Measuring academic learning and exam self-efficacy at admission to university and its relation to first-year attrition

Abstract

Self-efficacy is associated with both academic performance and attrition in higher education. Whether it is possible to measure students' academic self-efficacy after admission and prior to commencing higher education (i.e. pre-academic self-efficacy) in a valid and reliable way has hardly been studied. Aims: 1) to evaluate the construct validity and psychometric properties of two short scales to measure Pre-Academic Learning Self-Efficacy (PAL-SE) and Pre-Academic Exam Self-Efficacy (PAE-SE) using Rasch measurement models, 2) to investigate whether pre-academic self-efficacy was associated with half-year attrition across degree programs and institutions. Data consisted of 2686 Danish students admitted to nine different university degree programs across two institutions. Item analyses showed both scales to be essentially objective and construct valid, however, all items from the PAE-SE and two from the PAL-SE were locally dependent. Differential item functioning was found for the PAL-SE relative to degree programs. Reliability of the PAE-SE was .77, and varied for the PAL-SE from .79 to .86 across degree programs. Targeting was good only for the PAL-SE, thus we proceeded with the PAL-SE. PAL-SE was found to be associated with half-year attrition: A difference in PAL-SE from minimum to maximum was associated with a difference in half-year attrition of approximately 7%. This association was found both in the bivariate model and in the multivariate models with control of degree program, and with control of degree program and individual covariates such as earlier educational achievement and social background variables. Results thus also indicate that PAL-SE has a causal effect on half-year attrition.

Predicting Student Attrition in Higher Education through the Determinants of Learning Progress: A Structural Equation Modelling Approach

“…It is also the outcome of the interplay of several cognitive and non-cognitive factors. Specifically, the GPA has been expressed as an effect of personality traits, self-efficacy, motivation, learning strategies, achievement goals, study skills, and study habits [52][53][54]. Studies have observed that when students' intentions to withdraw is controlled, the impact of the variables that explain attrition-except the GPA-becomes insignificant [19,51].…”

Elementary School Teachers’ TPACK Profile in Science Teaching Based on Demographic Factors

“…The performance improvement program is aim at increasing teacher self-efficacy (Trauth-Nare, 2015), building motivation (S. Huang et al, 2019), and developing teachers' metacognitive (Colognesi et al, 2019). Self-efficacy is important because it is specific, and it is easy to develop (Nielsen et al, 2019). It is the tool to provide opportunities for researchers or policymakers to develop teacher selfefficacy through several workshops and training.…”