Theses and Dissertations from UMD
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2
New submissions to the thesis/dissertation collections are added automatically as they are received from the Graduate School. Currently, the Graduate School deposits all theses and dissertations from a given semester after the official graduation date. This means that there may be up to a 4 month delay in the appearance of a give thesis/dissertation in DRUM
More information is available at Theses and Dissertations at University of Maryland Libraries.
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Item Investigating Predictors of College-Going Self-Efficacy and Educational Goals for Latina/o High School Students(2013) Berbery, Maria Luz; O'Brien, Karen M; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study examined predictors of college-going self-efficacy and educational goals in a sample of Latina/o high school students (N = 119). Specifically, the study investigated the variance accounted for by school performance, ethnic identity, barriers, and family support in college-going self-efficacy and educational goals. Important findings included that school performance was a key predictor of college-going self-efficacy, and this relationship was moderated by family’s college-going support. For students with a high GPA, having support was linked to higher college-going self-efficacy, while students that had a high GPA but low support had lower self-efficacy. Students with lower GPA had lower college-going self-efficacy regardless of the level of support they reported. Another important finding was that school performance was the main predictor of educational goals. In addition, socioeconomic status was related to perceptions of barriers, GPA, and educational goals, such that students with a lower socioeconomic status were more likely to perceive more barriers, have a lower GPA, and lower educational goals. This study advanced knowledge regarding salient variables for Latina/o students, and may contribute to the development of an empirically tested intervention to improve Latina/o students’ academic performance, college-going self-efficacy, and educational goals.Item Achievement and integration factors related to the academic success and intent to persist of college freshmen and sophomores with learning disabilities(2007-03-28) DaDeppo, Lisa Marie Wilson; Speece, Deborah; Special Education; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)The number of students with learning disabilities (LD) attending college has increased over the past several decades, yet outcomes including graduation rates continue to lag behind those of non-disabled students. In addition to students' background characteristics and past academic achievement, Tinto's (1975; 1993) constructs of academic and social integration have been the focus of much of the research identifying factors associated with college student success and persistence. Previous research has validated the impact of academic and social integration on college student persistence and success; however, these factors have not been studied with a sample of students who have disabilities. In this investigation hierarchical multiple regression analysis was used to study the relative influence of pre-college achievement and college integration variables on the academic success and intent to persist of college freshmen and sophomores with LD, while controlling for background characteristics. Participants were 97 freshmen and sophomores with LD at a large, public university in the southwestern United States. Students completed a demographic questionnaire as well as portions of the Freshmen Year Survey (Milem & Berger, 1997) to measure integration and intent to persist. High school GPA, SAT scores, and college GPA were obtained from university records. Academic, social and total integration were not unique significant predictors of college GPA beyond background characteristics and past academic achievement. However, total integration was a significant predictor of intent to persist, accounting for 17 percent unique variance. Academic integration was a significant predictor of intent to persist accounting for 12 percent unique variance. Further, social integration was a significant predictor of intent to persist, accounting for 18 percent unique variance beyond background characteristics and past academic achievement and 7 percent unique variance in the model that also included academic integration. These findings suggest academic and social integration are promising constructs to explain the persistence of college students with LD. Implications of this study include the need for continued research on the role of academic and social integration for college students with LD, as well as on the practices of high school and college personnel in preparing students with LD for college.