Degree Name
EdD (Doctor of Education)
Program
Educational Leadership
Date of Award
5-2022
Committee Chair or Co-Chairs
Jill Channing
Committee Members
Kwangman Ko, James Lampley, Amy Moreland
Abstract
The purpose of this non-experimental quantitative study was to evaluate the relationships between completion of high school dual enrollment courses and subsequent success of first-time, full-time community college students as measured by completion of an associate degree and the time it took to complete the degree. In addition to comparing dual and non-dual enrollment student performance, the effects of the number of dual enrollment courses completed and the subject areas of those courses was evaluated. Student subgroups reviewed included gender, race, socioeconomic status, and prior academic preparation (ACT score). The focus of this study was all first-time, full-time students at TBR community colleges in the fall semesters of 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018 who had graduated from a Tennessee high school in the 12 months prior to college enrollment.
Archival data from Tennessee community colleges used in this study included 62,644 students across the four years (2015-2018) comprising 11,949 dual enrollment students and 50,695 non-dual enrollment students. Eleven research questions were answered from these data utilizing independent samples t tests, two-way contingency tables using crosstabs, Pearson correlations, or descriptive statistics. Findings revealed that completing just one dual enrollment course significantly increased the probability of completing an associate degree, and this finding was consistent across all subgroups studied. In addition, dual enrollment students completed associate degrees in significantly fewer semesters. Completing more dual enrollment courses tended to further increase the probability of completing a degree and further reduce the time to completion. Students completing all dual enrollment courses in communications were generally more likely to complete an associate degree than students completing all courses in other subject areas, and students completing all courses in non-general education were generally less likely to complete a degree.
Document Type
Dissertation - unrestricted
Recommended Citation
Mellons, Victoria N., "Relationships Between Dual Enrollment Parameters, College Completion, and Time to Completion at Tennessee Community Colleges" (2022). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 4027. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/4027
Copyright
Copyright by the authors.