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Volume 41, Issue 13
April 20, 2004
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April 20, 2004
Spring
break a ‘black hole’ for students
Delynn Bodine
Mesa Legendnd
“Disappearing students and the big
black hole of spring break” is how Sarah Capawana, Art Department
Chairwoman, describes the phenomenon.
According to some instructors on campus, spring break seems to be taking
its toll in the classroom. Some students who were regularly attending
class before spring break are never seen again after classes resume. Other
evidence of the phenomenon is the loss of knowledge that seems to occur
during the break.
Capawana estimates a student loss of 10 percent following the break. She
said that although this seems to be the trend in art classes, with 77
percent retention, it is not the case in art history classes, which have
an 86 percent retention rate.
English instructor Sam Martinez said that he noticed some drop in student
attendance after spring break. He suggested that it is human to enjoy
nice weather and it is consequently difficult to concentrate.
Mathematics instructor Kate Roza said the break often affects students’
recall of knowledge they have learned. She said test scores are consistently
higher for testing done just prior to the break in comparison to lower
test scores with testing after the break.
MCC Director of Research and Planning Andrea Greene said even though the
perception exists that a substantial number of students withdraw after
spring break, a comparison of student withdrawal numbers does not show
any difference between fall and spring semesters. Greene said the current
data does not support the theory that there exists a spring break dropout
problem.
Bob Vogt, records administrator, said a spring break dropout phenomenon
would be difficult to track because spring break falls after the 45th-day
student-initiated drop date.
Student withdrawal after that date must have an instructor’s signature
and code.
Vogt said because these students are often never seen again, instructors
initiate the withdrawal. The code for withdrawal is then subject to the
instructors’ limited views of nonattending students. The code cannot
give an accurate picture of why the student did not return.
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