Assessing Goals, Student Engagement, And Student Effort At Community Colleges

Abstract

The student success agenda refers to what students do in college, which includes academic achievement, post-college, persistence, attainment of educational objectives, and performance engagement in educationally purposeful activities. Specifically, research dealing with the success of students in college has included the relationship between engagement and success. The achievement of educational objectives, or goals, is also an important component of the student success agenda. Few studies have considered the relationship between goals, student engagement, and effort. A review of the literature on the relationship between goals, student engagement and student effort also highlights a need for additional research at the community college level. The purpose of this quantitative study was to use the theory of Student Engagement that relates student goals to student engagement and student effort at community colleges. In addition, the researcher investigated the relationship between selected student factors, student engagement, and student effort. The selected student factors included in this study were age, gender, race/ethnicity, intent to return to college, attendance status, and credits earned. The findings of this study show the students interested in earning a credential had significantly higher levels of engagement than the levels for students interested in transferring to a four-year college or university, updating/obtaining job skills, changing careers, or self-improvement. Students who were interested in earning a credential and those interesting in transferring to a four-year college or university applied similar levels of effort (Student Effort). The level of effort these students applied was significantly higher than the levels applied by students seeking to Update/obtain job skills, those attempting to Change careers, or those interested in Self-improvement. These findings provide valuable information about the relationships between student factors, Student Engagement and Student Effort, with significant differences among the student factors examined. More importantly, the results of this study show that after controlling for these factors, student goals were still significant contributors of Student Engagement and Student Effort.