Academic review at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville : an evaluation

The purpose of this research was to examine the effects of Academic Review at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, on academic performance, evidenced by changes in grade point averages of students receiving the intervention. Academic Review was implemented in 1988 and serves as "a process which will assist students who are having academic difficulty in progressing successfully to graduation" (Woodside et al., 1989, p. 3), with the long-term goal of increasing student retention. As academic success is defined in terms of Grade Point Average (GPA), averages of a sample group from the treated 1989-90 freshman class were compared to averages of a similar group from the 1987-88 class. All students had received below a 2.0 GPA after the first term and college status was classified as Liberal Arts or University. Two hypotheses were originated. It was hypothesized that the intervention group's (1989-90) grade point average gains would be significantly greater than those of the group (1987-88) that did not receive the treatment. It was also hypothesized that there would be no significant differences in grade point average gains between the males and females of the 1989-90 group. Analysis of data indicated that Hypothesis I was rejected. The 1989-90 group, which received the Academic Review intervention, did not achieve significantly greater gains in grade point averages. Hypothesis II was supported in that no significant differences between gender were found in the 1989-90 group. No quantitative data have been provided thus far as to Academic Review's effectiveness. Therefore, the information generated by this study contributes to The University of Tennessee, Knoxville by providing initial evaluation of the program. To provide more conclusive information, however, a longitudinal study involving a larger body of subjects is needed, including stratified samples based on such variables as academic year, college, gender, and race.