nchc 2016 presentation final
TRANSCRIPT
A R E V I E W O F H O W T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F H O U S T O N
M E N T O R S H I P P R O G R A M I M PA C T S S T U D E N T
P E R S I S T E N C E A N D A C H I E V E M E N T
SUCCESS OF FIRST YEAR EXPERIENCES:
B Y M E G A N P R AT H E R , M A D I S O N R I C H A R D ,
A N D D R . R I TA S I R R I E H
THE HONORS COLLEGE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON
• University of Houston: ~43,000 students
• Fall 2016 Incoming Class: ~4500 students
• Average SAT of incoming class: 1140
• The Honors
College: ~2500
students
• Fall 2016 Incoming
Class: ~650
students
• Average SAT of
incoming class:
1338
THE MENTORSHIP PROGRAM
• Rationale: To help incoming first-year students
successfully transition to college
• 20 mentors, each assigned ~35 first-year students
• Hallmark Events
• Honors Retreat
• Honors Organization Fair
• Dinner with the Professors
• Explore Houston
HONORS RETREAT: SOFTBALL GAME
HONORS RETREAT: BURN-ON BRACELETS
TWILIGHT TOURS
ORGANIZATIONS FAIR
DINNER WITH THE PROFESSORS
EXPLORE HOUSTON
STUDYING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF OUR MENTORSHIP PROGRAM
• Methods
• Event Attendance Information
• First Semester GPA
• End of Semester Enrollment at UH
• Analysis
• Two Event Types
• Group
• Individual
• Three Involvement Levels
• Very Involved – Higher than 50% attendance
• Involved – Between 25% and 50% attendance
• Uninvolved – Less than 25% attendance
• Unpaired T-Test
GROUP INVOLVEMENT CORRELATED TO GPA
INDIVIDUAL INVOLVEMENT CORRELATED TO GPA
STATISTICAL SIGNIFICANCE:USING A T-TEST
STUDENTS WHO UNENROLLED FROM THE UNIVERSITY IN THEIR FIRST SEMESTER: 2012-2015
CONCLUSIONS
• Involvement through the Mentorship Program correlates
to improved first semester GPAs
• Improvement in GPA independent of major
• No significant difference between students involved in
group or individual events
FUTURE RESEARCH GOALS
• Does the involvement in the Mentorship Program result
in improved 4- and 6-year graduation rates?
• Does involvement in the Mentorship Program lead to
greater engagement throughout a student’s
undergraduate career?
• How much programming is too much programming?
FUTURE MENTORSHIP PROGRAM GOALS
• “How to Adult” Workshops
• Connect students to the City of Houston
• Collaborate with Service Learning and similar initiatives
QUESTIONS?