withdraw al ra te and the In stru c to r’s y ears of secondary school teaching experience. 6. T h ere is a relatio n sh ip between the student w ithdraw al ra te and the in stru c to r’s y ea rs of college teaching experience. Selection of Subjects The data w ere collected from five larg e, urban com m unity 41 colleges In the Southern C alifornia a re a . All of the colleges a re situated In p rim a rily urban settings and a ll of the colleges had enrollm ents in excess of 10,000 as of the fall of 1967. The com bined enrollm ents of the five colleges was o v er 70,000. As was m entioned in C hapter I, the la rg e urban nature of the sam ple colleges precludes any inference regarding the applicability of findings to sm all com m unity colleges o r those in predom inantly ru ra l settings. T he in stru c to rs included in the study w ere a ll fu ll-tim e co n tract in stru c to rs who taught two o r m ore daytim e sections of introductory political science during the fa ll of 1967 and the spring of 1968. No attem pt was m ade to include the p a rt-tim e hourly in stru c to rs in this study. Many of the co u rses taught by hourly personnel a re offered in the evening and taught by college in stru cto rs as an overtim e assignm ent o r by secondary school te a c h e rs who d e sire som e p a rt-tim e work at a college. Since the study was concerned with c h a ra c te ristic s of com m unity college in stru c to rs, hourly p ersonnel w ere om itted. Of the tw enty-eight in stru cto rs who m et the req u irem en ts of the study, th e re w ere tw enty-seven m ales and one fem ale. C lasses to be included in the study w ere random ly selected. Only daytim e c o u rse s In the basic introductory political science co u rse w ere eligible fo r selection. F ro m the list of eligible c o u rse s, 42 the two classes which w ere closest In tim e to 12:00 P. M. w ere selected. A total of 112 courses In political science w ere Included in the study. The total num ber of students enrolled in these courses cam e to 4,710. Instrum entation and Data Collection Each of the colleges included in the study was personally contacted by the re se a rc h e r and solicited for th eir cooperation in the study. Because some of the inform ation was obtained from teacher personnel reco rd s, it was essen tial to guarantee that all information would be kept com pletely confidential. F o r this reason, each college was assigned a code num ber and each teacher was assigned a code num ber. Inform ation could then be tra n sfe rre d from personnel records by the selected Institution's staff without com pro m ising the privacy of th e ir personnel reco rd s. In addition to the inform ation on teacher ch a ra c te ristic s, it was essential to obtain com plete Inform ation on grade distributions and student withdrawal from the selected cou rses. Most of these requests w ere channeled through the Instructional deans of the participating colleges. During the initial contacts It was determ ined that two of the colleges m aintained th e ir reco rd s on a com puter reco rd keeping system . In the case of the other th ree colleges, 43 inform ation was only available through a se a rc h of actual ro ll books o r m icrofilm copies. The collection of data was initiated in June, 1972, with the use of the stru c tu re d re se a rc h interview at th ree of the five com m unity colleges to be included in the study. In utilizing this technique, as d iscu ssed by Borg, the Interview er followed a definite form at sim ila r to an objective questionnaire (1:221-33). Q uestions w ere aim ed at obtaining specific inform ation on the dependent and independent v ariab les of the study. One of the advantages of this technique is that it provides a m eans of checking the effectiveness of com m unication between the respondent and the interview er. A s a re su lt of the questions ra ise d during the in itial interview s, the Interview form at was m odified Into a com pletion ch art which could be com pleted in the absence of the interview er when n ecessary . The need to m aintain the confidential classificatio n of personnel reco rd s m ade the developm ent of such com pletion form s n ecessary . The initial interview s serv ed to p re te st the fo rm s. A m biguities over Interpretation of the fo rm s w ere resolved and the com pletion ch a rts w ere m odified into th e ir cu rren t form at (see Appendix). During the fa ll of 1972 the investigator returned to each of the p articipating colleges to begin the collection of the data with the modified instrum ent. The collection of data fell into two distinct 44 categ o ries; te a c h e r personnel inform ation and c la ss ro ll book inform ation. Because the study covered the school year of the fall of 1967 through the spring of 1968, th e re w ere som e difficulties encountered in obtaining data on In stru c to rs who had died o r w ere no longer at the Institution. R ecords on such p erso n s had been rem oved from the active files and in som e instances had been physically tran sp o rte d to ce n tral board offices. It was only through the very cooperative efforts of the particip atin g colleges that this teach er c h a ra c te ristic s inform ation was eventually accum ulated. With re g ard to c la ss ro ll book Inform ation, the passage of five y e a rs' tim e had also created som e difficulties in data collection. Two of the colleges m aintained com puter p rin t-o u t sheets in th e ir c la sse s, one college had reduced a ll ro ll books to m icrofilm , and the o ther two colleges had the inform ation on the original ro ll books. Once again the extrem ely fine cooperation of all of the participating colleges was indispensable. Only one in stru cto r had to be elim inated from the study due to insufficient ro ll book inform ation. Data collection at this stage was a v ery tim e consum ing m anual operation. Once the random ly selected co u rses to be Investigated w ere identified by s e ria l num ber, the reco rd s had to be located at the individual college. Once located, the reco rd s w ere 45 exam ined fo r the data of in te re st which w ere tra n sc rib e d m anually onto the com pletion c h a rts. Data P rocessing and T reatm en t of the Raw Data In o rd e r to facilitate the sta tis tic a l an aly sis, it was decided to utilize the fa cilities of the com puter cen ter of the U niversity of Southern C alifornia. A data coding form at was constructed fo r tra n s fe r to an IBM FORTRAN coding form . The nature of the coded e n trie s req u ired that the following elem entary calculations be conducted before coding: 1. The com bined total enrollm ent was calculated for the two sam ple c la sse s of each in stru c to r's fall se m e ste r. 2. The combined to tal en rollm ent was calculated for the two sam ple c la sse s of each in stru c to r’s spring se m e ste r. 3. The com bined to tal w ithdraw al was calculated fo r the two sam ple c la sse s of each In stru c to r's fall sem ester. 4. The com bined to tal w ithdraw al was calculated for the two sam ple c la sse s of each in s tru c to r's spring se m e ste r. 5. The m ean GPA was calculated fo r the two sam ple c la sse s of each in stru c to r’s fall se m e ste r. 46 6. The m ean GPA was calculated fo r the two sam ple cla sse s of each in stru c to r’s spring se m e ste r. The data w ere then entered on the IBM FORTRAN coding form , keypunched onto IBM punch card s and v erified for accuracy. Each of the tw enty-eight in stru c to rs was assigned a sequential Identification num ber and placed on a se p a ra te card in o rd e r to facilitate a v ariety of sta tistic a l tre a tm e n ts. Before the c h i-sq u a re te s ts could be run at the U niversity of Southern C alifornia Computing C enter, it was n ecessary to construct contingency tables fo r each of the eighteen sep a rate te s ts . The independent v ariab les to be exam ined w ere categorized into independ ent groups and the d isc re te categ o ries of "w ithdraw als" and " p e rs is te rs " w ere labeled. M anual com putation of the raw data yielded the observed frequencies which w ere placed In the ap propriate ce lls of the contingency tab les. T he data w ere now ready fo r sta tistic a l analy sis. The null hypotheses The re se a rc h hypotheses w ere placed In the null form am enable to sta tistic a l testin g as follows: 1. T h ere is no relatio n sh ip between the student w ith draw al ra te and the in s tru c to r's grading pattern. 2. T h ere is no relationship between the student 47 w ithdraw al ra te and the in s tru c to r's age. 3. T h ere is no difference between the student w ithdraw al ra te from c la sse s taught by in stru c to rs with a m a s te r's degree and the student w ithdraw al ra te from cla sse s taught by in stru c to rs with a doctorate. 4. T h ere is no difference between the student w ithdraw al ra te from c la sse s taught by In stru c to rs teaching in the m ajor a re a of th e ir highest earned d eg ree and the student w ithdraw al ra te from c la sse s taught by In stru cto rs teaching out of the m ajo r are a of th e ir highest earned degree. 5. T h ere is no relationship between the student w ithdraw al ra te and the in s tru c to r's y ea rs of secondary school teaching. 