Empirical Perspectives on Academic and Career Advising Paul A. Gore, Ph.D. University of Utah Presentation to the Utah Advising & Orientation Association

Empirical Perspectives on Academic and Career Advising

Paul A. Gore, Ph.D.University of Utah

Presentation to the Utah Advising & Orientation Association (UAOA)May 22, 2007

This presentation is posted as a courtesy to the members of UAOA. Please feel free to use material from this presentation on your campus with appropriate reference to my UAOA presentation. If you would like to use material from this presentation outside of your campus, please contact me at [email protected] (801-581-7233) to secure permission to do so.

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Outline

• Student Expectations for College• Student Academic Readiness• Student Career Development Status

• Promoting Effective Career Decision-Making

• Promoting Student and Career Success • Future Directions

Expectations

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

will graduate fro

m high school

will go to co

llege

will have a job that pays w

ell

will have an enjoyable job

will own a home

will have bette

r life than parents

Per

cen

tHigh to Very High

50% or less

Percentage indicating chances are….

High School Freshmen: Probability Estimates of Life Events

10th Grade Students' Postsecondary Aspirations

12.6

29.830.8

26.7

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

High school Two year college Four year college Graduate school

Pe

rce

nt

Community College Students' Degree Aspirations

4037

20

47

41

70

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

1972 1982 1992

Pe

rce

nt

No postsecondary degree

Voc/Tech degree/certificate

Associates degree

Bachelors degree or more

High hopes, but…

There is concern that college students are not prepared to meet the challenges of attaining a college education.

• Average four-year graduation rate at two-year institutions = 34% (Swail, 2004)

• Average six-year graduation rate at four-year institutions = 53% (Carey, 2004)

– First to second year retention rates

• Traditional 73.4%• Selective 81.7%• Two year colleges 52%

• Rate considerably lower for first-generation students and students of color

Percent of Students Who Meet College Ready Academic Benchmarks

26

40

68

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

College Biology College Algebra College Composition

Pe

rce

nt

of

Stu

de

nts

75% chance of getting a C or better

Remedial Course Taking by Institutional Type

2425

29

43

36

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

4-Year Private For Profit 4-Year Public 2-Year Public All Institutions

Per

cen

t o

f S

tud

ent

Po

pu

lati

on

Percent of Students Taking Remedial Course by Course Type

30

77

28

12

35

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

English Math Reading Study Skills Writing

Pe

rce

nt

of

Re

me

dia

l S

tud

en

t P

op

ula

tio

n

Percent of Students Receiving Bachelor's Degree by Remedial Course Taking Behavior

58

27

17

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

No Remediation One or two MathCourses

Any RemedialReading

Pe

rce

nt

ACT Examinees' Expressed Need for Help

37

2024

37 35

9

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Ed/O

cc Pl

ans

Expr Id

eas/W

riting

Read

ing/C

omp

Study

Skills

Math Sk

ills

Perso

nal

Need for Help

Perc

ent

• Students have high postsecondary expectations

• Many come to us under-prepared and in need of remediation

• They appear interested in your help

Major &Career

• Consistent trends over the last 30 years– Students rate “being well off financially” and

“to get a better job” as the most salient reasons for attending college (shift from 1970’s – “to develop a meaningful philosophy of life”)

How Far Along in Making Career Decision?

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Pretty co

nfused

Become les

s confused

Identified one option

Have chosen

Chosen and committed

Committed and passio

nate

Perc

ent of Pa

rtic

ipan

ts

Have You Chosen a College Major

46

54

37

73

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

No Yes

Pe

rce

nt

of

Re

sp

on

de

nts

First Year College

ACT Examinees

25% of thoseindicating a majorIn the ACT sample alsoreport being“not sure” of theirchoice

How Important is it to Figure out Career Now?

2

16

26

2827

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Not at allimportant

Somewhatimportant

Moderatelyimportant

Important Very important

Perc

ent of Pa

rtic

ipan

ts

How Motivated are You to Decide on Career Direction Now?

1

7

22

40

30

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Not at allmotivated

Somewhatmotivated

Moderatelymotivated

Motivated Very motivated

Perc

ent of Pa

rtic

ipan

ts

How Much Help Do You Need with Career Direction?

