The Relationship between Non-Cognitive Coaching Interventions and College Student Persistence at a Rural Community College

摘要

The purpose of this quantitative correlation study was to contribute empirical research findings concerning the relationship of non-cognitive coaching interventions on at-risk student persistence at a rural public community college located in northwest New Mexico. The sample population included 210 undergraduate at-risk students who an alert was submitted by a faculty or staff member during the summer 2014 term and the first three weeks of the fall 2014 term, were degree or certificate seeking, and either full or part-time attending. The total population was divided into two groups of 105 students; students who participated in non-cognitive coaching interventions and those who did not. Community colleges student retention rates across institutions of higher education within the United States (U.S.) averages 60%. With increasing pressure from federal and state funding agencies, higher education professionals are looking for ways to improve student retention and graduation rates. Using sample students' archival records, analysis was performed using ANOVAs, boxplots, regression, Pearson correlation, and the Kruskal-Wallis test for medians on the effects of participation or non-participation in non-cognitive coaching interventions has on persistence. However, the findings revealed the distribution of the success rates for both the participants and non-participants were non-normal and produced a bimodal distribution with a high frequency of scores at 0 and 100. The results indicated there is no statistically significant difference between the success rates of students participating and those who did not participate for the study sample. The literature supports the effectiveness of coaching programs to improve college student persistence. Therefore, the findings of this study are statistically inconclusive and should be repeated under the recommendations provided in chapter five.