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NATIONAL FORUM OF APPLIED EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH JOURNALVOLUME 20, NUMBER 1, 2006--2007

EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE: ANEDUCATION-BASED APPROACH TO

IMPROVE STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT

Robert H. Vela, Jr.San Jacinto College District

ABSTRACT

Although progressive efforts have been made on improving studentperformance and retention, students’ success in higher education continues to decline.The inability to connect the cognitive and affective domains in student development hasresulted in poorly prepared students in society.

This study examined the role of emotional intelligence in the academicachievement of first year college students. Each student completed a self-reportemotional intelligence assessment. Additional data examined included first semestergrade point averages, SAT scores, gender, and ethnicity.

The quantitative results of the study showed that there is a significantcorrelation between emotional intelligence skills and the academic achievement of firstyear college students. Findings also suggest a significant relationship between emotionalintelligence skills and academic achievement according to gender and ethnicity.Furthermore, the results showed that SAT scores, when coupled with emotionalintelligence skills, can better predict academic achievement. Self-management skills weresignificantly related to academic achievement.

major challenge facing the American Education System inthe 21 st century is to provide physically safe campuses,

emotionally safe and healthy classrooms, and an intensiveacademic curriculum taught by qualified teachers (Low, 2000).Healthy and safe learning environments are critical to achievingstudent success and satisfaction. It is this challenge that has prompted

professionals in education to implement change, renewal, and reform.A

Epstein (1998) states that individuals have two minds: rationaland experiential, each with its own form of intelligence. The rationalmind is the cognitive domain which can be measured through IQ tests.

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81 NATIONAL FORUM OF APPLIED EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH JOURNAL

The experiential mind, which is referred to as constructive thinking, provides a key to understanding emotional intelligence.

Seligman (1990) has done extensive research on learnedoptimism which is self-directed, as opposed to external forcesinfluencing human behavior. In his investigation of achievement, thetraditional assumptions are that success results from a combination of talent and desire.

A review of the literature at the school level indicates thatemotional intelligence skills are essential to achievement andleadership (Goleman, 1995, 1998). Goleman (1998) states that whenhigh levels of leadership are required, emotional skills are the best

predictors of success, as opposed to other traditional measures such asintelligence.

A review of the literature suggests that emotional intelligenceand related non-traditional measures of intelligence and human

performance are more predictive of success than traditional IQ testsand other standardized measures of academic ability and achievement(Nelson & Low, 1979, 2003; Gardner, 1983, 1993, 1997; Sternberg,1985, 1995; Goleman, 1995, 1998; Dryden and Vos, 1994; Astin &Astin, 1993; Townsend and Gephardt, 1997; Weisenger, 1985, 1998;Cooper and Sawaf, 1997; Epstein, 1998). It is apparent through thereview of the literature that the primary focus of education is academic

performance that has been measured using traditional IQ tests or other

forms of standardized exams. Current research suggests that schoolsand colleges cannot ignore or neglect the development of emotionalintelligence skills and other personal factors contributing to thesuccess of students.

In order for educators to build high-achieving, productive, andhealthy students, there must to be a balance in the cognitive andemotional domains of learning. If emotional intelligence skills aredeveloped, strengthened, and enhanced, students may demonstrateincreased levels of personal, academic, and career achievement.



Robert H. Vela Jr. 82

Sternberg (1995) characterized successful intelligent people as thosewho: are initiators who motivate themselves, learn to control their impulses and delay gratification, know how to preserve and seek tosurmount personal difficulties, translate thought into action and do not

procrastinate, complete tasks and follow through, are not afraid to risk failure, are independent and focus on personally meaningful goals,

balance their thinking (cognitive with emotional), and possess self-confidence and positive self-efficacy.

