Freshman Orientation, Academic Achievement, and Persistence of Underprepared Community College Students

Each year millions enroll in community colleges underprepared for college-level coursework. The majority of these students are not persisting. One promising area is the study of freshman orientation, but much of the research has been conducted in four-year institutions with very little investigating the benefits to underprepared students. This quantitative nonexperimental study investigated whether or not there was a difference in grade point averages (GPAs) and persistence between first-time underprepared Alabama community college students who took freshman orientation and those who did not take the course when matched by age, gender, ethnicity, academic background, and financial status. The study consisted of the records of 340 underprepared students enrolled in an Alabama community college during the fall semester 2012. The results indicated that there was a statistically significant difference (p < .05) in fall semester grade point averages, fall-to-spring persistence rates (p < .05), and fall-to-fall persistence rates (p < .05) for those students who took freshman orientation. Because freshman orientation was taught using four different formats posthoc comparisons were performed yielding higher GPAs in all formats. A two-way ANOVA was performed with significant main effects of orientation ( p < .05) and placement type (p < .05), defined as placing into developmental math and English, developmental math only, or developmental English only. There was no statistically significant interaction effect (p > .05) of the combination of freshman orientation and placement type on GPAs. Findings from this study can help guide administrators in implementing strategies and programs that increase the success of underprepared students. Future research is recommended to replicate this study at other community colleges or using national datasets.