Introduction and Review of the Literature
Methodology
DOSS was piloted in the fall semester of 2016; there were four departments with a maximum of 15 students in each department. Bruce and the sophomores on academic probation were selected by their college's school standards committee to participate in the pilot project. EFFECTIVENESS OF THE STUDENT'S SUCCESSFUL COURSE 29 was a mandatory condition of the student's probationary period, but the consequences of non-participation or failure in the course were left to the student's academic dean.
Of the thirteen lessons, three were taught by guest presenters who were experts in the subject. The students' post-test self-report results were assessed and their progress in the course was discussed. Participants for this study were selected based on the results of the Spring 2016 Scholastic Standards meetings.
As previously stated, students selected to participate in the study were determined based on the results of the Spring 2016 School Standards meeting. That is, students were required to take the course as a condition of their return to university in the fall. Consequences for not taking or failing the course were determined by the deans and assistant deans of the student's individual college.
Of the 68 participants, 39 attended DOSS (treatment) and 29 participants did not complete the course (control group). Although all students in the sample were freshmen or sophomores, three participants from Most of the data for the sample was obtained from the university register using Bannerweb.
However, there were three students in the treatment group who were inactive during the spring 2016 semester due to academic suspension. Effect sizes were calculated using Cohen's dRM to examine changes in GPAs for the treatment and control groups. It was necessary to control for these covariates because the lack of randomized sampling procedures used for this project likely led to differences in the demographic characteristics of the treatment and control groups.
Results
In addition to the one student in the control group who was suspended after the fall semester of 2016, four students voluntarily withdrew and three students took a leave of absence before the spring semester of 2017. One (3%) student in the treatment group had had the semester prior to taking the course has a GPA of more than 2.0. That is, on average, students who participated in DOSS increased their semester GPA by 0.83 points after the fall 2016 semester and by 0.88 points after the spring 2017 semester.
Seven (24%) students in the control group had a semester GPA above 2.0 in the period prior to DOSS implementation. That is, students who did not participate in DOSS increased their semester GPA by an average of 0.54 points after the fall 2016 semester and by 0.63 points after the spring 2017 semester. After both the fall 2016 and spring 2017 semesters, however, students in the treatment group experienced a greater increase in their average GPA.
In addition, a greater percentage of students in the treatment group achieved a semester grade point average above 2.0 than those in the control group. Nine (23%) students in the treatment group had a cumulative GPA above 2.0 prior to the introduction of DOSS. This means that students who participated in DOSS increased their GPA by an average of 0.25 points after the Fall 2016 semester and 0.41 points after the Spring 2017 semester.
Before DOSS implementation, 20 (69%) students in the control group had cumulative GPAs above 2.0. That is, students in the control group increased their cumulative GPAs by an average of 0.13 points after the fall semester of 2016 and by 0.20 points after the spring semester of 2017. EFFECTIVENESS OF A STUDET SUCCESS COURSE 48 in the treatment group, on average, increased their GPAs in the fall of 2016 with 11/3 standard deviations.
The effect size of this change was large (dRM = 1.16) and suggests that students in the control group increased their fall 2016 semester GPAs by more than 1 standard deviation. That is, students in the control group increased their spring 2017 semester GPA by nearly 2 standard deviations. Taken together, students in the treatment and control groups showed large changes in their fall 2016 and spring 2017 GPAs.
Discussion
COURSE EFFECTIVENESS FOR STUDENT SUCCESS 49 was implemented and (2) one semester after implementing the course compared to similar students who did not take the course. As such, DOSS did not appear to significantly affect the grade points of students in the treatment group at either time point. Various environmental factors may have influenced the improvement in GPAs of the treatment and control groups.
DOSS was the only institution-wide intervention implemented for students on academic probation during fall 2016, but at least three of the individual high schools implemented their own interventions simultaneously. EFFECTIVENESS OF A STUDENT SUCCESS COURSE 51 actions the student planned to take to ensure their academic success for the semester. EFFECTIVENESS OF A STUDENT SUCCESS COURSE 52 their second year at CU, even those with freshman status.
EFFECTIVENESS OF THE STUDENT SUCCESS COURSE 53 subjects were asked to participate in a one-day intervention, Student Success. Of the 16 students who did not persist in the spring 2017 semester, including those who withdrew or took a leave of absence, 11 had earned a GPA below 2.0 in the fall 2016 semester. Therefore, some of the lowest-achieving students were removed from the analysis of spring 2017, but not from autumn 2016.
COURSE EFFECTIVENESS STUDENT SUCCESS 57 students whose mix will not closely mirror other colleges. EFFECTIVENESS OF THE STUDENT SUCCESS COURSE 58 were selected to participate in the intervention based on failure to meet standards of a. EFFECTIVENESS OF THE STUDENT SUCCESS COURSE 59 only with freshman or sophomore status; therefore, it is unknown whether the course would produce similar results for students at different points in their academic careers.
Although DOSS was the only institution-wide intervention implemented for students on academic probation during the fall 2016 semester, at least three of the individual colleges were implementing their own interventions. COURSE EFFECTIVENESS ON STUDENT SUCCESS 60 The present study only investigated the effect of an SSC on the grade point average of probationary students during and one semester after implementation. At the institutional level, it would be beneficial for administrators at NJM to conduct a comprehensive analysis of the factors that contribute to students ending up on academic probation in the first place.
EFFECTIVENESS OF A STUDENT SUCCESS COURSE 61 The generalizability of this study, like many studies of SSCs, is limited (Hope, 2010). EFFECTIVENESS OF A STUDENT SUCCESS COURSE 62 These findings suggest that DOSS may not be an effective intervention for CU college students on academic probation and that other factors better explained these students' outcomes.