6. T h ere is no relationship between the student with draw al ra te and the in s tru c to r's y ears of college teaching experience. S tatistical T reatm en t of the Refined Data A fter carefu l consideration of the nature of the data, it was decided to utilize c h i-sq u a re In the sta tistic a l trea tm en t, since the data w ere in the form of d is c re te categ o ries and the v ariab les of 48 in te re st w ere in independent g ro u p s. The level of significance fo r rejectin g the null hypotheses was set at 0 .0 5 . This level was considered reasonable and in accord with conventional educational re se a rc h . In addition to the ch i-sq u a re , t-te s ts w ere conducted on total w ithdraw al ra te s between the fall of 1967 and the spring of 1968 se m e s te rs. All of the data w ere analyzed at the U niversity of Southern C alifornia Computing C enter. C hapter Sum m ary T he p ro ced u res em ployed in the study consisted of the following: review of re la te d re s e a rc h and lite ra tu re , selection of the re se a rc h design and hypotheses, instrum entation and data collection, data p ro cessin g and treatm en t of the raw data, and sta tistic a l treatm en t of the refined data. CHAPTER IV FINDINGS T his chapter is concerned with the presentation of the findings of this investigation. In o rd e r to aid the re a d e r in under standing the sta tistic a l asp ects of the study, findings a re p resented in tabular form when ap p ro p riate. The m a te ria l p resen ted in th is chapter has been organized according to ap p ro p riate headings which have been established to correspond to each hypothesis considered. F actual Inform ation has been kept sep a rate from in terp retatio n , inference, and evaluation. Thus the fir s t p art of this chapter is devoted to a factual presentation of the findings; the second p a rt of the ch ap ter has been devoted to a discussion of the findings. C om parison of F all-S p rin g W ithdrawal Rate The firs t analysis p erform ed was a t-te s t intended to d eterm ine w hether th e re w ere significant differences between the w ithdraw al ra te for the fa ll of 1967 and the w ithdraw al ra te for the 49 50 spring of 1968. The data presented in Table 1 indicate that for the tw enty-eight instructors sam pled, the m ean withdrawal ra te for the fall of 1967 was not significantly different from the mean withdrawal ra te for the spring of 1968. TABLE 1 ANALYSIS OF THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MEAN WITHDRAWAL RATE FOR FALL, 1967, AND SPRING, 1968 Source Mean S. D. S .E . t W ithdrawal, fall, 1967 11.46 10.02 1.89 LOO* W ithdrawal, spring, 1968 10.21 8.42 1.59 * t value is not statistically significant. T est of Hypotheses T est of hypothesis 1 T here is no relationship between the student withdrawal ra te and the in stru c to rs’ grading patterns. Hypothesis 1 was concerned with the effect of an in stru cto r's grading p attern on student withdrawal from class. The data obtained from the Instructors were divided into three categories based on meanGPA: "e asy ," "a v e ra g e ," and "difficult." The "easy" 51 categ o ry is the upper q u artile of the sam ple, the "av erag e” category includes the sum of the second and th ird q u a rtile s, and the "difficult" category Is the low er q u artile. T able 2 shows that among the students who withdrew from the sam ple c la sse s during the fa ll of 1967, the sm allest proportion of w ithdraw als was reco rd ed in the category of in stru c to rs whose grading p attern was categorized as "easy. " In the category of in stru c to rs categorized " a v e ra g e ," th e re was a slight in crease in the percentage of w ithdraw al. The la rg e st proportion of w ithdraw als was reco rd ed in the category of in stru c to rs categorized "difficult. " It should be noted that while the percentage variation between the firs t two categ o ries is slight, the percentage in cre ase in the third category is pronounced in com parison. The table gives the obtained w ithdraw al frequencies of the 2,384 students who w ere studied during the fall se m e ste r of 1967. The sta tistic a l analysis was all com puted on frequency data as re q u ired by the ch i-sq u a re te st; how ever, percentages a re also indicated in the table to facilitate in terp retatio n . A ch i-sq u a re value of 35. 18 was obtained with 2 degrees of freedom . This value was significant beyond the previously set level of 0 .0 5 ; th ere fo re, the null hypothesis was rejected . 52 TABLE 2 FREQUENCY OF WITHDRAWAL VERSUS PERSISTENCE OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS DURING THE FALL SEMESTER, 1967, RELATIVE TO CLASSES CATEGORIZED BY THE GRADING PATTERN OF THE INSTRUCTORS C ategory W ithdrawals Per s is te rs XT E asy 52 (11 p e r cent) 495 A verage 124 (12 p er cent) 993 Difficult 140 (24 p e r cent) 580 35. 1 ♦ P i .05. The data as p resented in T able 3 indicate a pattern of p ersiste n c e sim ila r to that rep o rted in Table 2. During the spring se m e ste r of 1968 the sm allest proportion of w ithdraw als was recorded in the category of In stru cto rs labeled "easy. " In the category of in stru cto rs labeled "average, " a 1 per cent increase in the incidence of w ithdraw al was noted. A m arked in crease In the percentage of w ithdraw als was noted in the category of instuctors labeled "hard. " Student w ithdraw al from c la sse s taught by in stru c to rs in this last category was proportionally higher than In the firs t two categories. 53 TABLE 3 FREQUENCY OF WITHDRAWAL VERSUS PERSISTENCE OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS DURING THE SPRING SEMESTER, 1968, RELATIVE TO CLASSES CATEGORIZED BY THE GRADING PATTERN OF THE INSTRUCTORS C ategory W ithdrawals ■ 1 ‘2 " P e rs is te rs X E asy 49 (10 p er cent) 500 A verage 105 (11 p e r cent) 982 Difficult 132 (24 p er cent) 558 42.68’ " p £ .05. T able 3 gives the obtained w ithdraw al frequencies of the 2,326 students who w ere studied during the spring se m e ste r of 1968. T he sta tistic a l analysis was a ll com puted on frequency data as req u ired by the ch i-sq u are te st; how ever, percentages a re also indicated on the table to facilitate in terp retatio n . A ch i-sq u a re value of 42. 68 was obtained with 2 degrees of freedom . This value was significant beyond the previously set level of 0. 05; th e re fo re , the null hypothesis was rejected . The data p resented in T able 4 re p re se n t the fall and spring se m e ste rs in com bination. With the total sam ple population included in this table th e re a re som e m inor variatio n s in percentages. 54 TABLE 4 COMBINED FREQUENCY OF WITHDRAWAL VERSUS PERSISTENCE OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS DURING THE FALL, 1967, AND SPRING, 1968, SEMESTERS, RELATIVE TO CLASSES CATEGORIZED BY THE GRADING PATTERN OF THE INSTRUCTORS C ategory W ithdraw als P e rs is te rs E asy 101 (10 p er cent) 995 A verage 229 (12 p er cent) 1975 Difficult 272 (24 p er cent) 1138 77. 40* p £ ,.0 5 . T able 4 gives the obtained w ithdraw al frequencies of the 4,710 students who w ere studied during the fall of 1967 and spring of 1968 se m e ste rs. The sta tistic a l analysis was all computed on frequency data as req u ired by the c h i-sq u a re te st; how ever, p e rc e n t ages a re also Indicated on the table to facilitate interpretation. A ch i-sq u a re value of 77, 40 was obtained with 2 d egrees of freedom . This value was significant beyond the previously se t level of 0.05; th erefo re, the null hypothesis was rejected . 55 T e st of hypothesis 2 T h ere is no relatio n sh ip between the student w ithdraw al ra te and the In stru c to r's age. Hypothesis 2 was concerned with the possible effect of in stru c to r's age on student w ithdraw al from c la ss. The in stru cto rs w ere divided into four age categ o ries based on te n -y e a r intervals p e r category. The y ears of age that the in stru c to r had attained as of Septem ber 1, 1967, was the whole num ber value th at was utilized in this investigation. T he firs t two age categ o ries, as re p o rted in T able 5, show the highest proportion of student w ithdraw al from c la ss. The th ird category which encom passes the fo rty -six to fifty -fiv e -y ear-o ld age group indicates a substantially low er proportion of student w ith draw al, while the fourth category re flects an in cre ase in the proportion of w ithdraw al to p e rsiste n c e . Table 5 gives the obtained w ithdraw al frequencies of the 2,384 students who w ere studied during the fall se m e ste r of 1967. The sta tistic a l analysis was all com puted on frequency data as req u ired by the c h i-sq u a re test; how ever, p ercen tag es a re also Indicated on the table to facilitate interpretation. A ch i-sq u a re value of 17.18 was obtained with 3 d egrees of freedom . T his value was significant beyond the previously set level 56 TABLE 5 FREQUENCY OF WITHDRAWAL VERSUS PERSISTENCE OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS DURING THE FALL SEMESTER, 1967, RELATIVE TO CLASSES CATEGORIZED BY AGE OF THE INSTRUCTORS Category W ithdrawals P e rsiste rs X2 26-35 85 (17 per cent) 501 36-45 174 (18 p er cent) 989 46-55 26 (07 p er cent) 349 55-65 31 (14 p er cent) 229 17. 18 i k p ^ . 05. of 0.05; therefore, the null hypothesis was rejected. The data as presented In Table 6 Indicate a pattern of withdrawal which is sim ila r to that reported in Table 5. Minor percentage changes have occurred in the firs t two categories but they still account for the largest proportion of student withdrawal. The interval of fo rty -six to fifty -fiv e-y ears-o f-ag e has the sm allest proportion of withdrawal and the fifty-six to sixty-five-year-old in stru cto r age interval shows an Increase in the proportion of withdrawal; however, the percentage is still below that of the first two intervals. 