The Problem

The current rise in school violence, low levels of achievement,drop-out rates, and low levels of performance by world standards haveforced educators to look at other areas of student achievement that are

non-traditional (Low, 2000). These non-traditional measures consist of developing emotional intelligence and emotional skills as a form of academic learning. Research suggests that both the cognitive and theemotional domains of students’ academic development should be the

primary goal for educating students. Increased levels of achievementmay occur if the affective domain is included in learning experiencesfor college students. In order for educators to better meet the demandsand challenges of today’s public education system, research studiesindicate that the development of emotional skills should be in theacademic curriculum to produce healthy, responsible, and productivestudents.

Statement of the Problem

A major problem facing higher education is the absence of nontraditional variables of intelligence in the preparation, developmentand evaluation of first year college students. Research suggests thatnontraditional variables of intelligence are better predictors of academic achievement than traditional intellectual variables. Higher education institutions should consider emotional intelligence skills as




nontraditional variables of intelligence to assist with the admissions process and retention interventions.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of the study was to examine the relationship between emotional intelligence skills and academic achievement bygender and ethnicity in first year college students. The findings of thisstudy may assist educators in developing a better understanding of theeffects of emotional intelligence on the academic achievement of firstyear college students.

Significance of the Study

The information gathered by the study will help institutions,

practitioners, and researchers better understand the interplay of emotional intelligence skills and academic achievement among firstyear college students. As a result of this study, there may be major impacts on student assessment, recruitment, retention, anddevelopment in institutions of higher learning. The informationobtained from the study may contribute to the development of a newmodel for academic advising of first year college students thatemphasizes emotional intelligence skills as influencing factors in

personal, academic, and career success.

Research Methodology

The research method of the study was correlational.Multivariate correlational techniques were used to determine theextent to which more than two variables are related (Borg, 1989). Thedesign was nonexperimental to measure a variety of variables (Green,Salkind, & Akey, 2000). The instrument that was used was a self-assessment instrument to measure the current levels of emotionalintelligence skills. The research was an exploratory study to identifyvariables that may predict academic achievement in this sample (Borg,1989).




The study examined the relationship between emotionalintelligence skills and academic achievement among first year collegestudents. Eighteen independent (predictor) variables and onedependent (criterion) variable were examined. The independent(predictor) variables are the subscales of the Exploring andDeveloping Emotional Intelligence Skills (EDEIS) (Nelson & Low,2003) instrument, EDEIS cumulative skills scores, and the EDEIScumulative potential problem areas scores, gender, ethnicity, and SATscores. The dependent (criterion) variable was first semester grade

point averages. The thirteen subscales or skills of the Exploring andDeveloping Emotional Intelligence Skills instrument are grouped intofour competencies which measure ability in the areas of interpersonalcommunication under stress, personal leadership, self-management in

life and career, and intrapersonal development.

Population and Sample

The subjects under examination for the study were first year college students from a selected university in South Texas.Specifically, 760 first year college students enrolled in universitysuccess courses who participated in a university-wide emotionalintelligence project. Therefore the population and sample were one

and the same.Data for the study was collected from the emotional

intelligence project conducted by university personnel from a selecteduniversity in South Texas. The emotional intelligence project is auniversity-wide effort organized through the required universitysuccess courses taught in all five undergraduate colleges. The projectis designed to actively engage first year college students in bothacademic and self-directed experiential goal-oriented activities. Aninterdisciplinary team of faculty, administrators, graduate students,




and student program coordinators work with university successinstructors to provide class lessons and structure group activities earlyin the semester. The lessons and group activities are organized from a

positive assessment of emotional intelligence skills.

Before the Exploring and Developing Emotional IntelligenceSkills instrument was administered, presenters and facultyadministering the instrument participated in training sessions to

become oriented with the instrument and the value of emotionalintelligence skills on academic achievement and the development of asuccessful college student. Presenters were trained on the delivery of the lesson. Instructors were trained on successfully administering theassessment to ensure that students responded honestly, openly, andaccurately.

Presenters were given a detailed lesson to present to students before the administration of the Exploring and Developing EmotionalIntelligence Skills instrument. The lesson included the following four components: What is emotional intelligence? Why is emotionalintelligence important? Why is emotional intelligence important tostudents? How one can achieve emotional intelligence skills? Uponcompletion of the lesson, instructors administered the Exploring andDeveloping Emotional Intelligence Skills instrument and delivered thecompleted assessments to the emotional intelligence project staff for input into a database.

