Shortchanging the Vulnerable? An Examination of the Effect of Contingent Faculty on Remedial Student Success
Ochoa, Amanda Marie
:
2012-04-09
Abstract
Public colleges and universities exist under constant pressure to reduce budgets and diminish spending. One way to do this is to utilize contingent faculty; but does this come at the expense of student success? The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of institutional faculty characteristics on the likelihood of degree completion for remedial education students.
This study utilizes a multilevel analysis of students within institutions. Students are first assigned to a curriculum based on their remedial education status. Within each institution and by subject, the percentage of remedial education and general education courses taught by the different faculty types (rank, full-time status, education level) was determined. Thus, each student was assigned a “treatment” based on the institution they attended, their remedial status in each subject and the characteristics of professors. The results of this analysis found little to no support that the interaction between remediation curriculum and select faculty characteristics had a positive or negative effect on the likelihood of degree completion.