57 TABLE 6 FREQUENCY OF WITHDRAWAL VERSUS PERSISTENCE OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS DURING THE SPRING SEMESTER, 1968, RELATIVE TO CLASSES CATEGORIZED BY AGE OF THE INSTRUCTORS C ategory W ithdraw als P e rs is te rs " X - 5 - 26-35 87 (18 p e r cent) 472 36-45 160 (17 p e r cent) 951 46-55 19 (05 p e r cent) 355 56-65 20 (08 p e r cent) 262 35.24 p <l .05. Table 6 gives the obtained w ithdraw al frequencies of the 2,326 students who w ere studied during the sp rin g se m e ste r of 1968. The sta tistic a l analysis was a ll com puted on frequency data as req u ired by the ch i-sq u a re te st; how ever, percentages a re also Indicated on the table to fa cilitate la te r Interpretation. A ch i-sq u a re value of 35.24 was obtained with 3 degrees of freedom . This value was significant beyond the previously set level of 0.05; th ere fo re, the null hypothesis was rejected. The data p resen ted in T able 7 re p re se n t the fail and spring se m e ste rs in com bination. With the total sam ple population included 58 TABLE 7 FREQUENCY OF WITHDRAWAL VERSUS PERSISTENCE OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS DURING THE FALL SEMESTER, 1967, AND SPRING SEMESTER, 1968, RELATIVE TO CLASSES CATEGORIZED BY AGE OF THE INSTRUCTORS C ategory W ithdraw als P e rs is te rs - X T ' 26-35 172 (18 p e r cent) 973 36-45 334 (17 p e r cent) 1940 46-55 45 (6 p er cent) 704 56-65 51 (10 p e r cent) 491 48. 92 p < . 05. in this table, th ere a re som e m inor fluctuations in percentage; how ever, the p attern of p e rsiste n c e and w ithdraw al which was evidenced in Table 5 and Table 6 is repeated. The firs t two intervals covering ages tw enty-six to fo rty -fiv e show a relativ ely high p ro p o r tion of student w ithdraw al. The interval of fo rty -six to fifty-five y ears of age had the lowest proportion of student withdraw al. An in cre ase in the proportion of w ithdraw al is indicated in the fourth interval but the percentage is still not as g re at as in the firs t two Lnterval groupings. 59 T able 7 gives the obtained w ithdraw al frequencies of the 4,710 students who w ere studied during the fall s e m e s te r of 1967/ spring se m e ste r of 1968. The sta tistic a l analysis was a ll com puted on frequency data as req u ired by the ch i-sq u are test; however, percentages a re also indicated on the table to facilitate in terp retatio n . A ch i-sq u a re value of 48.92 was obtained with 3 d eg rees of freedom . T his value was significant beyond the previously set level of 0.0 5; th ere fo re, the null hypothesis was rejected . T e st of hypothesis 3 T h ere is no difference between the student w ithdraw al ra te from c la sse s taught by in stru cto rs with a m a s te r’s degree and the student w ithdraw al ra te from c la sse s taught by in stru cto rs with a doctorate. Hypothesis 3 was concerned with the possible effect an in stru c to r's degree level would have on student w ithdraw al from c la ss. The in stru cto rs w ere divided into two categ o ries. In stru c to rs with an M. S. o r M. A. degree w ere put into one category. In stru c to rs with a Ph. D. o r an Ed. D. w ere put into the o ther category. Table 8 indicates that the proportion of student w ithdraw al Is much low er in the category of c la sse s w here the In stru cto r p o sse sse s the doctorate than in the category of c la sse s w here the m a s te r's degree is the highest d eg ree earned. 60 TABLE 8 FREQUENCY OF WITHDRAWAL VERSUS PERSISTENCE OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS DURING THE FALL SEMESTER, 1967, RELATIVE TO CLASSES CATEGORIZED BY THE DEGREE LEVEL OF THE INSTRUCTORS C ategory W ithdrawals P e rs ls te rs .........X2 ' " " D octoral degree 33 (06 p er cent) 527 M a ste r's degree 283 (18 p e r cent) 1541 33.67 *p 1 . 0 5 . Table 8 gives the obtained w ithdraw al frequencies of the the 2,384 students who w ere studied during the fall se m e ste r of 1967. The sta tistic a l analysis was all com puted on frequency data as req u ired by the c h i-sq u a re test; how ever, percentages a re also indicated on the table to facilitate in terp retatio n . A ch i-sq u a re value of 33. 67 was obtained with 1 degree of freedom . The value was significant beyond the previously set level of 0.05; th ere fo re, the null hypothesis was rejected. The data as p resen ted in T able 9 indicate a pattern of w ithdraw al sim ila r to that rep o rted in T able 8. During the spring of 1968, the sm a lle st proportion of w ithdraw als was recorded in the category of in stru cto rs holding a doctorate. 61 TABLE 9 FREQUENCY OF WITHDRAWAL VERSUS PERSISTENCE OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS DURING THE SPRING SEMESTER, 1968, RELATIVE TO CLASSES CATEGORIZED BY THE DEGREE LEVEL OF THE INSTRUCTORS C ategory W ithdraw als P e rsiste rs X2 D octoral degree M a ste r's degree 31 (07 p e r cent) 255 (16 p e r cent) 462 1578 20.24 *p < ,05. Table 9 gives the obtained w ithdraw al frequencies of the 2,326 students who w ere studied during the spring se m e ste r of 1968. The sta tistic a l analysis was a ll com puted on frequency data as req u ired by the ch i-sq u a re te st; how ever, percentages a re also Indicated on the table to facilitate interp retatio n . A ch i-sq u a re value of 20. 24 was obtained with 1 degree of freedom . The value was significant beyond the previously set level of 0.05; th erefo re, the null hypothesis was rejected . Table 10 p re se n ts the data from the fall and spring se m e ste rs in com bination. With the to tal sam ple population Included in this table th e re a re som e m inor variations in percentages; how ever, the p attern of p ersisten ce and w ithdraw al which was noted in T able 8 and 62 TABLE 10 FREQUENCY OF WITHDRAWAL VERSUS PERSISTENCE OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS DURING THE FALL SEMESTER, 1967, AND SPRING SEMESTER, 1968, RELATIVE TO CLASSES CATEGORIZED BY THE DEGREE LEVEL OF THE INSTRUCTORS C ategory W ithdraw als P e rs is te rs X2 D octoral degree 64 (06 p er cent) 989 M a ste r's degree 538 (17 p e r cent) 3119 53.90 p <, .05. in Table 9 is repeated. The proportion of student w ithdraw al is sm allest in the category of In stru cto rs holding an earned doctorate. T able 10 gives the obtained w ithdraw al frequencies of the 4,710 students who w ere studied during the fall se m e ste r of 1967 and spring se m e ste r of 1968. The sta tistic a l analysis was all com puted on frequency data as req u ired by the ch i-sq u are test; how ever, percentages a re also indicated on the table to facilitate interpretation. A ch i-q u are value of 53. 90 was obtained with 1 degree of freedom . The value was significant beyond the previously set level of 0 .0 5 ; th ere fo re, the null hypothesis was rejected . 63 T est of hypothesis 4 T h ere is no difference between the student w ithdraw al ra te from c la sse s taught by in stru c to rs teaching in the m ajor are a of th eir highest earned degree and the student w ithdraw al ra te from cla sse s taught by In stru cto rs teaching out of the m ajor are a of th e ir highest earned degree. Hypothesis 4 was concerned with the possible effect of the subject m a tte r of an in stru c to r's highest degree on student withdraw al from the introductory c la ss in political science. The in stru cto rs w ere divided into th re e categ o ries. T hose with th e ir highest degree in political science w ere placed in one category, in stru cto rs with th e ir highest degree in h isto ry w ere placed in a second category, and the rem ain d er of the in stru cto rs w ere placed in the third category. Table 11, covering the fall se m e s te r, indicates that the sm allest proportion of student w ithdraw al was recorded among the category of in stru cto rs whose highest degree was in political science. The proportion of student w ithdraw al cam e close to the average in the category of in stru cto rs whose highest degree was in history. The larg e st proportion of student w ithdraw als was noted In the category of In stru cto rs who had d eg rees in fields other than political science o r history. 64 TABLE 11 FREQUENCY OF WITHDRAWAL VERSUS PERSISTENCE OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS DURING THE FALL SEMESTER, 1967, RELATIVE TO CLASSES CATEGORIZED BY THE SUBJECT MATTER AREA OF INSTRUCTORS' HIGHEST DEGREES C ategory W ithdraw als P e rs is te rs X2 P olitical science 114 (12 p er cent) 971 H istory 76 (16 p e r cent) 484 O ther 126 (21 p er cent) 613 16.43* p ^ .05. Table 11 gives the obtained w ithdraw al frequencies of the 2,384 students who w ere studied during the fall se m e ste r of 1967. The sta tistic a l analysis was a ll com puted on frequency data as required by the ch i-sq u a re test; how ever, percentages a re also indicated on the table to facilitate Interpretation, A ch i-sq u are value of 16. 