Effects of Learning-to-Learn Courses on Student Success Outcomes in Texas Community Colleges

• In Event: Strategies and Interventions for College Student Success

Abstract

Learning-to-learn courses teach students to apply psychology of learning research to academic pursuits, but little is known about their effects on outcomes in community colleges. Using a state data repository, quasi-experimental methods, multilevel-propensity-score matching, and multilevel modeling accounting for institutional and individual differences, we compared achievement, persistence, and college-completion outcomes for an intervention group of students who took a learning-to-learn course to a group of control students who did not. We estimated treatment effects for the general population of traditionally aged, First-Time-In-College, high-school graduates and for subgroups of students defined by their gender, race/ethnicity, economic disadvantage, and academic disadvantage. Results supported positive effects of learning-to-learn courses across student groups and in some cases stronger effects for historically marginalized groups.

Authors

• Taylor W. Acee, Texas State University

• Jim Van Overschelde, Texas State University

• Jonathan Vontsteen, Texas State University

• Giovanna Lorenzi Pinto, Texas State University

• Lori Wischenewsky, Texas State University

• Gail Bernadine Sylvester-Conrad, Texas State University

• Russell B Hodges, Texas State University

• Eric J. Paulson, Texas State University

• Phillip Vaughan, Texas State University