IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ats/wpaper/wp2022-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Impact of Academic Probation: Do Intensive Interventions Help?

Author

Listed:
  • Aaron Albert

    (Department of Economics and Geosciences, US Air Force Academy)

  • Nathan Wozny

    (Department of Economics and Geosciences, US Air Force Academy)

Abstract

Academic probation policies place restrictions on low-performing college students, incentivizing them to improve their performance or leave the program. We examine the effect of an intensive academic probation policy that includes mandatory study time. Using a regression discontinuity analysis and administrative data from the U.S. Air Force Academy, we find that placement on academic probation increases performance without increasing attrition and increases completion of STEM degrees. These impacts are surprising in light of research showing increased attrition and shifts towards easier courseloads at other institutions, suggesting that more intensive interventions may help low-performing college students without discouraging program completion.

Suggested Citation

  • Aaron Albert & Nathan Wozny, 2022. "The Impact of Academic Probation: Do Intensive Interventions Help?," Working Papers 2022-02, Department of Economics and Geosciences, US Air Force Academy.
    • Handle: RePEc:ats:wpaper:wp2022-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.usafa.edu/app/uploads/usafawp2022-02.pdf
    File Function: First version, 2022
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christopher Jepsen & Peter Mueser & Kenneth Troske, 2016. "Labor Market Returns to the GED Using Regression Discontinuity Analysis," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 124(3), pages 621-649.
    2. Eric P. Bettinger & Bridget Terry Long, 2009. "Addressing the Needs of Underprepared Students in Higher Education: Does College Remediation Work?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 44(3).
    3. Fletcher, Jason M. & Tokmouline, Mansur, 2017. "The Effects of Academic Probation on College Success: Regression Discontinuity Evidence from Four Texas Universities," IZA Discussion Papers 11232, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Todd Stinebrickner & Ralph Stinebrickner, 2012. "Learning about Academic Ability and the College Dropout Decision," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 30(4), pages 707-748.
    5. Ben Ost & Weixiang Pan & Douglas Webber, 2018. "The Returns to College Persistence for Marginal Students: Regression Discontinuity Evidence from University Dismissal Policies," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(3), pages 779-805.
    6. Jason M. Lindo & Nicholas J. Sanders & Philip Oreopoulos, 2010. "Ability, Gender, and Performance Standards: Evidence from Academic Probation," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(2), pages 95-117, April.
    7. Matias D. Cattaneo & Michael Jansson & Xinwei Ma, 2020. "Simple Local Polynomial Density Estimators," Journal of the American Statistical Association, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 115(531), pages 1449-1455, July.
    8. Sebastian Calonico & Matias D. Cattaneo & Rocio Titiunik, 2014. "Robust data-driven inference in the regression-discontinuity design," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 14(4), pages 909-946, December.
    9. Marcus D. Casey & Jeffrey Cline & Ben Ost & Javaeria A. Qureshi, 2018. "Academic Probation, Student Performance, And Strategic Course‐Taking," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 56(3), pages 1646-1677, July.
    10. Paco Martorell & Isaac McFarlin, 2011. "Help or Hindrance? The Effects of College Remediation on Academic and Labor Market Outcomes," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(2), pages 436-454, May.
    11. Wright, Nicholas A., 2020. "Perform better, or else: Academic probation, public praise, and students decision-making," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    12. Marc Luppino & Richard Sander, 2015. "College major peer effects and attrition from the sciences," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-23, December.
    13. Anthony Burton & Katherine Carson & Susan Chilton & W. Hutchinson, 2007. "Resolving questions about bias in real and hypothetical referenda," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 38(4), pages 513-525, December.
    14. Matias D. Cattaneo & Michael Jansson & Xinwei Ma, 2018. "Manipulation testing based on density discontinuity," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 18(1), pages 234-261, March.
    15. Peter Arcidiacono & Esteban Aucejo & Ken Spenner, 2012. "What happens after enrollment? An analysis of the time path of racial differences in GPA and major choice," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 1(1), pages 1-24, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nicholas A. Bowman & Nayoung Jang, 2022. "What is the Purpose of Academic Probation? Its Substantial Negative Effects on Four-Year Graduation," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 63(8), pages 1285-1311, December.