43 was obtained with 2 degrees of freedom . The value was significant beyond the previously set level of 0.05; th ere fo re, the null hypothesis was rejected . An exam ination of the data shown in Table 12 indicates that 65 the p attern of w ithdraw al during the spring se m e ste r of 1968 rem ains in conform ity with the data p resen t in Table 11. T here a re , how ev er, som e Im portant differences. The percentage change between the firs t and second categories is less pronounced, and the p e rc e n t age difference between the second and th ird categories has become alm ost insignificant. TABLE 12 FREQUENCY OF WITHDRAWAL VERSUS PERSISTENCE OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS DURING THE SPRING SEMESTER, 1968, RELATIVE TO CLASSES CATEGORIZED BY THE SUBJECT MATTER AREA OF INSTRUCTORS' HIGHEST DEGREES C ategory W ithdrawals P e rs ls te rs X2 Political science 110 (12 p e r cent) 934 H istory 73 (15 p e r cent) 499 O ther 100 (16 per cent) 610 5.23* P £ -05. T able 12 gives the obtained withdraw al frequencies of the 2,326 students who w ere studied during the spring sem e ste r of 1968, The sta tistic a l analysis was a ll com puted on frequency data as 66 req u ired by the chi-square test; how ever, percentages a re also indicated on the table to facilitate interpretation. A ch i-sq u a re value of 5.23 was obtained with 2 degrees of freedom . The value was significant beyond the previously set level of 0.05; th erefo re, the null hypothesis was rejected . Table 13 p resen ts the data from the fall and spring se m e ste rs in com bination. The proportion of w ithdraw al assum es a uniform p attern of relationship between the th re e categ o ries. Additionally, the data a re consistent with the p attern s of student w ithdraw al rep o rted In Table 11 and T able 12. The sm allest p ro portion of student withdraw al was reco rd ed in the category of Instru cto rs whose highest degree was in political science, and the la rg e st proportion of student withdraw al was in the category of instru cto rs who had degrees in fields other than political science o r history. Table 13 gives the obtained w ithdraw al frequencies of the 4,710 students who w ere studied during the fall sem e ste r of 1967 and spring se m e ste r of 1968. The sta tistic a l analysis was all computed on frequency data as req u ired by the ch i-sq u a re test; however, percentages a re also indicated on the table to facilitate interpretation. A c h i-sq u a re value of 15.57 was obtained with 2 degrees of freedom . The value was significant beyond the previously set level 67 TABLE 13 FREQUENCY OF WITHDRAWAL VERSUS PERSISTENCE OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS DURING THE FALL SEMESTER, 1967, AND SPRING SEMESTER, 1968, RELATIVE TO CLASSES CATEGORIZED BY THE SUBJECT MATTER AREA OF THE INSTRUCTORS' HIGHEST DEGREES C ategory W ithdrawals P e rs ls te rs ' X2 P olitical science 224 (12 p e r cent) 1905 H istory 149 (15 p e r cent) 983 O ther 226 (18 p er cent) 1223 15.57* p ^ .05. of 0.05; th erefo re, the null hypothesis was rejected . T est of hypothesis 5 T h ere is no relationship between the student withdraw al ra te and the in stru c to r's y ears of secondary school teaching experience. Hypothesis 5 was concerned with the possible effect of an in stru c to r's y ears of secondary school teaching experience on student w ithdraw al. The in stru cto rs w ere divided into four categ o ries. Those with no secondary teaching experience w ere placed in a second 68 category, in stru cto rs with five to eight y ears of experience w ere placed in a th ird category, and those with nine to fourteen y ears of secondary school teaching experience w ere placed in a fourth category. Table 14, covering the fall se m e ste r, Indicates that the sm allest proportion of student w ithdraw al was reco rd ed in the category of In stru cto rs with no secondary school experience. The second sm allest proportion of student w ithdraw al was record ed in the category of in stru cto rs with five to eight y ears of secondary school teaching experience. The la rg e st proportion of student w ithdraw al was in the second and fourth categ o ries. T his table gives the obtained w ithdraw al frequencies of the 2,384 students who w ere studied during the fa ll se m e ste r of 1967. The sta tistic a l analysis was all com puted on frequency data as req u ired by the ch i-sq u a re te st; how ever, percentages a re also indicated on the table to facilitate Interpretation. A c h i-sq u a re value of 38. 41 was obtained with 3 d egrees of freedom . The value was significant beyond the previously set level of 0.05; th e re fo re , the null hypothesis was rejected . An exam ination of the data shown In T able 15 indicates that the p attern of w ithdraw al during the sp rin g se m e ste r of 1968 has not rem ained in conform ity with the proportions p resented in T able 14. 69 TABLE 14 FREQUENCY OF WITHDRAWAL VERSUS PERSISTENCE OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS DURING THE FALL SEMESTER, 1967, RELATIVE TO CLASSES CATEGORIZED BY THE YEARS OF SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHING EXPERIENCE OF THE INSTRUCTORS C ategory W ithdrawals P er s is te rs - ' x 2 - None 85 (09 p e r cent) 907 1-4 120 (22 p e r cent) 540 5-8 74 (16 p e r cent) 462 9-14 37 (23 p er cent) 159 38. 41* P ^ .0 5 . While the sm allest proportion of student w ithdraw al is s till indicated in the category of in stru cto rs with no secondary school teaching experience, the relativ e positions of the o th er th re e categ o ries have a ll changed considerably. T able 15 gives the obtained w ithdraw al frequencies of the 2,326 students who w ere studied during the spring se m e ste r of 1968. The sta tistic a l analysis was all computed on frequency data as req u ired by the ch i-sq u are te st; how ever, percentages a re also 70 TABLE 15 FREQUENCY OF WITHDRAWAL VERSUS PERSISTENCE OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS DURING THE SPRING SEMESTER, 1968, RELATIVE TO CLASSES CATEGORIZED BY THE YEARS OF SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHING EXPERIENCE OF THE INSTRUCTORS C ategory W ithdraw als P e rs is te rs None 104 (12 p e r cent) 895 1-4 73 (12 p er cent) 612 5-8 77 (21 p e r cent) 368 9-14 27 (16 p e r cent) 170 15. 85* p ^ . 0 5 . Indicated on the table to facilitate Interpretation. A ch i-sq u a re value of 15, 85 was obtained with 3 d eg rees of freedom . The value was significant beyond the previously set level of 0.05; th e re fo re , the null hypothesis was rejected . Table 16 p resen ts the combined data from the fall and spring se m e s te rs . C onsistent with the data rep o rted in Table 14 and T able 15 is the category of in stru c to rs experiencing the sm allest proportion of student w ithdraw al. In the rem aining th re e categ o ries, 71 TABLE 16 FREQUENCY OF WITHDRAWAL VERSUS PERSISTENCE OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS DURING THE FALL SEMESTER, 1967, AND SPRING SEMESTER, 1968, RELATIVE TO CLASSES CATEGORIZED BY THE YEARS OF SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHING EXPERIENCE OF THE INSTRUCTORS C ategory W ithdraw als P e rsiste rs — None 189 (10 p e r cent) 1802 1-4 193 (17 p e r cent) 1152 5-8 151 (18 per cent) 830 9-14 64 (19 p er cent) 329 32, 80* p < 1 .05. the proportion of student w ithdraw al shows m inor percentage in cre ases as the y ears of secondary school teaching experience in crease. Table 16 gives the obtained w ithdraw al frequencies of the 4,710 students who w ere studied during the fall se m e ste r of 1967 and spring s e m e ste r of 1968. The sta tistic a l analysis was all com puted on frequency data as req u ired by the ch i-sq u are te st; however, percentages a re also indicated on the table to facilitate Interpretation. A ch i-sq u are value of 32. 80 was obtained with 3 d eg rees of 72 freedom . The observed value was significant beyond the previously set level of 0 .0 5 ; th ere fo re, the null hypothesis was rejected . T est of hypothesis 6 T h ere is no relationship between the student w ithdraw al ra te and the in stru c to r's years of college teaching experience. Hypothesis 6 was concerned with the possible effect of an In stru c to r's y ears of college teaching experience on student with draw al. The in stru cto rs w ere divided into four categ o ries. E xperience was m easured as of the end of the 1967-68 school year. Thus, an in stru cto r in his firs t y ear of college teaching was categorized as having one year of experience. T able 17, covering the fall se m e ste r, indicates that the larg e st proportion of student w ithdraw al was recorded in the firs t two Intervals of in stru cto rs with less than ten y ears of college teaching experience. The sm a lle st proportion of student w ithdraw al was recorded in the th ird and fourth intervals of in stru cto rs with m ore than ten y ears of college teaching experience. This table gives the obtained w ithdraw al frequencies of the 2,384 students who w ere studied during the fall se m e ste r of 1967. The s ta tistic a l analysis was all com puted on frequency data as req u ired by the ch i-sq u a re te st; how ever, percentages a re also indicated on the table to facilitate interpretation. 73 TABLE 17 FREQUENCY OF WITHDRAWAL VERSUS PERSISTENCE OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS DURING THE FALL SEMESTER, 1967, RELATIVE TO CLASSES CATEGORIZED BY THE INSTRUCTORS' YEARS OF COLLEGE TEACHING EXPERIENCE C ategory W ithdraw als P er s is te rs .... x2 ... 