Are Non-First-Generation Students Successful?

Are Non-First-Generation Students Successful? A case of Japanese College Students Yoshiko Kato (Kansai University of International Studies, Japan) Keiko Nakashima Yoshihara (Hyogo University, Japan)

Contents Part I: Our situation in Japan: Past and Now Part II: Our students: Identifying the Problems Part III: What Data Shows: Analyses, Interpretation and Suggestions

Purpose of our presentation • To share our data and information to contribute building of an international understanding of FYE • To specify the needs of Japanese students and FYE programs to give feedback to our institutions

Goals of this presentation ・To compare with the American FYE concepts and practices, •To identify our students needs, •To identify the role of FYE in Japanese universities; and •To make suggestions to improve our FYE programs

Part I Our situation in Japan: Past and Now

Shared problems: US and Japan • Decrease of 18 year-old population • Student readiness for college US: 1970’s – 1980’s Japan: 2000’s – Now “Year 2006” problem and “Year 2007” problem

History of FYE in Japan • Introductory courses • Remedial education (late 1980’s) • Study skills (late 1990’s) • Learning assistance (around 2000) • Social skills and transition (around 2000) • FYE was started to ease difficulty in teaching students with lower readiness for college

Fig. 1 FYE programs adoption ratio (faculty level) FYE in Japan (Yamada, R. and Oki, K., et al., 2005)

Different issues: US and Japan Japanese colleges have: • Fewer first-generation students • Very high retention rates (97-98% or more) • Underdeveloped culture of assessment • Ranks of high schools and universities • Graduates with unstable job situation (shift from lifelong employment system)

Fig.2: First generation students1954-2029〔 Prepared by Inoue (2006) 〕

Fig. 3

High-school and college ranks • Selective examination • Fig.4 Correspondence of high school rank and college rank Rank A Rank A 1990 - Rank B Rank B Rank C Rank C Entrance examination Rank A high school rank college rank Rank A Rank B Rank B -1990 Rank C Rank C Recommendation form high school rank college rank

Fig.5 Change in the job market • 新規採用の手控えデータあるか？ • 大学ランクごとの就職状況 Job-to-applicants ratio Not-in-employment ratio (Kosugi, R., 2006)

New components added to FYE… • Career Education • Long-term planning (life-long, career-wise) • More social skill (= generic skills) education

Our FYE: • Was started to bridge the gap between the knowledge required in high-school and college • Was also welcomed to help the students connected academically to the second and third year of college • Is expected to get the students started to prepare for job-hunting

Part I conclusion: our reality • Difficulty in teaching is not due to the increase of first generation students • Since culture of evaluation and assessment is not developed, GPA is not a good scale of student academic skills or performance • Instead, colleges are evaluated by graduates’ professional opportunities (their jobs and salaries), which influences on recruitment of incoming students

Assumptions • Colleges’ primary goal is to get the students jobs as they graduate (not to make them part-timers or unemployed) • Students’ skills to access the job market matter to the colleges (rather than getting them academic skills)

Student Reality • Students are expected to be successful in study and job-hunting • Study and job-hunting are perceived relatively independent from each other (academic success doesn’t automatically offer them good jobs)

Part II Our students: Identifying the problems

Goals of data analysis • Finding relationship between social class and college (from the point of cultural reproduction) • Finding relationship between high-school GPA and entering selective colleges (from the point of tracking and social mobility)

Issues and strategies • Comparing first and non-first generation students • Following overall educational changes: policies and demography • Specifying the Japanese educational context and challenge

Survey on student transition • Started in 2003 (and on-going) • Once a year for 4 years of college (first-year students take twice • Able to track a student from first-year to fourth year • Asks students’ satisfaction in study and skills, personal and interpersonal environment • Implemented in 4 universities and colleges in different ranks

Survey on Student Transition • Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) • Program Development for Continuous Undergraduate Education Connected with First-Year Education and Its Quality Assurance: Comparative Approach and Analysis • Head Investigator: Atsushi Hamana • 2004-2006

Student samples • The case: College A: C rank, private and local • 2 departments, 4 majors • Class of 2007(graduated) and 2008 • Data of their first three years of college • 624 students answered • 228 samples for the 1st panel • 396 samples for the 2nd panel • 273 samples answered all the 4 surveys

