Do Resiliency and Grit Predict GPA in Students Over 25?

Submitted by Kortney Song on
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What is the Purpose of the Assessment?

The purpose of my doctoral dissertation study was to examine Resiliency and Grit as potential predictors of GPA among students over 25 at EMCC.

Describe the necessity for this assessment

Such students represent the fastest-growing age group in the population of community college students, and their attrition rate is higher than that of traditional, younger students.

Describe how the practice will be implemented

Three research questions asked to what extent Resiliency and Grit predicted nontraditional students’ Academic Success (operationalized as self-reported GPA), first considered together and then individually.

Interpret, compare, and describe the results

The results indicated a statistically significant positive relationship between the two predictors considered together and GPA. However, only Resiliency was found to be a statistically significant predictor when considered individually.

After analyzing, and reflecting on the outcome, what are the next steps?

These findings point to the importance of emphasizing resiliency in mentoring nontraditional community college students and to the need for pre-service preparation and in-service training for faculty, to enable them to effectively provide resiliency mentorship to nontraditional students.

Abstract

Keywords: Nontraditional students, resiliency, grit, academic success, higher education, community college

Division/Department
Occupational Education
Completed Full Cycle
Yes
URL's
The full dissertation
Program Learning Outcomes/Course Level Outcomes
Quantitative Reasoning

Comments

Becky Baranowski Thu, 04/06/2023 - 8:06am

Kortney - this has been something that has been weighing on my mind. I know the college has been focusing on sense of belonging, but I also wonder if we need to start bringing in resiliancy and grit training.  If a student is lacking in these areas, it doesn't matter how good of an instructor one might have.  A college in Texas is predominately focusing on grit, and if I recall (I need to find the information), they are having some good success with this.  I will check your dissertation because you may mention the college I am referencing. While this isn't part of my sabbatical project, part of my sabbatical has been looking more into this and what I can do to build the things you researched into my own classroom.  I am so glad you shared your research.  I hope you are doing well!

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