1-5 103 (18 p e r cent) 578 6-10 76 (20 p e r cent) 377 11-15 99 (12 p e r cent) 816 164- 38 (16 p e r cent) 297 12.80* p ^ .05. A ch i-sq u are value of 12.74 was obtained with 3 degrees of freedom . The value was significant beyond the previously set level of 0.05; th ere fo re, the null hypothesis was rejected. An exam ination of the data shown In Table 18 indicates that the p attern of w ithdraw al during the sp rin g se m e ste r indicated som e consistency with the data p resen ted in T able 17. The larg e st proportion of student w ithdraw al was reco rd ed in the firs t two intervals of In stru cto rs with less than ten years of college teaching experience. The sm allest proportion of student withdraw al was 74 TABLE 18 FREQUENCY OF WITHDRAWAL VERSUS PERSISTENCE OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS DURING THE SPRING SEMESTER, 1968, RELATIVE TO CLASSES CATEGORIZED BY THE INSTRUCTORS' YEARS OF COLLEGE TEACHING EXPERIENCE C ategory W ithdraw als P e rs is te rs X2 1-5 103 (20 p er cent) 514 6-10 61 (15 p e r cent) 403 11-15 101 (13 p er cent) 794 I6 f 21 (06 p e r cent) 329 25.09* p ^ . 05. recorded In the th ird and fourth in terv als of in stru c to rs with m ore than ten years of college teaching experience. T able 18 gives the obtained w ithdraw al frequencies of the 2,326 students who w ere studied during the spring se m e ste r of 1968. The sta tistic a l an aly sis was all com puted on frequency data as req u ired by the ch i-sq u are test; how ever, percentages a re also indicated on the table to facilitate interpretation. A c h i-sq u a re value of 25.09 was obtained with 3 d egrees of freedom . The value was significant beyond the previously set level 75 of 0.05; th ere fo re, the null hypothesis was rejected . T able 19 p re se n ts the com bined data from the fall and spring se m e s te rs. C onsistent with the data rep o rted in T able 17 and T able 18 is the larg e proportion of student w ithdraw al reco rd ed in the firs t two Intervals of In stru cto rs with le ss than ten y ears of college teaching experience. The proportional relationship of the in terv als shows a d ec re a se in the proportion of student w ithdraw al as the y ears of college teaching in crease. TABLE 19 FREQUENCY OF WITHDRAWAL VERSUS PERSISTENCE OF COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS DURING THE FALL SEMESTER, 1967, AND SPRING SEMESTER, 1968, RELATIVE TO CLASSES CATEGORIZED BY THE INSTRUCTORS’ YEARS OF COLLEGE TEACHING EXPERIENCE C ategory W ithdraw als P e rsiste rs 1-5 206 (19 p e r cent) 1092 6-10 137 (18 p er cent) 780 11-15 200 (12 p e r cent) 1610 16f 59 (09 p e r cent) 626 30.49* *p ^ . 05. 76 Table 19 gives the obtained w ithdraw al frequencies of the 4,710 students who w ere studied during the fall se m e ste r of 1967 and spring se m e ste r of 1968. T he sta tistic a l analysis was a ll com puted on frequency data as req u ired by the ch i-sq u a re test; however, percentages a re also indicated on the table to facilitate interpretation. A c h i-sq u a re value o r 30. 49 was obtained with 3 d egrees of freedom . The value was significant beyond the previously set level of 0.05; th ere fo re, the null hypothesis was rejected. D iscussion of Findings T he findings supported the re se a rc h hypothesis that th ere is a relationship between the student w ithdraw al ra te and the in stru c to rs ' grading p atte rn s. It is in terestin g to o b serv e that all th ree ch i-sq u ares on grading p attern re v eal that it is the in stru cto rs categorized as "difficult" that experience the higher withdraw al rate. T his finding is in acco rd with the lite ra tu re which found that institutions which w ere c h a racteriz ed by se v e re grading p ra ctic es experience higher attritio n . T he evidence seem s to Indicate that student p ersisten c e is not p a rtic u la rly asso ciated with the "easy" g ra d e r as opposed to the "average" g ra d e r. However, the opposite end of the grading scale has m ore im pact. The in stru cto rs ca te g o r ized as "difficult" experienced twice the percentage of w ithdraw al 77 as th e ir colleagues categorized as "average" in grading policies. T he re se a rc h hypothesis that th ere is a relationship between the student w ithdraw al ra te and the in s tru c to r's age was supported in the findings. The apparently in v erse relationship between in stru c to r 's age and student w ithdraw al seem s to Indicate that the older in stru c to rs g enerate m ore "holding pow er. " The lite ra tu re rev eals that the younger m em bers of the com m unity college faculties a re m ore likely to have a "graduate school" orientation. In addition, the younger faculty m em bers som etim es see the com m unity college as a tem p o rary station on the way to a fo u r-y e a r institution. T h ere may be a num ber of reasons to account fo r the findings, how ever, it is interestin g to note that the In stru cto rs In the higher age categories have a convincing re c o rd of su ccess in reg ard to prom oting student p ersisten c e. The re se a rc h hypothesis that th ere is a difference between the student withdraw al ra te from c la sse s taught by Instru cto rs with a m a s te r's degree and the student w ithdraw al ra te from c la sse s taught by Instru cto rs with a doctorate was supported in the findings. The fact that those with a d octorate experience less w ithdraw al is perhaps indicative of a higher degree of p ro fessio n al ism . P erhaps those at the m a s te r's level a re involved in graduate 78 work which tem p o rarily siphons off energy from th e ir teaching re sp o n sib ilities. W hatever the reasons for the d isp a ritie s In the percentages of w ithdraw als, the evidence supports the contention that in stru cto rs with doctorates will experience less w ithdraw al than th e ir colleagues a t the m a s te r's degree level. The re se a rc h hypothesis that th e re is a difference between the student withdraw al ra te from c la sse s taught by in stru cto rs teaching in the m ajor a re a of th e ir highest earned deg ree and the student w ithdraw al ra te from c la sse s taught by in stru cto rs teaching out of the m ajor are a of th e ir highest earn ed degree was supported in the findings. It is interestin g to note that in a ll instances, the w ithdraw al ra te from political science c la sse s was low est in the category of in stru cto rs with th e ir highest degree in political science. In te rm s of political science c la sse s, the subject m a tte r specialty of the in stru cto rs appears to have som e relevance to the problem of student w ithdraw al. The re se a rc h hypothesis that th e re is a relationship between the student w ithdraw al ra te and the in stru c to r's y ears of secondary school teaching experience was supported in the findings. In te rm s of secondary school teaching experience, the evidence seem s to Indicate that those with no secondary school 79 teaching experience a re likely to experience low er student withdraw al ra te s. A dditionally, the com bined s e m e s te r's data could be in te rp re ted to m ean that secondary school teaching experience Is not of g reat benefit to the com m unity college in stru cto r. The re se a rc h hypothesis that th e re is a relationship between the student w ithdraw al ra te and the in stru c to r's y ears of college teaching experience was supported In the findings. In co n trast to findings re latin g to secondary school experience, the evidence indicated that those with m ore college teaching experience would experience a low er student w ithdraw al ra te . This is in accord with the lite ra tu re which places the com m unity college in higher education not in secondary education. C hapter Sum m ary This chapter has p resen ted findings which have been related to the hypotheses posed in this investigation. The findings have been based upon sta tistic a l analysis of the data for the fall of 1967, the spring of 1968, and the fall and spring com bined. R esults have been p rim a rily indicated in tab u lar form . Interpretation of the data was confined to the discussion section. Sum m aries of the findings a re as follows: 1. In stru c to rs whose grading p attern s w ere categorized 80 as "difficult" experienced a higher student w ithdraw al ra te than in stru cto rs categorized as "average" o r " e a s y ." 2. In stru c to rs in the tw enty-six to fo rty -fiv e-y ea r-o ld categ o ries experienced a higher student w ithdraw al ra te than in stru cto rs in the fo rty -six to sixty-five- y ear-o ld categ o ries. 3. In stru c to rs with a m a s te r's degree experienced a higher student w ithdraw al ra te than in stru cto rs with a doctorate. 4. In stru c to rs teaching out of the m ajor a re a of th e ir highest earned degree experienced a higher student w ithdraw al ra te than in stru cto rs teaching in the m ajor a re a of th e ir highest earned degree. 5. In stru c to rs with secondary school teaching e x p e ri ence encountered a higher student withdraw al ra te than in stru cto rs with no secondary school teaching experience. 