Date

2022-08-30

Keyword

graduation rates for students who come from families with low incomes (LI), students who are the first in their families to attend college (first generation, FG)

Author

Sweeney, Kristin

Description

AN ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION OF Kristin Sweeney for the degree of Doctor of Education in Education, Learning, Leadership & Community Presented on July 27, 2022 Title: Understanding The Relationship Between Student Identity Centrality And Academic Outcomes For College Students From Families With Low Income and Students Who Are First In Their Families to Attend College Abstract Approved: Christie Sweeney, Ed.D., Dissertation Committee Chair Too many students graduate high school and start and then stall in college before degree completion. The college persistence and graduation rates for students who come from families with low incomes (LI) and students who are the first in their families to attend college (first generation, FG) are in stark contrast to those of their peers. The researcher’s intention in conducting this research was to better understand and potentially improve persistence and graduation inequities for LI and FG students. The purpose of this study was to discover the influence of identity on persistence in college for students from LI and FG backgrounds. Past research successfully posited that students who see themselves in college and possess a strong identity as a college student, known as student identity centrality (Bowman & Felix, 2017), are committed to the goal of persisting. This researcher hypothesized that there is a relationship between first-year Keene State College students from LI and FG backgrounds with high student identity measures and academic outcomes associated with persistence. The research design consisted of a cross sectional collection of quantitative data from one point in time during the fall of students’ first year in college. Using Holmes, Bowman, Murphy, and Carter’s (2019) student identity scale instrumentation, data was collected. Statistical tests were used to compare the identity measure against achieved academic outcomes. The research findings suggest that there is a positive relationship between identity and academic outcomes related to persistence in college. The results revealed that for the LI and FG students who had a high student identity centrality RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STUDENT IDENTITY CENTRALITY AND ACADEMIC OUTCOMES iii measure, they attempted and completed a higher percent of credits their first semester than their peers with lower identity measures.

URI

https://summit.plymouth.edu/handle/20.500.12774/449