Graduation Semester and Year

2012

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

Department

Educational Leadership and Policy Studies

First Advisor

Barbara Tobolowsky

Abstract

Texas' 2006 House Bill 1, which required all high schools in Texas to provide students with the opportunity to earn a minimum of 12 hours of college credit prior to their graduation beginning the fall of 2008, changed the high school experience. The goal of the bill was to smooth the transition from high school to higher education. By looking at data from before, during, and after the implementation of House Bill 1, the results of this study shed light on the success or failure of Texas' 2006 House Bill 1 regarding college persistence and student success. The study used admission data from three academic years: 2007, 2008, and 2009, from a research university in Texas. This study utilized logistic regression, and multiple regression to see how much the independent variables: dual credit, poverty, gender, ethnicity, SAT scores, class rank, and high school location contributed to the dependent variables: first to second year persistence and last term freshman GPA. The study also used measures of correlation and association to determine the strength of that association between the independent and dependent variables. The Chi-square test of independence was used to examine if a student's high school location was independent from the amount of dual credit the student obtained. This study used Pierre Bourdieu's theory of cultural capital for the overarching theoretical framework. In light of this, this study looked at agency factors (dual credit, SAT scores, and class rank) as well as background factors (poverty, gender, ethnicity, and high school location) in predicting student success at college. The research discovered persistence and last term freshman GPA can be predicted from both background factors and agency factors, some factors having a stronger association than others with the dependent variables.

Disciplines

Education | Educational Leadership

Comments

Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington

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