6. In stru c to rs with less than ten years of college teach ing experience encountered a higher student w ithdraw al ra te than In stru cto rs with m ore than ten y ears of college teaching experience. CHAPTER V SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS Sum m ary Background of the problem T h ere have been m ultitudes of dropout studies In recen t years; a num ber of these have been so -ca lle d "autopsy studies" w here students a re asked th e ir reaso n s for withdrawing. However, the student is only one side of the attritio n picture. T h ere is another aspect of the attritio n problem that focuses on the institution instead of the student. F ro m this aspect, the question to be ra ise d is--d o e s the institution drop the student? The bulk of the lite ra tu re has generally ignored this aspect of the problem . Problem situation In the C alifornia com m unity colleges the introductory course in political science m ust be com pleted to fulfill degree o r tra n s fe r req u irem en ts. D espite the fact that the course is req u ired , th ere is 81 82 still a substantial w ithdraw al problem . The expense of ex cessiv e dropouts is a luxury that education can no longer afford. It is esse n tia l to reduce the financial and hum an lo sses which re su lt from high attritio n ra te s . P art of the problem is the fact that m ost of the re se a rc h on college attritio n is focused on the student. L ess attention is paid the institutional setting and to the in stru c to r him self. It is strange that the In stru cto r and the institution have been slighted in the lite ra tu re despite the fact that a substantial num ber of the studies indicate that the students did not like college o r w ere not m otivated. T h ere is a g re at need for re se a rc h on the college environ m ent as It re la te s to college attritio n . The com m unity college, in p a rtic u la r, is an institution in need of p a rtic u la r em phasis because of its ex tra o rd in ary growth in recen t y ears. Purpose of the study The purpose of this study was to analyze selected c h a ra c te r istics of com m unity college political science in stru cto rs in an effort to a sc e rta in the possible relationships between these c h a ra c te ristic s and the w ithdraw al ra te from the introductory co u rse in A m erican G overnm ent. This Investigation was ad d ressed to the following questions: 1. What does the lite ra tu re rev eal regarding w ithdraw als 83 a t the com m unity college level? 2. Is th e re a relationship between the student w ithdraw al ra te and the in stru c to r's grading pattern? 3. Is th e re a relationship between the student w ithdraw al ra te and the in s tru c to r's age? 4. Is th ere a difference between the student withdraw al ra te of in stru cto rs with a m a s te r's degree and the student w ithdraw al ra te of in stru cto rs with a doctorate? 5. Is th e re a difference between the student withdraw al ra te of in stru cto rs teaching in the m ajor are a of th eir highest earned d eg ree and the student withdrawal ra te of in stru cto rs teaching out of the m ajor a re a of the highest earned degree? 6. Is th e re a relationship between the student w ithdraw al ra te and the in stru c to r's y ears of secondary teaching experience? 7. Is th e re a relationship between the student w ithdraw al ra te and the In stru c to r's y ears of college teaching experience? m ptlons 1. It was assum ed that class ro ll books provide reliab le re c o rd s on grading p attern s, withdraw al ra te s , and 84 class size. 2. It was assum ed that com puter m aintained re co rd system s provide re liab le re co rd s on grading p attern s, w ithdraw al ra te s, and c la ss size. 3. It was assum ed that college personnel files provide reliab le re c o rd s on an in stru c to r’s age, years of experience, and the subject m atter and level of his highest earned degree. T h eo retical fram ew ork T his study was not based upon a p a rtic u la r theory of college student attritio n . It did, however, utilize K noell's suggested model for the flow of students In higher education. A ttrition Is viewed as one type of re su lt of the Interaction of student, institution, and system v ariab les. The student Is but one factor in the m odel for the flow. The collegiate institution and the system of higher education of which the institution is a p a rt a re seen as facto rs of equal Im portance (5:63). The collegiate institution is influenced by a num ber of v ariab les. This study did not attem pt to explore the num erous institutional v ariab les which could influence student withdraw al. The only Institutional v ariab le that was exam ined was the faculty. The study was p rim a rily concerned with providing knowledge on the 85 possible relationship of selected te a c h e r c h a ra c te ristic s to student w ithdraw al from political science co u rses. Im portance of the study One of the m ost significant expenditures in C alifornia com m unity college education is for in stru c to r^ s a la rie s . The num ber of in stru cto rs needed fo r a given se m e ste r is based upon the num ber of students who en ro ll and com plete the se m e ste r. With the increasing pinch on the educational d o llar and the concom itant need for g re a te r efficiency, it becom es n e c e ssa ry to predict the with draw al ra te p e r in stru cto r with g re a te r sophistication than is done at the p resen t tim e. U nless the facto rs asso ciated with student w ithdraw al a re m ore accu rately pinned down, institutions will continue to w aste precious educational d o llars by hiring m ore in stru cto rs than a re needed in som e a re a s and few er in stru cto rs than a re needed in other a re a s. Another criterio n of significance is w hether a study re la te s to a wide population. In the past ten years student enrollm ent in the com m unity colleges throughout the United States has increased alm ost fourfold. In C alifornia higher education the com m unity colleges account fo r approxim ately 60 p er cent of the total enrollm ent. In addition to being a larg e population, the com m unity college population has recen tly become potentially m ore powerful. 86 Now that the eig hteen-y ear-old vote has become a reality , v irtually the en tire population of the com m unity college is eligible to vote In fed eral, state, and local elections. In spite of the extensive num ber of studies on college attritio n , knowledge on the subject is still quite lim ited. The m ajority of the studies have focused on the student and have Ignored the institutional facto rs. This study is Im portant because it focuses on an im portant Institutional v a ria b le --th e Instru cto r. By building up m ore inform ation on the institutional fa cto rs relatin g to attritio n , it will then be possible for future studies to explore the total re la tio n ship between the student, the institution, and the system of higher education. Definitions of term s Selected te rm s w ere defined fo r th is study in o rd e r to avoid confusion with these te rm s as they a re som etim es used In the general lite ra tu re and to clarify the m eaning of som e of the variables in the study. D elim itations of the study T his study Involved five larg e com m unity colleges in Southern C alifornia. Each of the com m unity colleges had m ore than 10,000 in enrollm ent and each drew from a la rg e urban area. 87 The study covered the two consecutive se m e ste rs from the fall of 1967 through the spring of 1968. T his tim e period was selected because it rep resen ted a period when ex tern al facto rs such as the draft w ere not creating g re at instability In withdraw al p attern s. The study Included only fu ll-tim e con tract in stru cto rs who taught a m inim um of two c la sse s in the introductory co u rse in A m erican G overnm ent during the fall s e m e ste r of 1967 and a m ini mum of two c la sse s in the introductory co u rse in A m erican Governm ent during the spring se m e ste r of 1968. L im itations of the study 1. This study has been confined to political science In stru cto rs and is not Intended to be generallzable to all subject m atter a re a s. R eplications of this study would be n ec essary In other subject m a tte r areas before any generalizations could be made. 2. The sam ple Institutions have been drawn from larg e urban com m unity colleges in Southern C alifornia. No inference is m ade regarding the applicability of findings to sm all com m unity colleges o r to those in predom inantly ru ra l settings. 