A comparison of student outcomes and overall retention between a 10-week accelerated and a 15-week traditional curriculum in a postsecondary apprenticeship training program

Abstract

This ex post facto comparison study of a postsecondary apprenticeship program at a naval ship construction company examined 8 years of academic performance and program completion data for two curricular formats: a 15-week traditional group (1,259 apprentices) and a 10-week accelerated group (736 apprentices). The two groups were investigated to determine if there were significant differences in retention, course grades, and overall GPA between the two curriculum lengths. A chi-square test for association between groups and retention found a statistically significant relationship between retention and curriculum length, χ2 (1, N = 1,995) = 65.84, p < .001, with retention greater for the 10-week curriculum. Six of 12 accelerated courses had higher grades (descriptively) than the corresponding traditional 15-week courses, and 4 of 12 accelerated 10-week courses had significantly higher grades (statistically) than the corresponding traditional 15-week courses. The overall GPA for completers was significantly higher for the 10-week curriculum (n = 474, M = 3.02, SD = .79) than for the 15-week curriculum (n = 862, M= 2.83, SD = .81), t (994) = -4.16, p < .001, d = - 0.26. This study has added to the limited body of literature on apprenticeship studies and workforce development by exploring how apprenticeship programs can be accelerated to transform inexperienced skilled labor into a high-performance workforce with a general increase in academic performance.