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Dual enrollment programs, once created for the most advanced students, are now seen as a way to provide an accessible and affordable bridge to postsecondary education for a broader range of students. Research on the outcomes of such programs has been limited in scope and exists for only a few states. This quantitative study used Astin's I-E-O Model as the conceptual framework to analyze 10 years of postsecondary data from Ohio. Outcomes of traditional-aged students enrolled in the state university system who participated in Ohio's Postsecondary Options Program (PSEOP) were compared with students of similar academic ability who did not participate in this program. Key findings centered on attributes which were significantly related to PSEOP participation and outcomes to which PSEOP participation was a significant contributor. Gender, ethnicity, academic performance, and family characteristics were all related to the decision of whether or not to participate in PSEOP. Students that did participate in PSEOP showed this experience as a significant factor in choosing certain majors and had a statistically significantly shorter time-to-degree completion than those students who did not participate in PSEOP. Results from this study provide areas where participation in PSEOP could be improved to widen the access of higher education to a larger pool of students. (Contains 11 tables and 3 figures.)

This study sought to understand and improve effectiveness in institutional research (IR) by interviewing, observing, and analyzing resumes of IR practitioners who have been identified by their colleagues as particularly effective in having an impact on decision-making, planning, and policy formation. Ten themes for effectiveness in IR were identified, including understanding your institution, multiple perspectives of its constituents, and academe in general; engagement, visibility, relationships, and trust; helping leaders make meaning of IR findings and use of IR work in the institution; viewing IR as a means to a greater goal; professional colleagues and professional development; workload, time management, and tools; being self-reflective and proactive; attention to detail and quality control; personal and professional qualities; and technical competency. A model of the components of effectiveness in IR is provided. (Contains 2 figures.)

Electronic portfolios (eportfolios) represent an assessment measure with strong potential to provide feedback about student performance to improve curricula and pedagogy, to determine individual students' mastery of learning and support feedback for improvement, and to actively involve students in the assessment process. This study examined the relationship between eportfolio participation and student success. Despite some limitations, the current study demonstrates that, after controlling for background factors, undergraduate students with e-portfolio artifacts had significantly higher grade-point averages, credit hours earned, and retention rates than a matched set of students without eportfolio artifacts. Also, there were significant positive relationships between various measures of e-portfolio utilization and grade-point average and credit hours earned. There were no statistically significant group differences in any of the National Survey of Student Engagement or New Student Transition Questionnaire scales, which served as measures of student academic engagement. (Contains 10 tables.) [The AIR "Professional File" is intended as a presentation of papers which synthesize and interpret issues, operations, and research of interest in the field of institutional research.]

Electronic portfolios represent an assessment measure with strong potential for providing feedback about student performance to improve curricula and pedagogy, determining individual students' mastery of learning and providing feedback for improvement, and actively involving students in the assessment process. This study examined the relationship between e-portfolio participation and student success. Despite some limitations, the current study has demonstrated that, after background factors are controlled for, undergraduate students with e-portfolio artifacts had significantly grade point averages, credit hours earned, and retention rates than a matched set of students without e-portfolio artifacts. Also, there were significant positive relationships between various measures of e-portfolio utilization and grade point average and credit hours earned among undergraduates, although these results were mixed for graduate students.There were no statistically significant group differences in any of the National Survey of Student Engagement or New Student Transition Questionnaire scales, which serve as measures of student academic engagement.

Several learning communities and first-year programs have been developed at Bowling Green State University, a public doctoral-research intensive university in the midwest, over the last few years. Such programs include the Bowling Green Effect Mentoring Program, the Literacy Serve and Learn program, the Honors Program, the Center for Multicultural and Academic Initiatives, the President's Leadership Academy, UNIV 100 (a voluntary two credit hour course for first-year students), and the University Program for Academic Success. An evaluation of these programs was conducted and the role of the university's office of institutional research was also explored. Logistic regression analyses were carried out to study program participation effects on retention and graduation after controlling for gender, race, and high school grade point average. Other analytic techniques were used to examine income versus expense and program participation effects on student attitudes. Learning center and first-year program directors were asked to comment on program effectiveness and participant satisfaction. It became clear during the program evaluations that local-level assessments are an important part of the process and that learning communities should be encouraged to adopt a more systematic approach to gathering feedback. It was also evident that the evaluation of such programs is of sufficient complexity to establish a partnership of the Office of Institutional Research, the program directors, and other stakeholders. The substantive conclusion of this formative assessment is that several of the learning communities and first-year programs are making significant impacts on retention, graduation, grades, and credit hours earned. It is not yet clear which of the activities of the successful programs are most responsible for their success. (Contains 60 tables and 36 references.) (SLD)

