Dual misconceptions of Asian-American student success in higher education

Abstract

Student retention studies is an ever-growing field of interest as educational institutions of both secondary and post-secondary levels try to find ways to increase their enrollment numbers while decreasing drop-out rates. For over 40 years, research has been done in order to identify different subgroups at-risk of dropping out or „stopping‟ out of college (Hansmeier, 1965; Astin, 1975; and Tinto, 1975). Some of the commonly identified risk factors include being a first-generation student—neither parents graduated with a bachelor degree, coming from a low-income household, and being a nontraditionally aged student upon entering college (Choy & Premo, 1995; Hansmeier, 1965; Horn, 1996; Nunez & Cuccaro-Alamin, 1998; Shield, 1994). Although retention studies have been conducted since the 1960‟s, Asian/Asian-American students have only been examined for about 15 years. The purpose of this study is to assess the retention rates of Asian-American students at a mid-sized university. Risk factors for dropping out for Asian and other ethnic groups will be discussed. The study also discusses an assessment tool designed for instructors to help identify characteristics that can be seen as risk factors in this student population as well as utilized for identifying risk factors for all student populations in general.