88 M ethods and procedures T his re se a rc h study employed the com bined strateg y of the causal-com parative technique. C ausal-com parative re se a rc h Is "ex post facto" in nature. The data a r e collected afte r all the events of in te re st have o ccu rred . Because of the nature and com plexity of so cial phenom ena, the cau sal-co m p arativ e technique provides an im portant altern ativ e to the experim ental method. Because of ethical consideration, it would be unjustified to place students in a controlled environm ent to determ ine w hether academ ic failu re o r withdrawal could be induced. S im ilarly, lab o rato ry type controls of the various independent v ariables would be highly u n re alistic and artificial. Selection of subjects The data w ere collected from five larg e, urban com m unity colleges in the Southern C alifornia a re a . All of the colleges a re situated in p rim a rily urban settings and all of the colleges had enrollm ents in ex cess of 10,000 as of the fall of 1967. The com bined enrollm ents of the five colleges was over 70,000. The in stru cto rs included in the study w ere a ll fu ll-tim e contract in stru cto rs who taught two o r m ore daytim e sections of introductory political science during the fall of 1967 and the spring of 1968. Of the tw enty-eight in stru cto rs who m et the requirem ents of the study, th ere w ere tw enty-seven m ales and one fem ale. 89 C lasses to be Included in the study w ere random ly selected. Only daytim e co u rses in the basic Introductory political science co u rse w ere eligible fo r selection. F ro m the list of eligible c o u rse s, the two c la sse s which w ere clo sest in tim e to 12:00 P. M. w ere selected. A total of 112 co u rses in political science w ere Included in the study. The total num ber of students enrolled in these co u rses cam e to 4,710, Instrum entation and data collection Each of the colleges included in the study was personally contacted by the re s e a rc h e r and so licited for th e ir cooperation in the study. Because som e of the inform ation was obtained from personnel and teaching re c o rd s, it was esse n tia l to guarantee that all inform a tion would be kept com pletely confidential. F o r th is reason each college was assigned a code num ber and each te a c h e r was assigned a code num ber. Inform ation could then be tra n s fe rre d from personnel and teaching reco rd s by the selected institution's staff without com prom ising the privacy of th e ir re c o rd s. S tatistical treatm en t A fter carefu l consideration of the nature of the data, it was decided to utilize c h i-sq u a re in the sta tistic a l trea tm en t, since the data w ere in the form of d isc re te categ o ries and the v ariab les of 90 In terest w ere in independent groups. The level of significance fo r rejecting the null hypotheses was set at 0 ,0 5 . This level was considered reasonable and in accord with conventional educational re se a rc h . In addition to the ch i-sq u are, t-te s ts w ere conducted on to tal withdraw al ra te s between the fall of 1967 and spring of 1968 se m e ste rs. All of the data w ere analyzed at the U niversity of Southern C alifornia Computing C enter. Findings Findings have been reduced to b rief su m m aries. F o r a m ore extensive explanation of a ll findings, re fe r to C hapter IV. T est of hypothesis 1 T h ere is no relationship between the student w ithdraw al ra te and the in stru c to r's grading p attern . The null hypothesis was re je cted . In stru cto rs whose grading p attern s w ere categorized as "difficult" experienced a higher student withdraw al ra te than in stru cto rs categorized as "average" o r "easy. " T est of hypothesis 2 T here is no relationship between the student w ithdraw al ra te and the in stru c to r's grading pattern. The null hypothesis was rejected . In stru cto rs in the tw enty- 91 six to fo rty -fiv e-y ea r-o ld categories experienced a higher student w ithdraw al ra te than In stru cto rs In the fo rty -six to slx ty -flv e -y e a r- old categories. T est of hypothesis 3 T h ere Is no difference between the student withdraw al ra te from c la sse s taught by In stru cto rs with a m a s te r's degree and the student w ithdraw al ra te from c la sse s taught by Instru cto rs with a doctorate. The null hypothesis was rejected . In stru cto rs with a m a s te r's degree experienced a higher student w ithdraw al ra te than in stru cto rs with a doctorate. T e st of hypothesis 4 T h ere is no difference between the student w ithdraw al ra te from c la sse s taught by in stru cto rs teaching in the m ajor area of th eir highest earned degree and the student w ithdraw al ra te from classe s taught by In stru cto rs teaching out of the m ajo r are a of th e ir highest earned degree. The null hypothesis was rejected . In stru cto rs teaching out of the m ajor a re a of th e ir highest earned degree experienced a higher student withdraw al ra te than Instru cto rs teaching in the m ajor are a of th e ir highest earned degree. T e st of hypothesis 5 T h ere is no relationship between the student w ithdraw al ra te and the in stru c to rs ’ y ears of secondary school teaching experience. The null hypothesis was rejected . In stru c to rs with second ary school teaching experience encountered a higher student withdraw al ra te than In stru cto rs with no secondary school teaching experience. T est of hypothesis 6 T here is no relationship between the student w ithdraw al ra te and the in stru c to rs' years of college teaching experience. The null hypothesis was rejected. In stru c to rs with less than ten y ears of college teaching experience encountered a higher student w ithdraw al ra te than in stru cto rs with m ore than ten years of college teaching experience. C onclusions 1. Based upon the findings of this study, it is the conclusion of this investigation that grading policies of com munity college in stru cto rs have definite im plications re g a rd ing student w ithdraw al from political science co u rses. The relationship between student withdraw al ra te and the In stru c to r's grading p attern appears to be m ost 93 strongly asso ciated with those in stru cto rs who a re ch aracterized by relativ ely sev ere grading p ra ctic es. T hese In stru cto rs a re m ore likely to experience a higher withdraw al ra te than th e ir m ore lenient colleagues. 2. Based upon the findings of this study, it is the conclu sion of this investigation that the age of com m unity college in stru cto rs is a significant variable in relation to student withdraw al from political science co u rses. The evidence ap pears to support the conclusion that in stru cto rs between the ages of fo rty - six and sixty-five a re m ore likely to experience a low er w ithdraw al ra te than in stru cto rs between the ages of tw enty-six and forty-five. 3. Based upon the findings of this study, it is the conclusion of this investigation that the degree level of comm unity college in stru cto rs is a significant variable in relation to student withdraw al from political science co u rses. The evidence appears to support the conclusion that in stru cto rs with an earned doctorate are m ore likely to experience a low er withdraw al ra te than in stru cto rs who only have a m a s te r's degree. 94 4. Based upon Che findings of th is study, It Is the conclu sion of this investigation that the subject m atter are a of a com m unity college in stru c to r's degree is a significant v ariab le in relation to student withdrawal from political science co u rse s. The evidence appears to support the conclusion that in stru cto rs who a re teaching classe s In the subject m atter are a of th e ir highest earned degree a re m ore likely to experience a low er student w ithdraw al ra te than in stru cto rs teaching in c la sse s which a re not in the subject m atter are a of th eir highest earned degree. 5. Based upon the findings of this study, it is the conclu sion of this investigation that teaching experience at the secondary level Is a significant variable in relation to student withdraw al from political science co u rses. The evidence ap p ears to support the conclusion that in stru cto rs who have not had secondary school teaching experience a re m ore likely to experience a lower student withdraw al ra te than in stru cto rs who have had secondary school teaching experience. 6. Based upon the findings of this study, It is the conclusion of this investigation that teaching experience 95 at the college level Is a significant v ariab le in relatio n to student w ithdraw al from political science co u rse s. The evidence appears to support the conclusion that in stru cto rs who have ten o r m ore years of college teaching experience a re m ore likely to experience a low er student w ithdraw al ra te than Instru cto rs with less than ten y ears of college teaching experience. 7. Based upon the findings of this study, it is the conclusion of this investigation that teach er c h a ra c te r istic s a re significant v aria b le s in relation to student withdraw al from political science co u rse s. The evidence ap p ears to support the conclusion that the instructional staff is an im portant component in the interaction of student, institution, and system v ariab les which can re su lt in student withdraw al. Recom m endations 1. This study was concerned with student w ithdraw al from c la sse s in political science. The lite ra tu re suggests that students value different teach er c h a ra c te ristic s depending on the discipline Involved. T h erefo re, it is recom m ended that the study be 96 rep licated In o ther subject m a tte r a re a s. 2. T his study was concerned with student withdraw al at larg e urban com m unity colleges. Based on the lite ra tu re which suggests that differences in in stitu tional environm ents can lead to differences in student p e rsisten c e, it is recom m ended that the study be replicated in sm all com m unity colleges and in com m unity colleges located In ru ra l settings. 3. It is recom m ended that re se a rc h be conducted to investigate why the In stru cto rs with no secondary school teaching background experienced a significantly low er proportion of student w ithdraw al than in stru cto rs with secondary school teaching experience. 4. It is recom m ended that the study be replicated with a different set of teac h er c h a ra c te ristic s based on personality inventories o r value surveys. BIBLIOGRAPHY 97 BIBLIOGRAPHY Books 1. Borg, W alter R. E ducational R ese a rc h . New York: David McKay, I n c ., 1963, 2. B raw er, F lo ren ce B. P ersonality C h a ra c te ristic s of College and U niversity Faculty: im plications fo r the Community C ollege^ Monograph No. S! W ashington, D. C . : A m erican A ssociation of Junior C olleges, 1968. 