A QUALITATIVE CASE STUDY OF STUDENT PERSISTENCE IN A BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN FORESTRY PROGRAM

<p>Educational leaders in forestry have been challenged to increase and diversify the pipeline of ‘society ready’ foresters. To meet these challenges, leaders must shift their focus to student retention. By understanding the factors that influence student engagement and persistence, these leaders will be better positioned to support students in forestry programs, thus positively impacting retention. This qualitative case study investigated student persistence of second-year forestry students in an undergraduate forestry program. The study was guided by Social Cognitive Theory and Social Capital Theory and explored the malleable psychosocial mechanisms of self-efficacy, sense of belonging, emotion, and well-being proposed by Kahu & Nelson (2018). The qualitative case study utilized focus group interviews with purposefully selected groups of forestry students, including females, underrepresented minority students, and veterans. Data was collected using a semi-structured questionnaire and analyzed through open and selective hand coding. Three major themes of student persistence were discovered: (a) Understanding of student barriers; (b) Understanding the educational interface; and (c) Expectations of a career and future. The research findings demonstrate how forestry leaders can create an academic environment that positively impacts student persistence and success. </p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Education

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Secondary Education and Educational Leadership

Year dc:date.available

2019

Author dc:creator

• Holmes, Maxwell

Contributors dc:contributor

• Karen Embry Jenlink, Ed.D.
• Ali Hachem, Ph.D.
• Patrick M. Jenlink, Ed.D.

• Student Engagement
• Persistence
• Barriers
• Psychosocial Mechanism
• Retention
• Forestry
• Educational Leadership
• Higher Education Administration
• Leadership Studies
• Other Educational Administration and Supervision
• Other Forestry and Forest Sciences
• Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/262

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarworks.sfasu.edu:etds-1282