13

25

38

19

6

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

No help at all Some help Moderate help A good deal ofhelp

Lots of help

Perc

ent of Pa

rtic

ipan

ts

• 70% of the 30 fastest-growing jobs will require an education beyond high school

• 40% of all new jobs will require at least an associate’s degree

• 50 years ago, 80% of all jobs were classified as “unskilled”

• Today, 85% of all jobs are classified as “skilled” or requiring education beyond high school

• It is estimated that 60% of all future jobs will require training that only 20% of today’s workers possess

0

5

10

15

20

25

Exec./A

dmin./Manag.

Eng/Scien

ceHeal

th

Teaching/Counseli

ng Law

Writing/Art

Technicia

nSal

es

Admin. su

pport

Protec

tionSer

vice

Transport./

Farm./M

echanica

l

Perc

ent of To

tal

Student AspirationsProjected Jobs

Occupational Aspirations vs. Occupational Options

Workforce Projections vs. Expressed Interest (controlled for college requirements)

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

Emplo

ymen

t-Rela

ted

Servic

es

Mar

ketin

g & S

ales

Man

agem

ent

Regul

atio

n & P

rote

ction

Comm

unica

tions

& R

ecor

ds

Financ

ial T

rans

actio

ns

Distrib

ution

& D

ispat

ching

Trans

port

Opera

tion

& Rela

ted

Agricu

lture

, For

estry

& R

elate

d

Compu

ter &

Info

rmat

ion

Specia

lties

Const

ructi

on &

Main

tena

nce

Crafts

& R

elate

d

Man

ufac

turin

g & P

roce

ssing

Mec

hanic

al &

Ele

ctrica

l Spe

cialtie

s

% o

f T

ota

l

2012 (requiring college)

2005 Expressed Interest

16

40

44

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Misaligned: Too littleeducation

Misaligned: Toomuch education

Aligned

Per

cen

t o

f S

tud

ents

Alignment Between Students Educational and OccupationalAspirations

Promoting Career

Choice

• Does it matter how you engage students to promote effective career choices?

YESNO

Critical Ingredients

• Ryan-Krane, Brown, and their colleagues reviewed career intervention outcome studies in attempt to determine what particular aspects of career interventions are commonly associated with successful outcomes.

• They focused their attention on career choice interventions


• Computer-Guided Assistance

• Workbook or Written Exercises

• Self-Report Inventories

• Individualized Attention and Feedback

• Counselor Support

• Cognitive Restructuring

• Vocational Exploration

• Values Clarification

• Card Sorts

• Information on the World of Work

• Outside Reading

• Personal Performance Accomplishments

• Modeling

• Anxiety Reduction

• Attention to Building Supports

• Attention to Decreasing Barriers

• Decision-Making Models and Strategies

• Attention to Past Achievements


• Computer-Guided Assistance


• Self-Report Inventories


• Counselor Support

• Cognitive Restructuring

• Vocational Exploration

• Values Clarification

• Card Sorts


• Outside Reading

• Personal Performance Accomplishments

• Modeling

• Anxiety Reduction


• Attention to Decreasing Barriers

• Decision-Making Models and Strategies

• Attention to Past Achievements


0.99

0.61

0.22

0.45

0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

0 1 2 3

Number of Critical Components

Eff

ec

t S

ize

(D

)


• Which ingredients are you using?

• How are you using them?




• Modeling


Promoting College

& Career Success

College and Career Success Factors

• What student characteristics promote college and career success

Predicting Student Success

• Predicting student success– Primary focus on cognitive factors (ACT, GPA)– Pre-enrollment situational (SES, first generation)– Post-enrollment situational (Housing, hours worked

on campus, campus climate)– Non-cognitive/motivational (engagement,

achievement motivation, self-efficacy)

• Post secondary institutions focus on all four• Psychological research has focused on non-

cognitive/motivational factors

• Current non-cognitive predictors?

