A Library Credit Course and Student Success Rates: A Longitudinal Study

Abstract

The University of West Georgia’s Ingram Library has offered a fifteen-week two-hour credit course since 1998. In a longitudinal study covering twelve years, the library analyzed the progression and graduation rates of more than fifteen thousand students. Students who took the class during their undergraduate career were found to graduate at much higher rates than students who never took the class. The library examined students’ high school GPAs and aptitude test scores but were unable to account for the increase through any difference in precollegiate achievement.