A Qualitative Study of Adult Students' Experiences with Persistence Support

Abstract

ABSTRACT A QUALITATIVE STUDY OF ADULT STUDENTS’ EXPERIENCES WITH PERSISTENCE SUPPORT by Patricia Leong Kappel The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 2018 Under the Supervision of Professor Barbara J. Daley This qualitative study examined the perspectives of young adults on their experiences as participants in a General Education Development certificate and high school diploma program with persistence support. The perplexing issue of persistence has prompted the efforts of similar adult basic education (ABE) programs serving at-risk populations to identify means to encourage and support sustained participation and credential completion. The literature on persistence reveals the importance of positive disposition and social context on participation decisions in these efforts. Social context is the foundation of Albert Bandura’s Social Cognitive Learning Theory. In this study, participant experiences were analyzed against the conceptual framework of Bandura’s theory. The goal was to understand how social contexts factored into the participants’ experiences and how they impacted their persistence. The findings confirmed the impact of social contexts on persistence and underscored the importance of dispositional approaches to support persistence.