Holland's Theory and Patterns of College Student Success

Holland's Theory and Patterns of College Student Success

Commissioned Report for the National Symposium on Postsecondary Student Success:

Spearheading a Dialog on Student Success

John C. Smart, Ph.D. The University of Memphis Kenneth A. Feldman, Ph.D.

SUNY at Stony Brook Corinna A. Ethington, Ph.D. The University of Memphis

July 2006

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Section

1

Assessing Contemporary Efforts to Understand Student Success ...................

Some Concerns About the Current Research Literature on Student Success .. Potential Benefits From Reliance on Holland's Theory .................................. Concluding Observations.................................................................................

2

Overview of Holland's Theory ........................................................................

Holland's Theory: Essential Components and Fundamental Assumptions ....

3

New Directions for Research on Student Success ...........................................

Preliminary Considerations: Definitions of Selected Terms in Holland's Theory and Patterns of Student Success .............................................

Holland's Theory Revisited ............................................................................. A Growing Focus on the Centrality of the Sociological Assumption of

Holland's Theory ................................................................................ Alternative Patterns of Student Success Within the Context of Holland's

Theory.................................................................................................

4

Illustration of Alternative Patterns of Student Success....................................

Research Procedures ........................................................................................ Findings ........................................................................................................... Discussion ........................................................................................................ Observations and Conclusions Regarding Alternative Patterns of Student

Success................................................................................................

5

Research, Policy, and Practical Implications ...................................................

Holland's Theory and Student Success: Research Implications ..................... Holland's Theory and Student Success: Practical, Programmatic, and

Policy Implications .............................................................................

References .........................................................................................................................

Page 1 2 5 7 7 7 13

13 15 16 17 20 24 26 26 28 30 31 35 39

iii

Table 1 2

LIST OF TABLES

Student ability and interest scales, 1986 and 1990 ..........................................

Average change in abilities and interests for students with different dominant personality types majoring in academic disciplines expressed as standardized scores and in standard deviation units (effect sizes)...................

Page 24

27

iv

LIST OF EXHIBITS

Exhibit 1 2

Salient attributes of the six personality types from Holland's theory.............. Salient attributes of the six model environments from Holland's theory ........

Page 8 10

v

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