ERIC Number: EJ1092947
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2016-Mar
Pages: 2
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0013-1784
EISSN: N/A
Research Says/The X Factor in College Success
Goodwin, Bryan; Hein, Heather
Educational Leadership, v73 n6 p77-78 Mar 2016
U.S. high school graduation rates have risen steadily for the past decade, hitting an all-time high of 82 percent in 2013-14 (Rich, 2015). Yet there's a dark cloud behind this silver lining. According to the most recent data from the U.S. Department of Education (2015), only 59 percent of students who enter four-year colleges complete their degrees within five years. College admissions offices have long been aware of a certain "X factor" when it comes to predicting whether a student will succeed in college. This factor is something not reflected in high school grade point averages or college entrance exam scores--which together predict only 20 to 25 percent of a student's college achievement (Ackerman, Kanfer & Beier, 2013; Zahner, Ramsaran, & Steedle, 2014), with the bulk of that variance predicted by high school grades, not test scores (Hiss & Franks, 2014). Most of a student's success in college (and life, for that matter) seems to lie outside the tidy box of grades and test scores. Recent efforts to survey students about these "softer" skills--and determine which skills add predictive power to the standard measures--are yielding clues. Some promising predictors have emerged. Research has shown the following non-cognitive factors proved to be the most important in predicting student success: (1) Can-do attitude; (2) Self-discipline and study habits; and (3) Active learning.
Descriptors: High School Graduates, Graduation Rate, Time to Degree, College Graduates, Student Characteristics, Personality Traits, Interpersonal Competence, Social Development, Emotional Intelligence, Communication Skills, Collegiality, Student Attitudes, Predictor Variables, Study Habits, Active Learning
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: High Schools; Secondary Education; Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A