Subjects who participated in the study were first year collegestudents enrolled in the university success courses throughout theuniversity. An agreement to participate was collected to ensure thatstudents who participated in the study knew how their informationwould be used. First semester grade point averages and SAT scoreswere obtained from the Office of Institutional Research of the selecteduniversity in South Texas.




Conclusions

A summary of the quantitative findings is as follows:

1. For the whole group, the results of the correlational analyses showa significant relationship between GPA and drive strength (r = .10), time management (r = .21), commitment ethic (r = .17), andstress management (r = .12) at the .01 level of significance. Ingeneral, the results suggest that students with high levels of drivestrength, time management, commitment ethic, and stressmanagement, tend to be more successful in their academicachievement.

2. For the whole group, the results of the correlational analyses showa significant relationship between GPA and the EDEIS cumulativeskills scores (r = .09) at the .01 level of significance; a negative

correlation between GPA and the EDEIS cumulative potential problem areas scores (r = -.11), aggression (r = -.16), and changeorientation (r = -.12). In general, the results suggest that studentswith high levels of emotional intelligence tend be more successfulthan students with high levels of potential problems areas in their academic achievement.

3. For the whole group, a correlational analysis was conducted andconcluded that time management, leadership, commitment ethic,stress management, and self esteem are predictors of GPA. These

predictors accounted for 10% of the variance when predictingGPA.

4. For females, the results of the correlational analyses show asignificant relationship between GPA and time management (r = .22), commitment ethic (r = .21), and stress management (r = .14)at the .01 and .05 levels of significance. In general, the resultssuggest that female students with high levels of time management,commitment ethic, and stress management, tend to be moresuccessful in their academic achievement.

5. For females, the results of the correlational analyses show anegative relationship between GPA and the EDEIS cumulative

potential problem areas scores (r = -.14) and aggression (r = -.12)




the .01 level of significance. In general, the results suggest thatfemale students with high levels of potential problem areas tend todo poorly on academic achievement.

6. For females, a correlational analysis was conducted and concludedthat time management, empathy, and commitment ethic skills are

predictors of GPA. These predictors accounted for 11% of thevariance when predicting GPA.

7. For males, the results of the correlational analyses show asignificant relationship between GPA and drive strength (r = .12),time management (r = .18), commitment ethic (r = .13), and stressmanagement (r = .10) at the .01 and .05 levels of significance. Ingeneral, the results suggest that male students with high levels of drive strength, time management, commitment ethic, and stressmanagement, tend to be more successful in their academicachievement.

8. For males, the results of the correlational analyses show a negativerelationship between GPA and aggression (r = -.15) and changeorientation (r = -.13) the .01 level of significance. In general, theresults suggest that male students with high levels of potential

problem areas tend to do poorly on academic achievement.9. For males, a correlational analysis was conducted and concluded

that time management, leadership, stress management,commitment ethic, and self esteem skills are predictors of GPA.These predictors accounted for 9% of the variance when predictingGPA.

10. For Hispanics, the results of the correlational analyses show asignificant relationship between GPA and drive strength (r = .10),time management (r = .19), commitment ethic (r = .16), and stressmanagement (r = .13) at the .01 and .05 level of significance. Ingeneral, the results suggest that Hispanic students with high levelsof drive strength, time management, commitment ethic, and stressmanagement, tend to be more successful in their academicachievement.

11. For Hispanics, the results of the correlational analyses show asignificant negative relationship between GPA and the EDEIScumulative skills scores (r = .09) at the .01 level of significance; a




negative correlation between GPA and the EDEIS cumulative potential problem areas scores (r = -.14), aggression (r = -.15), andchange orientation (r = -.15). In general, the results suggest thatHispanic students with high levels of emotional intelligence tend

be more successful than students with high levels of potential problems areas in their academic achievement.

