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One group of students that has received considerable attention by the Student Success Task Force are those freshmen who achieved a GPA of between 2.0 and 2.5 during their first year at DePaul. Previous studies have shown that these students tend to be retained to sophomore year at rates similar to their better performing peers, yet they have considerably lower graduation rates. One question raised during further discussions of this issue was what were the grades that comprised their GPAs. In other words, were these students receiving a considerable percentage of A’s, along with a corresponding percentage of F’s? Were these students consistently receiving some B’s and steady C’s? B’s and D’s? The purpose of this study was to assess the patterns of grades received by these students and assess the impact of these different patterns on retention and graduation rates. This brief and appended tables presents the results of these analyses.

Method

Data for this study were taken from the 1994-2001 cohorts of first-time, full-time freshmen who achieved a GPA of 2.0 up to, but not including 2.5 (n=1,505). The course enrollments and grades received by these students during their first year (not including summer terms) were captured. As would be expected, the distribution of grades tends to be bimodal, with peaks at B and C. However, there were a substantial percentage of A’s and F’s, suggesting alternative paths to a GPA of between 2.0 and 2.5. Using a statistical procedure known as a cluster analyses, students were categorized into one of four groups depending upon the percentage of A’s, A-‘s, B+’s, etc. they received. These groups, referred to here as clusters, were comprised of an A-/B+ cluster, a B cluster, a B-/C+ cluster and a C cluster.

Looking at the distribution of grades within each cluster provides an indication of how these groups were named. As is apparent from this figure, each cluster peaks over the grades that make up their cluster name, with the exception of the A-/B+ cluster which peaks over these grades, as well as over the F range. This should not be surprising given that for these students to have a 2.0-2.5 GPA with a relatively substantial percentage of A’s, these grades would need to be offset by D’s and F’s.

Each cluster contained roughly 25% of the students in the dataset. As is shown by the tables below, the gender distribution within clusters fluctuates some with male students actually outnumbering the female students in the C cluster. Compared to the overall new freshman population, there are slightly more males, proportionally.

The distribution by race does not fluctuate much across the clusters. We do see proportionally fewer Caucasian students in the dataset than in the overall population of new freshmen.

When we look at the distribution of cluster members over the eight cohorts used in these analyses, we see a higher representation of A-/B+ cluster members in the later cohorts than in the early cohorts. However, there appears to be no systematic variation in the relative proportion of clusters across the cohorts. This is important as when looking at graduation rates, only the earlier cohorts can be studied, as the data are not available for the later cohorts.

Looking at differences in retention and graduation rates across the clusters, an interesting pattern emerges. First, with the percentage of retained students (defined as either having graduated or still attending), we see that the A-/B+ cluster has the lowest retention rate, followed by the B cluster. Also, those students receiving relatively consistent B’s and C’s have a higher retention rate than the university average (combined over the eight cohorts) at year 1 (appended tables include breakdowns by college, race and gender).

We also see this in the graduation rates as the A/B+ cluster has a considerably lower graduation rate than the other clusters.

It would appear that that the types of grades students in the 2-2.5 group receive has a direct bearing on their persistence to graduation. As someone once said, you fail courses; you don’t fail college. Students who fail courses, even when accompanied with A’s in other courses, are considerably more likely to leave without completing a degree. Also, it seems that some students are quite content with a consistent diet of B’s and C’s as these students are more likely to complete the degree. Next steps in this research include: