Abstract

CARRENO, Beatriz; MICIN, Sonia  and  URZUA, Sergio. First year high school student’s academic achievement. Cuad. Investig. Educ. [online]. 2016, vol.7, n.1, pp.29-39. ISSN 1510-2432.

The changes that have taken place in higher education during recent decades demand a strong commitment from educational institutions in order to provide support to students who, due to their entrance conditions, may have more difficulties in their academic and social integration. In favor to achieve this, the institutions need to know the student’s needs and potentials in order to adjust strategies and learning resources to make possible their academic experience. Since 2012, the CREAR-USS Institute has developed the Initial Academic Characterization Instrument (IACI), which consists in a demographic questionnaire, a cognitive skills test and a study and learning strategies questionnaire. This instrument is applied to all freshman year college students, and after its fourth implementation (2012-2015) it has gathered data of more than 20,000 students. This information has provided valuable material regarding the characteristics of these students and has allowed necessary feedback for the academic interventions that take place during the year, drawing guidelines to develop interventions for the students that need more academic support. The following paper contributes to the importance of having valuable knowledge regarding the student’s initial characteristics, in order to have a viable and successful first year in college.

Keywords : Higher Education; Institutional Evaluation; Student Characteristics; Student Needs; Academic Support Services.

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