12. For Hispanics, a correlational analysis was conducted andconcluded that time management, leadership, commitment ethic,and stress management skills are predictors of GPA. These

predictors accounted for 8% of the variance when predicting GPA.13. For Caucasians, the results of the correlational analyses show a

significant relationship between GPA and time management (r = .23) and commitment ethic (r = .17) at the .01 and .05 level of significance respectively. In general, the results suggest thatCaucasian students with high levels of time management andcommitment ethic tend to be more successful in their academicachievement.

14. For Caucasians, the results of the correlational analyses show asignificant negative relationship between GPA and aggression (r =-.17). In general, the results suggest that Caucasian students withhigh levels of emotional intelligence tend be more successful thanstudents with high levels of potential problems areas in their academic achievement.

15. For Caucasians, a correlational analysis was conducted andconcluded that time management and leadership skills are

predictors of GPA. These predictors accounted for 9% of thevariance when predicting academic achievement.

16. For African-Americans, the results of the correlational analyses donot show a significant relationship between GPA and emotionalintelligence skills. In general, the results suggest that African-American students’ emotional intelligence skills do not relate toacademic achievement.

17. For African-Americans, the results of the correlational analyses donot show a significant negative relationship between GPA and the

potential problem areas. In general, the results suggest that




The findings related to time management demonstrate itssignificant association on academic achievement. The findings further suggest that time management is a predictive variable of academicachievement. Nelson and Low (2003) define time management as theability to organize daily tasks in a personal productive time scheduleand use it, to effectively for task completion. A recent study concludedthat time management skills were positively associated with quarter grade point averages for college students.

In the study, there was a significant relationship betweencommitment ethic and academic achievement of first year collegestudents, as well as a predictor of student success. Commitment ethicis a skill that gives one the ability to complete tasks, assignments, andother responsibilities in a dependable and satisfactory manner (Nelson& Low, 2003). Marks’ (1967) research study concluded that lack of

commitment to educational pursuits leads to adequate performance butsubsequent underachievement.

The findings related to change orientation show a negativecorrelation between academic achievement. Change orientation isconsidered a potential problem area that is inversely related to thesubjects’ first semester grade point averages. Positive change isconsidered the skill to develop for high levels of change orientation.Positive change is defined as a skill that is a reflection of anindividual’s positive level of satisfaction with his/her current behavior (Nelson & Low, 2003). The results of a research study concluded that

students transitioning to college experienced change in social strainwhich was strongly related to changes in coping and adjustment(Wonacott, 2001).

Another significant finding is the correlation between stressmanagement and academic achievement, and demonstrates its

prediction of student success. Nelson and Low (2003) define stressmanagement as a skill which gives one the ability to choose and haveself-control in response to external stressors. Results from a studyrevealed that academic pressure was the stressor that most commonly




led to high stress due to interpersonal difficulties. Exercise was foundto be an effective means of stress management and provided additional

benefits highly valued by the participants (Bolger, 1997).

The study concluded that aggression was negatively correlatedto the academic achievement of first year college students. Anger management is the skill to develop for aggression. Anger managementis the ability to express anger in a constructive way in relationship tooneself and others (Nelson & Low, 2003). Heinze’s (1995) studyrevealed that men and women use situational cues in their frameworksof anger expression and are different from one another. Thesedifferences are crucial and extremely important to the understandingof the interplay of aggression and academic achievement.

The findings of the study reflect that leadership skills were

predictive of academic achievement as measured by first semester grade point average. Nelson and Low (2003) define leadership as anaction-oriented demonstration of self-empowerment, interpersonal,and goal achievement skills. A recent study suggests that poor leadership skills lead to academic failure (Sanchez, Rejano, &Rodriguez, 2001).

The final emotional intelligence skill that was predictive of academic achievement is self-esteem. Self-esteem is defined as theability, belief, and/or skills to view oneself as a positive and competentindividual who successfully accomplishes personal goals (Nelson &

Low, 2003). A research study conducted by Stoever (2002), suggeststhat parents who fostered self-esteem in their children resulted in positive personal adjustment.




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