• Emotional Intelligence• Student Engagement (e.g., NSSE)• College Commitment (College Student Inventory)• Study Habits• Academic Self-Confidence• Resilience

• Robbins and his colleagues (2004) recently conducted a Meta-analysis of the role of academic and non-academic factors in predicting college outcomes

• These authors identified non-cognitive constructs that were predictive of student outcomes

Non-Cognitive Factors

• Academic Discipline• Goal Striving• Commitment to College• Social Activity• Social Connection• Academic Self-Efficacy• General Determination• Study Skills• Communication Skills• Emotional Control

Predicting Academic Performance


Predicting Academic Persistence


An Institutional Initiative• Many colleges and universities lack a systematic, integrated, and

coordinated set of programs to promote student success

• Effort was undertaken to bring together first-year campus programs around a common focus and to use data to drive coordination efforts

• Project developed by workgroup on first-year including advising, faculty, FYE, Native American and Multicultural Student Centers, Assessment, LAC, and New Student programs

• Goal: proactive, intrusive interventions which could influence first year student success.

An Institutional Initiative

1. ID early and make direct contact with students who were determined to be at risk for either failure to persist or failure to remain in good academic standing

2. Use the information to match student needs with specific university resources and services

3. Embed the student profiles in FYE seminars to facilitate understanding of the connection between student needs and campus resources

4. Use composite indices of retention and academic success to build a customized retention prediction equation for institution

An Institutional Initiative1. Direct contact with students at risk

• Composite indices in Student Readiness Inventory used• Identified group of reachable students based on resource decisions – invited for

individual appointments in the Gateway Student Success Center; enrolled in Retention Alert Program; met with peer advisors in Multicultural Student Center or Native American Student Services if appropriate

• NAU used retention risk index and did not allocate their resources to the lowest percentiles

2. Connect students to campus resources using scale scores

• Direct contact via email or postcards encouraging students to access services or participate in events. SRI not explicitly referenced

• Students with potential academic problems invited to LAC• High scores invited to meet with Res Life and New Student Programs • Students with low social connectedness invited to participate in Student Life, Campus

Services, and Union activities

An Institutional Initiative3. Including student SRI profiles in lesson and instructional activities in FYE

seminar courses

• Traditional 3-credit FYE for special admit students• One-credit FYE course for regularly admit students• Scores used regularly as opportunities for reflection in class• Students met one-on-one with instructor to develop student success

action plan

Resource Use by GPA

2.3

2.4

2.5

2.6

2.7

2.8

2.9

3

0-4 5-19 20+ 0 1 2+ 0 1+ 0 1-3 4+

GP

A

Recreation Resources Social Resources Academic Referrals Advising/Career Sessions

Outcomes

Resource Use by Retention

0.4

0.5

0.6

0.7

0.8

0.9

1

0-4 5-19 20+ 0 1 2+ 0 1+ 0 1-3 4+

Ret

enti

on

Recreation Resources Social Resources Academic Referrals Advising/Career Sessions

Outcomes

• Further analysis revealed interactions between risk factors and utilization of services in relationship to outcomes– With respect to GPA, there was an interaction

between academic referrals and risk– Those at higher risk benefited even more from

referrals

Bringing It All Together

• SCANS reports among other suggest successful workforce will possess– Basic academic skills – Higher order thinking skills - including decision-

making, creativity, learning how to learn– Interpersonal and teamwork skills – negotiation,

conflict resolution skills, leadership skills– Ability to work with others– Basic success characteristics and attitudes (e.g., self-

esteem, self-efficacy, motivation, responsibility, integrity, conscientiousness)

Changing Work Contract

• Career development professionals are emphasizing career self-management as a response to changing psychological work contract– Change– Flexibility– Currency– Initiative

• Theories of Adult/Student Development and Institutional Persistence– Goal Commitment (goal striving)– Social and Academic Integration (social

activity, social connection, academic discipline)

– Institutional Commitment (commitment to college)

– Intent to Persist (general determination)

Postsecondary Applications

• The First-Year Experience Seminar

• Integrating career and academic advising functions – promoting career and college success and decision-making

• Curricular infusion – promoting career education and college/career success attitudes/behaviors in the teaching classrooms

• Institutional efforts that are data driven

Outcomes of Career Education

• Early and accurate identification of college major/career

– Congruence between college major – and measured interest is predictive of college major stability, persistence, time to graduation, and satisfaction with choice

• Preparation for career transition is more than just making a good choice

• Students must be ready - Students must possess college and workforce readiness

skills/attitudes/behaviors

• Questions/Discussion

Documents

Empirical Perspectives on Academic and Career Advising Paul A. Gore, Ph.D. University of Utah Presentation to the Utah Advising & Orientation Association