Dutto, Laurence S., authorHarbour, Clifford P., advisor2024-03-132024-03-132008https://hdl.handle.net/10217/237700The purpose of this qualitative narrative inquiry was to identify agriculture reentry students and to understand and interpret their life stories in relation to the concept of self-efficacy. In so doing, I was able to determine the role of self-efficacy in their decisions to become community college reentry students. My interviews of my participants were in-depth, private, individual, open-ended, and face-to-face. I was able to identify emerging themes from my participants' stories by using a system of cross-case matrix analysis. I reported my research findings using a narrative inquiry methodology that allowed the individual and collective voices of my participants' life stories to be clearly expressed and heard. During the interpretation of my data, I found a correlation between my participants' level of self-efficacy as it related to their decision to become community college reentry students. In particular, I found the self-efficacy construct of motivation played an important role in guiding them toward their academic achievement. I was able to connect my participants' stories to the literature on self-efficacy and this deepened my understanding of their experience as community college re-entry students. This research will assist community college researchers and practitioners in understanding the role of self-efficacy in the academic achievement of reentry students at public two-year institutions. It also provided me with a basis to make recommendations for further research and improvements to practice.born digitaldoctoral dissertationsengCopyright and other restrictions may apply. User is responsible for compliance with all applicable laws. For information about copyright law, please see https://libguides.colostate.edu/copyright.agriculturecommunity collegescritical incidentsnarrative inquiryreentry studentsself-efficacycommunity college educationagricultural educationinquiry methodTextPer the terms of a contractual agreement, all use of this item is limited to the non-commercial use of Colorado State University and its authorized users.