"Dual-Credit Program Leadership and Student Engagement" by Melanie A. Christian
Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Degree

Doctor of Education

Program

Education

Supervisor

Dr. Vicki Schwean

Abstract

Under dual enrollment, high school students take college or university courses from post-secondary institutions or external agencies for both post-secondary and high school credits. Dual credits include college/university, Advanced Placement, and International Baccalaureate courses. This study uses hierarchical linear modelling to determine whether grade in school (e.g., grade 12) or enrollment in multiple dual-credit courses impacts student engagement before and after moderation by leadership and dual-enrollment related variables. In this study, dual-credit students (n = 676) in New York and Ontario completed the Classroom Survey of Student Engagement (CLASSE), an adapted version of the National Survey of Student Engagement, regarding their dual-credit courses. They also completed the revised Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ 5x) to rate their dual-credit instructors’ transformational leadership. The dual-credit instructors (n = 43) completed the MLQ 5x to rate their principals’ or college deans’ transformational leadership. Research sites in New York and Ontario were included to capture various dual-enrollment delivery models. The analysis phase of the research involved two main steps: establishing the reliability and validity of the instruments and performing hierarchical linear modelling. Exploratory factor analyses (EFAs) established the construct validity of both the MLQ 5x and CLASSE with dual-enrollment students—a new context for both instruments. The EFAs and reliability tests revealed that the MLQ 5x was a suitable tool for measuring students’ perceptions of their dual-credit instructors’ transformational leadership. Initial EFAs on the CLASSE revealed clear facets of student engagement but showed several cross-loading questionnaire items, so further psychometric work was conducted to determine a subset of items with high factor loadings, low cross loadings, and acceptable reliability. This reduced subset was then used to generate average student-engagement scores for use in 2-level and 3-level hierarchical linear models that explored student, teacher, and school effects on student engagement for those in dual-credit programs. Hierarchical linear modelling revealed that teachers’ transformational leadership and the type of dual-credit teacher (high school or post-secondary) had a significant impact at the .05 level on the relationship between enrollment in multiple dual-credit courses and student engagement. This research can aid in the design of effective dual-enrollment programs.

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