3. Feldm an, Kenneth A ., and Newcomb, T heodore M. The Im pact of C ollege on S tudents. San F ran cisco : Jossey- Bass, I n c ., 19o9. 4. G arriso n , R oger, ju n io r C ollege Faculty: Issu es and Problem s, A P relim in ary N ational A p p raisal. Washington, D. C . : A m erican A ssociation of Junior C olleges, 1967. 5. Knoell, D orothy M. "A C ritic a l Review of R esearch on the College Dropout. 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N onparam etric S tatistics for the Behavioral S ciences. New York: M cG raw -H ill, I n c ., 1956. 13. S um m ersklll, J. "D ropouts fro m College. " The A m erican C ollege. Edited by Nevitt Sanford. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1962, 14. Van Dalen, Deobold B ., and M eyer, W illiam J. U nderstanding Educational R esearch. New York: M cG raw -H ill, Inc. , T M ----------------------------------- P eriodicals 15. Abel, W alter H. "A ttrition and the Student Who Is C ertain. Personnel and Guidance Journal, XLIV Hune, 1966), 1042- 45.----------- ------------- ------------ 16. A ngers, W. P. "A chievem ent M otivation in College and Prevention of D ropouts. M Catholic Education Review, LIX (January, 1961), 34-39. 17. B arger, B ., and Hall, E. "P ersonality P atterns and A chievem ent in C ollege. " Educational and Psychological M easurem ent, XXIV (Sum m er, 1964), 339-46. 18. Boyer, L. E . , and M ichael, W. B. "Outcomes of College: E arly W ithdrawal from College. 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Daniel, Kathryn B, "A Study of C ollege Dropouts with R espect to A cadem ic and P ersonality V ariab les. " journal of Educational R esearch, LX (january, 1967), 230-35. 25. DeVecchio, R ichard C. "C h a ra c te ristic s of N onreturning Community College F resh m en . " journal of College Student P erso n n el, XIII (Septem ber, 1972), 42^-317 26. E ckert, Ruth E. "Age and the C ollege T each er. " AAUP Bulletin. LVIII (M arch, 1972), 40-43. 27. F arn sw o rth , Dana S. "Some N on-A cadem ic C auses of Success and F ailu re in College Students. " College A dm ission, II (1955), 72-78. 28. F riedm an, N. L. "C a re e r Stages and O rganizational Role D ecisions of T each ers in Two Public Junior C olleges. " Sociology of Education, XL (Sum m er, 1967), 231-45. 29. G adzella, B. M ., and Bentall, G. "D ifferences in High School A cadem ic A chievem ents and M ental A bilities of College G raduates and College Dropouts. " College and U niv ersity , XLII (Spring, 1967), 351-56. 101 30. GekoskL, N ., and Schw artz, S. "Student M ortality and R elated F a c to r s ." journal of E ducational R ese a rc h , LIV (January, 1961), 192*94. 31. G iusti, Joseph P. "High School A verage As a P red icto r of College S uccess. " C ollege and U n iv ersity , XXXIX (W inter, 1964), 200-9. 32. G race H. "P ersonality F a c to rs and C ollege A ttritio n ." Peabody journal of Education, XXXV (June, 1957), 36-40. 33. Hackman, R ichard, and D ysinger, W endell S. "R eactions to C ollege W ithdrawal. " journal of E xperim ental Education, XXXVIII (Spring, l$7b), 23-31. 34. H eilbrun, A. B ., Jr. "P ersonality F a c to rs in College D ropout." Journal of Applied Psychology, XLIX (F eb ru ary , 1965), i-7 . 35. Iffert, R obert E. "Study of C ollege Student Retentions and W ithdraw als. " C ollege and U n iv ersity , XXXI (Sum m er, 1956), 435-46. 36. Johnson, G. B. "A Proposed Technique fo r A nalysis of Dropouts at a State C ollege. " journal of Educational R ese a rc h , XLVII (January, 1954), 381-87. 37. K am ens, David H. "The C ollege 'C h a rte r' and College Size: Effects on O ccupational Choice and College A ttrition. " Sociology of E ducation. XLIV (Sum m er, 1971), 270-96. 38. L ittle, J. Kenneth. "P ersisten ce of A cadem ically T alented Youth in U niversity Studies. " Educational R ecord, XL (July, 1959), 237-41. 39. M arsh, Lee M. "C ollege Dropouts: A Review. " Personnel and Guidance journal, XLIV (January, 1966), 4*75-£ l. 40. M o rrlsey , Rolaert J. "A ttrition in Prolaationary F resh m en . " journal of College Student P ersonnel, XII (July* 1971), 279-84. 102 41. Nelson, A. Gordon. "C ollege C h a ra c te ristic s A ssociated with F resh m an A ttrition. " Personnel and Guidance journal, XLIV Qune, 1966), 104^50! 42. Nordh, Deborah M. "E m phasis: A ccountability and the Community College. " Junior College Journal, XLI (M arch, 1971), 3. 43. Panos, R. J . , and A stin, A. W. "A ttrition Among College Students. " A m erican Educational R esearch Journal, V (January, 1968), 57-71. 44. P red ig er, Dale J. "P rediction of P ersisten ce In College. " journal of Counseling Psychology. XII (Spring, 1965), 62-67. 45. R ose, H. A ., and Elton, C harles F. "A nother look at the College Dropout. " Journal of C ounseling Psychology, XIII (Sum m er, 1966), 242-46. 46. R ossm ann, J. E . , and K irk, B. A, "F a c to rs Related to P ersisten ce and W ithdrawal Among U niversity Students. " Journal of Counseling Psychology, XVII (January, 1970), 56-62. 47. Sanford, N. "P ersonality Developm ent During the College Y ears. " Journal of Social Is s u e s , XII (1956), 4. 48. S later, J, M. "Influences on Students' Perception and P ersisten ce in the U ndergraduate College. " Journal of Educational R ese a rc h . LIV (Septem ber, 1960), 3-6. 49. S ta rr, Ann; Betz, E llen L . ; and Menne, John. "D ifferences in College Student Satisfaction: A cadem ic D ropouts, Nonacadem ic D ropouts, and N on-D ropouts. " Journal of Counseling Psychology, XIX (W inter, 1972), 318-22. 50. Stordahl, K alm er. "Influences on V oluntary W ithdrawal from College. " C ollege and U niversity, XLV (W inter, 1970), 163-171. 51. T histlethw aite, Donald L. "C ollege P re ss and Changes in Study Plans of T alented Students. " Journal of Educational Psychology, LI (August, 1960), 222-&T. 103 52. W arrin er, C lell C .; F o ste r, Dorothy; and T rlte s , David K. "F a ilu re to Com plete A s a F am ily C h ara cteristic : A C ollege Sam ple. " Journal of Educational R esea rch , LIX (July, 1966), 466-68. 53. Z a c c a ria , Lucy, and C re a se r, Jam es. "F a c to rs R elated to P ersisten ce in an U rban C om m uter U niversity. " The Journal of College Student P ersonnel, XII (July, 197IT, 286-91. R eports 54. Iffert, R obert E. "R etention and W ithdrawal of College Students. " U. S. Office of Education Bulletin No. 1. W ashington, D. C .: G overnm ent Printing O ffice, 1958. 55. . "College A pplicants, E n tran ts, and D ropouts. " U. S. Office of Education Bulletin No. 1. W ashington, D. C .: G overnm ent Printing Office, 1965. 56. M cNeeley, J. H. "C ollege Student M ortality. " U. S. D epartm ent of In terio r Bulletin No. 11. W ashington, D. C . : G overnm ent Printing Office, 1937. Unpublished M aterials 57. D avis, Billy H. "The Com m unity Junior College E xperience as Perceived by Students Who Have W ithdrawn. " D issertation A b stra c ts, XXXI, 1971, 5659-A. 58. Eddy, Berdyne B. "A Study of the R elationship of Selected Student C h a ra c te ristic s to P ersisten ce and W ithdrawal of a Sample of F u ll-T im e F reshm en at a Com munity C o lleg e." D issertation A b stra c ts, XXXII, 1971, 89-A. 59. Extence, D orothea. "N on-Intellective F a c to rs Which May Be R elated to V oluntary W ithdrawal of College F reshm en. " Unpublished Ph.D . d issertatio n , U niversity of Southern C alifornia, 1965. 104 60. G ustavus, W illiam T. "Successful Students, R eadm itted Students and D ropouts: A Study of D ifferential P atterns of College A chievem ent. " D issertatio n A b strac ts, XXXI, 1971, 4902-A . 61. Hannah, W illiam. "D ropout-Stayin P ersonality D ifferentials and College Environm ents. ” Unpublished Ed. D. d isse rta tio n , U niversity of Southern C alifornia, 1969. 62. K earney, Dorothy L. "Selected N on-Intellectual F a c to rs As P red icto rs of A cadem ic Success in Junior College Intellectually Capable Students. " Unpublished Ed. D. d isse rta tio n , U niversity of Southern C alifornia, 1966. A PPE N DIX 105 TEACHER CODE: T l, T2, T3, T4, T5, SELECT THE TWO COURSES CLOSEST TO THE NOON HOUR. T6, T7, T8, T9, T10 COLLEGE CODE: A B C D E Fall, 1967 #A's #B's #C’s #D’s #F 's #W*s Total Course X Time Course Y Time Spring, 1968 #A’s #B's #C’s #D's #F 's #W's Total Course X Time Course Y Time o ALL DATA SHOULD BE REPORTED AS OF THE FALL OF 1967 COLLEGE CODE: A B C D E Teacher Code Sex (As^^ 9 -6 7 ) HiShest Degree Major of Highest Degree T l T2 T3 T4 T5 T6 T7 T8 T9 T10 * Include the 1967-68 year in the total count.

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Creator Brown, Jerry Moreno (author)

Core Title Relationships between selected teacher characteristics and student withdrawal from community college political science courses

Degree Doctor of Philosophy

Degree Program Education

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag education, higher,OAI-PMH Harvest

Language English

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Advisor Wilbur, Leslie (committee chair), Anderson, Totton J. (committee member), DeSilva, Lionel (committee member)

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c18-881758

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Rights Brown, Jerry Moreno

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