IS STUDENT-RIGHT-TO-KNOW ALL YOU SHOULD KNOW? An Analysis of Community College Graduation Rates

Abstract

Over the last decade, policymakers, educators, and researchers have increasingly sought to understand community college policies and practices that promote students' success. This effort has been partly driven by an increased emphasis on outcome accountability, but it has also promoted a productive discussion about improving institutional performance. The research reported here has two related goals. One goal is to work towards strengthening the ability to assess and compare institutional performance. We thus have developed a model that can be used to adjust simple graduation rates for institutional characteristics, such as student composition, college resources, size, and location, all of which might influence those rates. Our long-term goal is to understand how to improve student outcomes, so the paper also uses the model to measure the effect of those institutional characteristics on graduation rates. We use data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) surveys, applying a weighted least-squares procedure for grouped data to estimate an institutional-completion rates model. This analysis confirms several hypotheses about institutional determinants of graduation rates at community colleges. Our results indicate a consistent negative relationship between enrollment size and completion. Additionally, colleges with high shares of minority students, part-time students, and women have lower graduation rates. A final significant finding among institutional characteristics is that greater instructional expenditures are related to a greater likelihood of graduation. The method developed here can be used to better assess the performance of community colleges.

The effect of an academic dismissal policy on dropout, graduation rates and student satisfaction. Evidence from the Netherlands

“…Nevertheless, Reason (2003) fails to find a significant relationship between dropout and gender. Bailey et al (2006), on the other hand, find a negative relationship between the percentage of female students and graduation rates. The class level of students can also influence the dropout process.…”

The impact of participation in a first-year seminar on increased usage of campus resources, academic and social integration and first-to-second-semester persistence at a two-year community and technical college.

“…Empirical evidence has shown that withdrawing from college involves a significant cost to the student, including loss of monetary and occupational potential (Marcotte, Bailey, Borkoski, & Kienzl, 2006;McCarthy & Kuh, 2006;Pascarella, 1997). Graduates with a two-year associate degree earn an average of $180,000 more across their lifetimes than individuals who attain only a high school diploma (Bailey, Calcagno, Jenkins, Kienzl, & Leinbach, 2006;Day & Newburger, 2002;Kane & Rouse, 1995).…”

“…The demographics of today's first-year students in community colleges have changed and a greater number of students from minority populations (49%) and low-income households (44% with family income less than $25,000 per year), as well as first-generation students (42%) and adult returning students (45%), are enrolling for the purpose of earning a certificate, diploma, or degree (Bettinger & Long, 2005;Matus-Grossman & Gooden, 2002;Pascarella, Wolniak, Pierson, & Terenzini, 2003;Pike & Kuh, 2005;Steltenpohl & Shipton, 1986;Szelenyi, 2001;Thayer, 2000). These changing demographic populations exhibit greater persistence problems, with only one-third of students completing a program of study, an associate degree, or even a certificate (Bailey et al, 2006;Burd, 2004). The lower tuition rates coupled with the open-door policies at community colleges have broadened access to postsecondary education for these high-risk students; therefore, many different factors contribute to the student-attrition problem, and the reasons for community college attrition are numerous.…”

Vertical Integration of Capstone Projects in Multiple Courses in the Engineering Technology Programs

“…An increased focus on the second perspective (student outcomes) has generated a discussion about what an appropriate outcome measure should be [5] and PBL is a powerful measurement tool. Employing the PBL in schools, however, is not an easy task for several reasons, as has been noticed by Marx et al [6]: projects often take longer than anticipated; it is hard to let students to work on their own, on the one hand, while maintaining control of the class, on the other; and there is the question of how to integrate the project method into a system that is based generally on formal evaluation and exams.…”