This study provides a thorough examination of the experiences of a group of students who transferred from a public community college in the Midwest to a nearby public residential university between spring 1994 and spring 2001. The study population consisted of 552 students who transferred from the community college to the university with 12 or more semester credit hours. The researchers designated the 2 groups of students in the study persisters (386, or 67%) and non-persisters (184, or 33%). A total of 243 (44%) of the persisters had earned a bachelor's degree and 125 (23%) were still enrolled at the university by spring 2002. The non-persisters were no longer enrolled in the university during spring 2002. Women and whites were the majority in both groups. Almost all of the students in both groups had earned a high school diploma rather than a G.E.D. The majority of both groups attended the community college for 3 years or less, and most did not attend the community college full time. The study suggests that the 2-plus-2 paradigm is probably less realistic than a 3-plus-3, or 3 years at community college and three at university in order to earn a degree. Suggests that transfer centers need to be an intentional part of the community college's academic division. (Contains 13 references and 38 tables.) (NB)

This study investigated the effects of several variables on time-to-degree using a structural equation modeling approach. It examined influences upon time-to-degree for all students earning Bachelor's Degrees in 1998-99 at one university. Dependent variables were total elapsed semesters to degree attainment and total semesters enrolled. Data on students' time-to-degree, demographic and precollege educational characteristics, remedial course and summer freshman program participation, enrollment behaviors, and academic outcomes were assembled into a series of files and merged with student financial aid data and data from two surveys of students' pre-enrollment perceptions and graduates' undergraduate experiences. Average credit hours per term strongly predicted more rapid degree completion. Transfer credit hours was the only strong predictor of credit hour load per term. Total credit hours earned strongly predicted time-to-degree. A positive relationship existed between number of summer semesters enrolled and longer time to degree. The paper discusses: implications for academic advising concerning student course loads; mixed implications for the role of financial aid speculation over the negligible role of student experience and perception variables on time-to-degree; and recognition that timely degree completion is only one of several desirable student outcomes. (Contains 19 references.) (SM)

This study investigated the ability of student inputs, student involvements, and college environments to predict seven groups of academic majors. The research was conducted using a sample of college sophomores extracted from High School and Beyond 1982 follow-up cohort, N=43,614 (weighted). Among the findings of the hierarchical discriminant function analysis was that the combined effects of the three blocks of variables appeared to be the most effective model. Implications of the results for practice, theory, and research are discussed. The study considered the following inputs: race, gender, high school course work, proposed field of study in college, highest degree expected, academic ability, family background, and personality factors. Involvement indicators were: type and degree of involvement in college activities; course work completed in college; importance of success, money, friends, work, and children; family orientation; and community orientation. Environments comprised: indexes of satisfaction with college facilities; faculty; curriculum; cultural and intellectual life; sports and recreation; social life; counseling and job placement; financial cost; prestige; and institution type, public vs. private. (Contains 20 references.) (MAH)

This study investigated differences in freshmen to senior student general education gains across institutions of higher education, with varying patterns of general education requirements using a mixed-effect structural equation model. The subjects were 6,409 students at 34 colleges and universities nationwide. Study procedures used American College Testing Assessment composite scores as the observed measures with the Pre-College Ability latent variable, and groups were based on data from students attending institutions with different general education requirements. Findings indicated that students attending institutions where less than 40 percent of undergraduate curricular requirements were devoted to general education and where there was not equal distribution of general education courses within the requirement were found to have significantly higher general education gains than did students who attended institutions where 40 percent or more of the undergraduate curriculum was devoted to general education and there was equal distribution of courses within the general education requirement. The study also demonstrated the usefulness of the structural equation modeling for representing the interactions between student characteristics and general education program effects. Included are 1 figure, 7 tables, and 23 references. (JB)