Persistence in Community College Allied Health Programs

The purpose of this study was to identify early indicators of persistence using preenrollment variables derived from the ASSET assessment developed by the American College Testing Program. The sample studied consisted of 187 community college allied health students enrolled in one- and two-year programs. The length of program persistence, in calendar days, was regressed on preenrollment ASSET variables and the first quarter grade point average. Separate prediction equations were developed for students enrolled in one-year and two-year programs respectively. The adjusted R square for the stepwise regression applied to one-year programs was .67 when first quarter grade point average (GPA) was included and .24 when GPA was deleted. For two-year programs, the adjusted R square was .44 when first quarter GPA was included and .25 when GPA was deleted. The noncognitive, self-reported information from the ASSET planning form, appeared to be more useful than the cognitive measures of academic ability when explaining variance in persistence. However, explained variance increased with knowledge of first quarter grade point average and there was a moderate relationship between cognitive measures and grade point average