Profile of the students • Male: 356(68.2) Female: 156(31.6) • First generation: 217(42.4) • Non-first generation: 293(57.2) • High-school Grades (Self declared) High: 156(33.5) Middle:131(28.2) Low: 178(38.3) • High-school Rank High (upper-middle): 144(28.9) Middle:172(34.5) Low: 118(23.7) DK: 64(12.9) Asked only in the first survey (April, first year)

First-Year Courses • Career Planning: 1st semester, 4 credit hours, required • Study Skills: 1st semester, 2 credit hours, required • Basic Seminar: 2nd semester, 1 credit hour, required • Presentation: 2nd semester, 1 credit hour, elective

Adjustment to college Fig. 6 • Students stay successful once they get adjusted • Our FYE works in general

Number of As and Bsby Generation • Students who answered “I received As and Bs for 75% of the courses or more last semester” Fig. 7

Number of As and Bsby High-school Grades • Students who answered “I received As and Bs for 75% of the courses or more last semester” Fig. 8

number of As and Bsby Four Groups • Students who answered “I received As and Bs for 75% of the courses or more last semester” Fig. 9

High school grade or Generation? • Academic performance is influenced more by high-school grade than by generation • In the first year the difference is hardly seen (even by high-school grade) • There is no generational effect on success in college?

Frequency of job-hunting actions by 4 groups (Second-year) NFG groups make a head start in job-hunting [FG*Low]< [FG*High] < [NFG*Low] < [NFG*High] Fig. 10

Frequency of job-hunting actions by 4 groups (Third-year) [FG*Low]< [FG*High] < [NFG*Low]<[NFG*High] NFG students are more proactive in job hunting Fig. 11

4 groups look at career differently • FG says: “Ability to cope with real world is more required than credentials” “I hope to be employer than employee” • NFG x High grade says: “I feel comfortable with life-long employment” “I would like to contribute to the society through my job” “Good pay motivates me better than interest”

Academic skills and social skills：generic skills as learning outcomes List of generic skills Fig.12

High school grade is dominant over Generation • 4 groups x Generic Skills (Study skills) Fig. 13

[NFG＊Low] is poorest in Personal attributes • 4 groups x Generic Skills (Personal attributes) Fig. 14

Part II: Conclusion • Good grades in high-school is the key to student academic success • Having college educated parents (a parent) doesn’t help non-first generation students make good grades in college, when they worked poorly in high-school • NFG students know how to access a job market • FG students (especially academically successful students) have difficulty starting job-hunting

Part III Analysis, Interpretation and Suggestions

Are non-first generation students successful? • YES: When starting job hunting and making connections between college experience and the world of work • NO: Not necessarily during the first two years of college, when it comes to good grades • Why?

Findings • FYE helps students make a good start in the first semester • Student who did poorly in high-school have difficulty in being successful in college • Academic success doesn’t necessarily get the students started to look for a job • In job hunting the generational influence is more strongly seen – NFG students know better about the world of work

Interpretation of data • First Generation and Non-first Generation students bring to campus different visions of future • They use resources differently according to their own knowledge and experience • Knowing students’ generations is helpful to teach and guide them through four years of college

Role of FYE • Helping students make smooth transitions • Making connections between academics and world of work, and to peers and professors from different background

Suggestions • Goals of four years of learning need to be connected and aligned (academic and career development) • Assistance has to be offered based on research

Ideas? • Do our students sound familiar to you? • Suggestions?

Bibliography • Arai, K. (1999), What is a problem “a drop in scholastic ability”?, High school education(Sept. in 1999), Gakuji-Shuppan, Tokyo, pp.34-44. • Feiler, B. (1991), Learning to Bow, Houghton Mifflin Company, New York. • Hamana, A. and Kawashima, T., et al.(2007), Program Development for Continuous Undergraduate Education Connected with First-Year Education and Its Quality Assurance: Comparative Approach and Analysis, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B) . • Inoue, Y. (2006), First-generation Phenomenon in Student Culture, Children, School and Society, Sekai Shisousha, Tokyo, pp.116-135. • Kosugi, R.(2006), Labor Market of Youth and Issues of College Education, Paper for the 3rd Central Council for Education. • Yamada, R. and Oki, K., et al. (2005), First Year Education in Japanese Private Universities, RIIHE, Tokyo, p.4.

Thank you! yoshikok@kuins.ac.jp keikony@hyogo-dai.ac.jp

Are Non-First-Generation Students Successful?