Non-Cognitive Predictors of Student Success

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In their article titled Non-Cognitive Predictors of Student Success in College, Sparkman, Wanda and Jalynn (2012), the authors explore the potential impacts of emotional intelligence on the ability of the student to persist and graduate within the prescribed timeline which in this case is four years. The authors argue that the main predictors of college success (GPA and standardized test scores), are highly disparate to the forecasting of college graduation. In this study, the authors use a sample survey involving traditional students who had enrolled as freshmen and attended orientation during the fall of 2002 (Sparkman, Wanda & Jalynn 646). A 125-item EQ-I instrument was employed to measure social and emotional intelligence among the participants. Data collected with the help of the instrument was benchmarked with information collected from an unnamed institution of higher education database and which was later analyzed using a correlation methodology.
According to Sparkman, Wanda and Jalynn (642), only about a half of all the students who enroll for a four year college program graduate with a bachelor’s degree. Students who graduate with a college degree have been shown to have gained in other areas including but not limited to attitudinal psychosocial, factual knowledge, and moral dimensions. On the subject of persistence and improved academic performance, the authors note that GPA and standardized tests have traditionally been used as predictors. However, this accounts for only about 25 percent of variance of academic performance (p. 642). The authors continue to observe that despite the fact that GPA and standardized tests have been widely used to predict student’s performance in college, they are unrelated to prediction of persistence. Accordingly, there are other variables which determine the persistence of college students with the most important of these being one’s social and emotional intelligence. The authors conclude by noting that social responsibility, impulse control and flexibility are important predictors of enrollment and graduation.
Among the critical issues that Sparkman, Wanda and Jalynn raise in their article is how emotional and social intelligence affects student’s persistence and performance in college. According to the authors, emotional and social intelligence is dependent on an array of factors, including adjustment, separation, incongruence, finances and external responsibilities for commitments among others (p. 643). These factors in turn affect student’s satisfaction with college education as well as the environment. Making reference to various models of retention, the authors observe that the higher the level of student’s int...