The effect of an academic dismissal policy on dropout, graduation rates and student satisfaction. Evidence from the Netherlands

Sneyers, Eline; Witte, Kristof De

doi:10.1080/03075079.2015.1049143

Cited by 28 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…Research on the use of academic probation for low-performing students shows that probation encourages some students to drop out, while improving grades for those students who decide to stay in the course programme (Lindo, Sanders, and Oreopoulos 2010). On the other hand, previous research on Dutch assessment policies showed higher first-year dropout rates (Arnold 2015;Sneyers and De Witte 2017), as well as lower grades (De Koning et al 2014) under academic dismissal policies. Results on academic progress were mixed, showing either no increase in progress (Stegers-Jager et al 2011;Eijsvogels et al 2015), or even a slight decrease in obtained credits (De Koning et al 2014) after the introduction of an academic dismissal policy.…”

Section: Height Of the Stakesmentioning

confidence: 98%

Assessment policies and academic progress: differences in performance and selection for progress

Kickert

Meeuwisse

Arends

et al. 2020

Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education

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Despite the benefits swift academic progress holds for many stakeholders, there is scarce literature on how academic progress may be improved by changes to assessment policies. Therefore, we investigated academic progress of first-year students after an alteration of characteristics of the assessment policies in three large course programmes: business administration (n ¼ 2048) changed the stakes; medicine (n ¼ 1630) changed the stakes and performance standard; psychology (n ¼ 1076) changed the stakes, performance standard and resit standard. Results indicate that students' academic progress was sensitive to the characteristics of the assessment policy in all three course programmes. The changes in progress could be explained by differences in performance, as well as by differences in selection for progress by the different policies. Implications are that assessment policies seem effective in shaping student progress, although one size does not fit all.

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Section: Height Of the Stakesmentioning

confidence: 98%

Assessment policies and academic progress: differences in performance and selection for progress

Kickert

Meeuwisse

Arends

et al. 2020

Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education

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“…Furthermore, policy interventions shown to be effective in some schools have proved unsuccessful in other disciplines, and their effectiveness depends on characteristics of the student population . Additionally, although data on the possible side‐effects of these policy interventions are lacking, there is increasing fear that such measures imply a cost to student well‐being …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender‐specific effects of raising Year‐1 standards on medical students' academic performance and stress levels

et al. 2020

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Context: Medical schools are challenged to create academic environments that stimulate students to improve their study progress without compromising their well-being.Objectives: This prospective comparative cohort study investigated the effects of raising Year-1 standards on academic performance and on students' chronic psychological and biological stress levels. Methods:In a Dutch medical school, students within the last Bachelor's degree cohort (n = 410) exposed to the 40/60 (67%) credit Year-1 standard (67%-credit cohort)were compared with students within the first cohort (n = 413) exposed to a 60/60 (100%) credit standard (100%-credit cohort). Main outcome measures were Year-1 pass rate (academic performance), mean score on the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS, psychological stress) and hair cortisol concentration (HCC, biological stress). Results:Year-1 pass rates were significantly higher in the 100%-credit cohort (odds ratio [OR] 4.65). Interestingly, there was a significant interaction effect (OR 0.46), indicating that raising the standard was more effective for male than for female students. PSS scores (n = 234 [response rate [RR]: 57%] and n = 244 [RR: 59%] in the 67%-and 100%-credit cohorts, respectively) were also significantly higher in the 100%-credit cohort (F (1,474) = 15.08, P < .001). This applied specifically to female students in the 100%-credit cohort. Levels of HCC (n = 181 [RR: 44%] and n = 162 [RR: 39%] respectively) did not differ between cohorts, but were significantly higher in female students (F (1,332) = 7.93, P < .01). In separate models including cohort and gender, both PSS score (OR 0.91) and HCC (OR 0.38) were significantly associated with Year-1 performance. Only students with both high PSS scores and high HCC values were significantly at risk of lower Year-1 pass rates (OR 0.27), particularly male students. Conclusions:Raising the Year-1 performance standard increased academic performance, most notably in male students. However, it also increased levels of perceived stress, especially in female students. In particular, the combination of high levels of perceived stress and biological stress, as measured by long-term cortisol, was related to poor academic performance. The study suggests a relationship between raising performance standards and student well-being, with differential effects in male and female students. | 539 STEGERS-JAGER ET Al.

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“…There are some uncommon exceptions which also make students eligible for university (e.g. colloquium doctum), which are described in detail in Sneyers and De Witte (2017). Students who enter university start with a bachelor's program (typically 3 years), after which they either enroll in a 1 (or 2) year(s) master's program or enter the job market.…”

Section: The Dutch Higher Education Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…guiding a student to a program in which one is more likely to succeed) (Onderwijsraad 2008;de Koning et al 2014). In the Netherlands, AD policies have been implemented ever since the late 1990s, with results suggesting that programs that installed such policies experienced higher first-year dropout and higher graduation rates (for the remaining students), when compared to similar programs without AD (Sneyers and De Witte 2017). By 2009, roughly half of the university bachelor programs had an AD policy in place (Dutch Inspectorate of Education 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The consequences of academic dismissal for academic success

Cornelisz¹,

Velden

Wolf

et al. 2019

Studies in Higher Education

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Academic dismissal policies are increasingly implemented to promote academic success, with existing empirical evidence mostly restricted to short-run outcomes. This study examines long-term academic outcomes of academic dismissal for two cohorts (N = 1707) of first-year bachelor students in Economics and Business at a Dutch university. Using administrative records, regression discontinuity design estimates suggest that academic dismissal does not relate to a difference in the propensity of graduation, nor to a change in study delay, when comparing students around the academic dismissal threshold. Not meeting this creditthreshold forces students to leave, and most decide to re-enroll in the same (43.4%) program elsewhere or at least within the academic domain (41.9%). Thus, while academic dismissal forces students to switch, its intended purpose of redirecting students to a different field of study is not observed. Implications for why academic dismissal might not deliver on the intended efficiency or effectiveness gains are discussed.

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The effect of an academic dismissal policy on dropout, graduation rates and student satisfaction. Evidence from the Netherlands

Cited by 28 publications

References 61 publications

Assessment policies and academic progress: differences in performance and selection for progress

Assessment policies and academic progress: differences in performance and selection for progress

Gender‐specific effects of raising Year‐1 standards on medical students' academic performance and stress levels

The consequences of academic dismissal for academic success

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