    2. Wright, Nicholas A., 2020. "Perform better, or else: Academic probation, public praise, and students decision-making," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    3. Chu, Yu-Wei Luke & Cuffe, Harold E, 2020. "Do Struggling Students Benefit From Continued Student Loan Access? Evidence From University and Beyond," Working Paper Series 21067, Victoria University of Wellington, School of Economics and Finance.
    4. Marcus D. Casey & Jeffrey Cline & Ben Ost & Javaeria A. Qureshi, 2018. "Academic Probation, Student Performance, And Strategic Course‐Taking," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 56(3), pages 1646-1677, July.
    5. Peter Arcidiacono & Michael Lovenheim, 2016. "Affirmative Action and the Quality-Fit Trade-Off," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 54(1), pages 3-51, March.
    6. Clémentine Van Effenterre, 2017. "Post 16 remedial policies: a literature review," CVER Research Papers 005, Centre for Vocational Education Research.
    7. Kämpfen, F.; & Gómez-Olivé, X.; & O’Donnell, O.; & Riumallo Herl, C.;, 2023. "Effectiveness of Population-Based Hypertension Screening: A Multidimensional Regression Discontinuity Design," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 23/15, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    8. Paco Martorell & Isaac McFarlin, Jr. & Yu Xue, 2014. "Does Failing a Placement Exam Discourage Underprepared Students from Going to College?," Education Finance and Policy, MIT Press, vol. 10(1), pages 46-80, November.
    9. Laura Goßner & Yuliya Kosyakova & Marie-Christine Laible, 2022. "Resilient or Vulnerable? Effects of the COVID-19 Crisis on the Mental Health of Refugees in Germany," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(12), pages 1-20, June.
    10. Rodriguez, Viviana, 2023. "Student effort response to shifts in university admission policies," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    11. Lauren Schudde & Judith Scott-Clayton, 2016. "Pell Grants as Performance-Based Scholarships? An Examination of Satisfactory Academic Progress Requirements in the Nation’s Largest Need-Based Aid Program," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 57(8), pages 943-967, December.
    12. Nibbering, Didier & Oosterveen, Matthijs & Silva, Pedro Luís, 2022. "Clustered Local Average Treatment Effects: Fields of Study and Academic Student Progress," IZA Discussion Papers 15159, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    13. Burgherr, David, 2022. "Behavioral Responses to a Pension Savings Mandate : Quasi-experimental Evidence from Swiss Tax Data," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 645, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    14. de Gendre, Alexandra & Lynch, John & Meunier, Aurélie & Pilkington, Rhiannon & Schurer, Stefanie, 2021. "Child Health and Parental Responses to an Unconditional Cash Transfer at Birth," IZA Discussion Papers 14693, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Mohamed Abouaziza, 2022. "Farmer constraints and relational contracts: evidence from agricultural value chains in East Africa," Economics PhD Theses 0122, Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School.
    16. Deng, Guoying & Du, Pengcheng & Hernandez, Manuel A. & Xu, Shu, 2024. "Corporate taxes and labor market informality evidence from China," IFPRI discussion papers 2244, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    17. Nicholas A. Bowman & Nayoung Jang & D. Martin Kivlighan & Nancy Schneider & Xiaomeng Ye, 2020. "The Impact of a Goal-Setting Intervention for Engineering Students on Academic Probation," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 61(1), pages 142-166, February.
    18. Pugatch, Todd & Wilson, Nicholas, 2018. "Nudging study habits: A field experiment on peer tutoring in higher education," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 151-161.
    19. Eibich, Peter & Siedler, Thomas, 2020. "Retirement, intergenerational time transfers, and fertility," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    20. Luis R. Martinez & Jonas Jessen & Guo Xu, 2023. "A Glimpse of Freedom: Allied Occupation and Political Resistance in East Germany," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(1), pages 68-106, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Education; Attrition; Regression Discontinuity; Academic Probation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ats:wpaper:wp2022-2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: William Craighead (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deafaus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.