| As accountability within higher education increases, institutions have responded by expanding efforts to track critical student data such as retention and graduation rates. Student success data has played a significant role in factors such as funding levels and determinations regarding institutional health and effectiveness. A notable portion of students that fail to persist and graduate are those who have experienced academic challenges, resulting in time spent on academic probation. Academic probation is a policy utilized by institutions to alert students who are failing to meet the required academic standards, and to encourage improvement in academic performance. The poor educational outcomes of the probationary population negatively impacts institutional student success rates; therefore, these students have typically been offered a variety of interventions. In spite of these efforts, a high percentage of probationary students eventually withdraw from the institution without a degree in hand.
This mixed methods, exploratory case study has taken a longitudinal view of probationary student outcomes at a public, four-year institution and has gathered data from two peer institutions. The findings of this study have identified specific student variables which indicate an increased likelihood of time spent on academic probation; determined the direct impact of the probationary population on institutional student success data; identified the significant variances in probationary success rates that occur between peer institutions; and offered best practices when intervening with this student population. The outcomes of the study indicate that the policy of academic probation, in and of itself, does not improve student academic performance. However, when the policy is paired with targeted and effective interventions, institutions achieved significantly higher institutional student success rates. |