Learning Behavior and Motivation of At-Risk College Students: The Case of a Self-Regulatory Learning Class.

The transition from high school to college is difficult for many students, particularly at-risk freshmen. According to a report on national college dropout and graduation rates conducted by American College Testing (2014), the dropout rate between the freshman and the sophomore year in public four-year colleges or universities in the United States was about 29% in 2012, compared to about 26% in 2008. Harvard University’s Pathways to Prosperity Project Report also indicated that “only 56 percent of those enrolling in a four-year college attain a bachelor’s degree after six years, and less than 30 percent of those who enroll in community college, succeed in obtaining an associate’s degree within three years” (Symonds, Schwartz, & Ferguson, 2011, p. 6). According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2016, p. 175), in 2014, only 49% of undergraduate students in the United States obtained their bachelor’s degrees on time; approximately half of the students surveyed were not able to complete their bachelor’s educational level on time. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine the motivational characteristics and learning behaviors of atrisk freshmen at a four-year university as well as to identify the class-level components of an effective self-regulatory learning course designed for this population in a university setting. The students who were required to enroll in the course entered college with lower high school GPAs and SAT scores than the university desired and were thus considered at risk. The researchers proposed a series of hypotheses about the relationships among (a) self-efficacy, (b) learning and motivation indicators, and (c) academic outcomes for this population in general. A conceptual model of this study is shown in Figure 1. The overarching research question addressed in this study is: How do the self-efficacy and the learning and study strategies of at-risk college students influence their academic achievement? This question is addressed through the following subquestions: Abstract: The purpose of this study was to explore the motivational characteristics and learning behaviors affecting at-risk college students. To explore how motivation and learning behaviors are related to academic achievement, the relationships between (a) selfefficacy; (b) learning and study strategy indicators; and (c) academic outcomes were assessed. The trajectories of self-efficacy changes were also examined. Data were collected in three sets from freshmen in a self-regulatory learning class at a university in the Southwestern United States. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were conducted to examine the relationships among the observed variables. Changes in self-efficacy scores were examined during the semester. The results revealed a positive change in selfefficacy. Certain learning strategies and motivational characteristics, including attitude, interest, and attention, significantly predicted academic outcomes for the at-risk college freshman population studied. Implications and recommendations for future studies are discussed.