First Advisor

Yakaboski, Tamara

Document Type

Dissertation

Date Created

5-2020

Department

College of Education and Behavioral Sciences, Leadership Policy and Development: Higher Education and P-12 Education, LPD Student Work

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine an educational psychology phenomenon called growth mindset and the influence it may have on first-generation college student transition as measured by first-semester GPA. I invited students attending the orientation first-generation workshop to participate in my study and had 308 participants. I systematically selected one-third of them to participate in a 35-minute intervention that taught them about growth mindset. Students in the control group participated in the session New Student Orientation had in place for years: a simple social-belonging intervention. My study found that students who participated in the control/social-belonging intervention had statistically significant higher GPAs than students who participated in the growth mindset intervention. This is important for institutions to consider when wanting to improve college graduation rates for more vulnerable populations like first-generation college students.

Extent

98 pages

Local Identifiers

DatteriSaboski_unco_0161D_10841.pdf

Rights Statement

Copyright is held by the author.

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