Online Archive of University of Virginia Scholarship
A Latent Growth Analysis of Undergraduate Degree Production422 views
Author
Blanchard, Rebecca D., Curry School of Education, University of Virginia
Advisors
Konold, Timothy, Curry School of Education, University of Virginia
Breneman, David, Curry School of Education, University of Virginia
Fan, Xitao, Curry School of Education, University of Virginia
Pusser, Brian, Curry School of Education, University of Virginia
Abstract
A theoretical framework based on prestige-maximization is used to identify four time-varying inputs in the production of undergraduate degrees at non-profit colleges and universities. The longitudinal relationship between these inputs (academic expenditures, research funding, faculty quality, and student quality) and the output (undergraduate degrees per FTE) was estimated at the institutional level between 1997 and 2007 with latent growth modeling. Separate models were estimated for institutions producing social science degrees (n=1,145) and physical science degrees (n=1,114). Collinearity diagnostics mandated the exclusion of academic expenditures; thus, interpretations of results were limited. The remaining three inputs were significantly related (p<.05) to degree production in both models, but an increase in each of these prestige-maximizing inputs did not uniformly produce increased degree rates.
Note: Abstract extracted from PDF text
Degree
PHD (Doctor of Philosophy)
Language
English
Rights
All rights reserved (no additional license for public reuse)
Blanchard, Rebecca D.. A Latent Growth Analysis of Undergraduate Degree Production. University of Virginia, Curry School of Education, PHD (Doctor of Philosophy), 2010-08-01, https://doi.org/10.18130/V3XR9P.