The relationship between freshmen student retention and use of an online parent portal

Bachelor degree attainment in Tennessee is lower than the national average, which can have a dramatic impact on the quality of life for Tennesseans. Postsecondary institutions have been tasked with increasing the number of students who graduate, and this begins with retention of students. Retention of first-year students is a puzzle for institutions, however, the importance of retention cannot be minimized. The University of Tennessee at Martin has implemented an online Parent Portal to intentionally support the assistance of parents in increasing student success and retention. A stratified random sample of 300 freshman-level students who began during the 2012-2013 academic year was analyzed. Specifically, three separate chi-square tests were conducted to explore for relationships between retention and use of the Parent Portal. In addition, a chi-square test was analyzed to determine if a relationship existed between parents who accessed the Parent Portal and the students who took advantage of academic support services. An ANOVA was used to investigate differences in end-of-year grade-point averages, grouped by the number of times a parent accessed the portal. The final test conducted during this research study was a point-biserial correlation analysis. This test was used to investigate the relationship between a student’s academic ability, as measured by ACT composite score, and the likelihood that a parent would access the Parent Portal. Two significant findings were revealed. First, the end-of-year GPA was highest for students whose parents accessed the portal between one and five times, but lowest for students whose parents did not have access. In addition, the data showed a significant difference between the retention rates of students whose parents did not have access to the Parent Portal and those students whose parents accessed it. These findings provide support for continuing to develop balanced parent initiatives that encourage involvement, while helping students to become self-sufficient and independent. Recommendations for further research are suggested in the areas of effective parent programming, how to best educate parents about the benefits of students using academic support services, and the effective use of multiple communication channels based on other demographics not considered in this study.

Grantor dc:publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Author dc:creator

• Cartmell, Brandy Mallory

Contributors dc:contributor

• Rausch, David W.
• Crawford, Elizabeth; Hinsdale, Bernard; McCullough, Desiree A.
• College of Health, Education, and Professional Studies

• Education, Higher -- Parent participation
• College freshmen
• Prediction of scholastic success
• Academic achievement
• College students -- Family relationships

Licence

• https://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/?language=en

Language dc:language

English, eng

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholar.utc.edu/theses/143

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholar.utc.edu:theses-1274