Date of Award
10-1-1986
Document Type
Practicum
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Center for the Advancement of Education
Keywords
academic performance, central Arizona college, chi square test, comparative study, credit hours completed, developmental education, dissemination, formal orientation program, full time students, grade point average, independent t-test, math placement, new students, orientation effectiveness, placement scores, reading placement, sampling, significance level, student evaluation, two-tailed test, withdrawal grade
Abstract
This practicum addressed the effectiveness of a formal orientation program for new full time students at Central Arizona College. The study made a comparison between those students who participated in the orientation program those students who did not. The basis of this comparison was the total number of credit hours completed with a grade other than “W”, and the mean grade point average (GPA) for both groups at the conclusion of the Fall Semester, 1985. The population of each group was randomly sampled and a t-test was administered to determine if there was a significant difference regarding placement scores in reading, math and English. There was no significant difference. A comparison of the mean grade point average was analyzed by using the two-tailed independent t-test at the .05 level of significance. The chi square test was used to compare the credit hours of completion.
Results of the tests conducted in this study indicated that there was no significant difference between the grade point average and credit hours completed of new full time students who attended a formal orientation program and those students who did not.
Recommendations include appropriate dissemination of the information in this study, a student evaluation of the orientation program, and a score comprehensive developmental education curricular based on the placement scores.