Temporal and Between-Group Variability in College Dropout Prediction

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Glandorf, Dominik, Lee, Hye Rin, Orona, Gabe Avakian, Pumptow, Marina, Yu, Renzhe, Fischer, Christian
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2024
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author Glandorf, Dominik
Lee, Hye Rin
Orona, Gabe Avakian
Pumptow, Marina
Yu, Renzhe
Fischer, Christian
author_facet Glandorf, Dominik
Lee, Hye Rin
Orona, Gabe Avakian
Pumptow, Marina
Yu, Renzhe
Fischer, Christian
contents Large-scale administrative data is a common input in early warning systems for college dropout in higher education. Still, the terminology and methodology vary significantly across existing studies, and the implications of different modeling decisions are not fully understood. This study provides a systematic evaluation of contributing factors and predictive performance of machine learning models over time and across different student groups. Drawing on twelve years of administrative data at a large public university in the US, we find that dropout prediction at the end of the second year has a 20% higher AUC than at the time of enrollment in a Random Forest model. Also, most predictive factors at the time of enrollment, including demographics and high school performance, are quickly superseded in predictive importance by college performance and in later stages by enrollment behavior. Regarding variability across student groups, college GPA has more predictive value for students from traditionally disadvantaged backgrounds than their peers. These results can help researchers and administrators understand the comparative value of different data sources when building early warning systems and optimizing decisions under specific policy goals.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2401_06498
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Temporal and Between-Group Variability in College Dropout Prediction
Glandorf, Dominik
Lee, Hye Rin
Orona, Gabe Avakian
Pumptow, Marina
Yu, Renzhe
Fischer, Christian
Computers and Society
Machine Learning
Large-scale administrative data is a common input in early warning systems for college dropout in higher education. Still, the terminology and methodology vary significantly across existing studies, and the implications of different modeling decisions are not fully understood. This study provides a systematic evaluation of contributing factors and predictive performance of machine learning models over time and across different student groups. Drawing on twelve years of administrative data at a large public university in the US, we find that dropout prediction at the end of the second year has a 20% higher AUC than at the time of enrollment in a Random Forest model. Also, most predictive factors at the time of enrollment, including demographics and high school performance, are quickly superseded in predictive importance by college performance and in later stages by enrollment behavior. Regarding variability across student groups, college GPA has more predictive value for students from traditionally disadvantaged backgrounds than their peers. These results can help researchers and administrators understand the comparative value of different data sources when building early warning systems and optimizing decisions under specific policy goals.
title Temporal and Between-Group Variability in College Dropout Prediction
topic Computers and Society
Machine Learning
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.06498