Understanding academic disengagement from a student’s perspective

About 40 million Americans have college debt but no guarantees. Although some of these students leave higher education voluntarily, others leave involuntarily due to academic expulsion, or repeated low academic achievement.

A recently published study from Texas A&M University, San Antonio, a faculty member seeks to understand how students who have been expelled from school are doing and how institutions can support these students as they return to college.

Author Ripsimé K. Bledsoe found that most students had a major life event that contributed to their academic failure, including the loss of a loved one or illness themselves or others. Students who returned to college after being expelled demonstrated greater self-awareness, help-seeking behavior and understanding of how to achieve success.

Background: While students drop out for a variety of reasons—recent research points to the high cost of higher education as a major driver—academic challenges are a common factor. At most colleges, students whose cumulative grade point average falls below 2.0 are placed on academic probation, followed by dismissal if they make insufficient academic progress.

Previous research shows a gap in the creation of a model for the return of students to their studies, which has created challenges for institutions that want to evaluate the goals of the return of students or create plans to deal with this issue, according to the report.

The present study uses a survey of community college students and interview data to understand the factors that influenced them to return to college and what helped them in the process.

Students say: The results of the study showed that academic readiness from high school did not directly predict success in college, as the majority of students took important college preparatory courses in high school, including AP classes or Algebra 2 or more, and only 40 percent took developmental courses in college. .

In addition, nearly half of students were “transferred,” 45 percent were accepted to a four-year college, and 41 percent attended a four-year institution at some point. About 75 percent of students enrolled in college within three months of completing high school or the GED, and half of respondents passed some form of first-year seminar.

The largest share of expelled students (43 percent) pleaded to return immediately after being expelled. One-third returned after a year or more.

Two-thirds (67%) of expelled students said that a life-changing event was the strongest reason for their grades to drop, including the death of a loved one (26%), illness (24%), and the birth of a child (17). percent), moving away from home (11 percent), being involved in a violent experience (8 percent), losing a job (7 percent) or having problems with a spouse (6 percent).

Put into practice: In the interviews, the researchers identified five factors that affected the expulsion of students and could have a negative impact on education.

1. College readiness. For some students, the transition to college contributed to their disengagement because the environment was more challenging and less organized. To combat this upon return, students seek more structure and community to ensure academic success, including investing in study skills, note-taking, time management and self-monitoring.
2. A serious incident. Although many students have been expelled after facing a challenge in their lives, the expulsion from education has provided a change, especially for students who spend their time outside of college working, to re-evaluate their goals and aspirations. The center where the research participants attended required students to reflect on their experiences before re-enrolling, which in turn helped students to self-evaluate. “As a result, institutions with automatic reinstatement, lax structures, or no policies at all, may deprive students of the critical impact of academic expulsion and the appeals process,” according to the report.

3. Effective teaching. Students say that faculty interaction and support is one of the most important factors for success in the classroom when they return. Faculty who created an environment of active learning and participation were engaged and effective. Students also identified their learning strategies, including self-awareness and self-regulation, as previous barriers to success and now a focus.
4. Academic rigor. Returning students had inspiring qualities including a strong growth mindset, clear goals, determination and a sense of personal responsibility. Students also demonstrate resilience when faced with obstacles and find solutions to obstacles in their path, including turning to peers, instructors or faculty members.
5. Supporting guidance. All research participants participated in specialized counseling to guide them through the appeals process and help with course selection, workloads and majors. These experiences were relational, not transactional, and helped to reinforce students’ help-seeking behavior in positive ways, reducing students’ feelings of confusion or feeling like they had to navigate alone.

Now? Although the study provides characteristics of students who return from academic expulsion, there is a need for more information about probation, time remaining after expulsion or forced withdrawal versus voluntary departure, according to the report.

College and university leaders should consider their application process to create greater connections between students and staff or faculty, rather than an automatic return policy or lax policy.

“Creating a well-designed, institution-specific policy provides a milestone for students to stop, seek support, and reevaluate,” Bledsoe wrote.

This study does not recommend expulsion programs but calls on institutional leaders to develop policies that are more aware of the different factors that contribute to academic success and to integrate expulsion and support programs.

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