A report by the American Youth Policy Forum, The College Ladder, http://www.aypf.org/, evaluated various interventions and prorams for college success for at risk students who go on to college. The data base is limited , and most studies AYPF reviewed were not randomized control based designs. But they concluded that 4 strategies merit more widescale implementation and evaluation
caring secondary adult advisors that provide intensive support for college going
high school academic assisstance and tutoring support that is continued by colleges
College success classses in high school that cover topics like time managemnt, study skills , and expectations of college courses
safe enviornment and peer support networks, students meet as a group and work with a faculty adviser and share knowledge on college transition
Programs like Avid in California encompass many of these strategies and report increases in college completion.

Labels: College Completion, college sucess

This is a follow up to my last blog concerning a paper by Susan Goldberger in Minding The Gap just published by Harvard Education Press. She estimates that increasing college readiness levels of low income high school graduates could increase college graduates by 53,700 students. She also provides estimates for increasing college completion rates of GED holders, high school dropouts, and other low income target groups. The rest of the articles in the book provide many perspectives on specific policy and practice interventions for meeting her college completion targets.

Labels: College Completion

An article in a new book, Minding the Gap ( Harvard Education Press) by Susan Goldberger specifies 5 targeted actions to double the numbers. Her article is called , " Doing the Math'' on pages 27-41. This is the most specific roadmap of which students to focus upon that I have seen. It will be presented at a conference in Washington, DC sponsored by Jobs for the Future on Oct 4-5, http://www.jff.org/. More details on this paper in my next blog

Last year females received 58% of 4 year college degrees and males 42%. This gap has been growing for years , and also exists for initial college enrollment. The gaps for African American and Latino males are over 100% compared to females. I have examined numerous sources to try to understand the causes of this male/female disparity, but nothing has appeared yet that helps. There are all kinds of theories such as how k-12 female teachers interact with boys compared to girls, but no hard evidence.
Most of the commentary treats this issue as a discrimination and equity issue (eg the AAUW). But it is a major issue also for skill development in our economy, if such a large proportion of the labor force is undereducated. I wonder what the education gap is doing to the marriage market, but this is another arena for study.
The nation needs to focus on this male education gap and come up with some answers.

I just finished one of the best books on what happens to students at broad access colleges after they begin ,and how to help them complete college and become successful students. It is by Northwestern University Professor James Rosenbaum who published Beyond College for All in 2001. The new book is entitled : After Admission:From College Access to College Success. Both books are published by Russell Sage Foundation (http://www.russellsage.org/ ). The new book emphasizes that students think their low high school achiement will not hurt their college success. Students know that open admissions will allow them access to college, and they report that they can wait to exert effort until they get to college. Rosenbaum et. al include what to do before and after these kinds of students reach college.

OECD has a new version of international comparisons of college entry and completion among wealthy nations. The US is tied with New Zealand for the lowest college completion, and younger Americans are going to college at a significantly lower rate than older Americans did. US degree competion rate is 54% compared to an OECD average of 71%, but respected policy analyst Art Hauptman claims OECD does not use proper comparisons. He asserts US rates of college completion are average or below. The OECD figures do not sort out well older students from ages 17-21 entrants. But the report is another indicator that US historical international advantage in postsecondary outcomes is eroding over time. Go to OECD website for more and look for Education at a Glance 2007.

A new report "More Student Success "by the State Higher Education Executive Officers {SHHEO} recommends a broad based and many faceted systemic approach to improving college success. http://www.sheeo.org/ This 120 page report has in depth analyses by several expers on such topics as : early outreach, high school curriculum/assessments, k-12 teachers, student financial aid, postecondary teaching, and data/accontability systems. it includes a lot of good concepts and detail in one report. It also demonstrates increased concern about the lack of college success and completion by top state officials.

David T. Conley's article in April 2007 Educational Leadership expands on his paper I highlighted in a prior blog concerning specific ways to enhance college readiness for secondary school students.He recommends senior year seminars with syllabi that have the pace,pedagogy, and assessments similar to entry-level college courses. Teachers focus on developing students thinking skills. These senior seminars were needed for students who attended moderately selective colleges as well as those attending broad access schools. See article at http://www.ascd.org/.

In a new interview Professor Tom Bailey of Columbia Teachers College analyzed 4 years of longitudinal data concerning the progress of remedial/developmental students. The student cohort entered in fall 2002. He finds some positive impact from developmental education. However,fewer than 7% of students refered to developmental math even attempted a college-level math course!! Overall, research shows developmental college prorams for remedial students have positive effects-but not in every case, and the effects are not very large. So better secondary school preparation is the preferred strategy. See Acheiving Success , July 2007, www.jff.org.

VIRGINIA BEACH, VA, September 10, 2007 — The Educational Policy Institute awarded the 2007 Student Retention Award to <Youngstown State">http://click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=849874479&msgid=3694549&act=8XMY&amp;amp;c=20902&admin=0&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ysu.edu%2F>Youngstown State University in Youngstown, Ohio. The award is presented annually to institutions that have shown improvement in serving students, especially those who are historically underserved at the postsecondary level.

"Youngstown State University personifies the institution that takes several steps beyond the status quo to ensure that students have a serious chance to pursue their dreams through a successful postsecondary experience. They have illustrated an ability to overcome great obstacles in doing so," says EPI President and CEO Dr. Watson Scott Swail.

Youngstown State University is an urban, open admission institution with an enrollment of more than 13,000 students. According to the 2006 Performance Report for Ohio’s Colleges and Universities prepared by the Ohio Board of Regents, 56 percent of Youngstown State students are first-generation college students and 58 percent are enrolled in developmental classes. Youngstown is a commuter institution.

Youngstown State University created the Center for Student Progress unit within the Division of Student Affairs in 1996 to provide a more financially efficient and collaborative manner of delivering related services to the students of Youngstown State University. The primary
mission of the Center for Student Progress is to ensure that students are integrated into the social and academic communities of Youngstown State University, and acquire the skills and knowledge needed to become successful learners in those communities. The Center provides
programming and direct services that help students explore, set, and attain educational goals. It encourages, promotes, and coordinates student utilization of University resources. Through active intervention in the lives of students, the Center for Student Progress strives to help students successfully complete their university experience.

At its inception, the Center combined four independently housed and separately operating
units: First-Year Student Services, Adult Learner Services, Multicultural Student Services, and Student Tutorial Services. In nine years, with the addition of Orientation, Individual Intervention Services, Supplemental Instruction Services, and Disability Services, the Center has grown from four independent offices to eight coordinated services with collaborative and consistent intervention procedures and an on-line system for collecting and sharing student data. This consolidation resulted in increased service to and retention of students.

During the Center's first year of operation, staff provided 8,904 contact hours to 1,859 YSU students. In 2005-06, with a staff of 15 professionals and 90 student employees, the Center provided 30,984 hours of intensive contact to 6,090 students, resulting in a retention rate of 74 percent for full-time students using its services - a 287 percent increase in contact hours and a 305 percent increase in students served since the Center's inception.

The award was officially received by<mailto:jabeatrice@ysu.edu Beatrice, Associate Executive Director Student Life, Director Center for Student Progress, and mailto:peshively@ysu.edu Shively, Associate Director Center for Student Progress, Youngstown State University at the Retention 2007 conference in San Antonio, Texas. They may be contacted directly via email by clicking on their names above.

We congratulate Youngstown State University on winning the 2007 EPI Student Retention Award.

Institutions interest in applying for the 2008 award should contract Dr. Watson Scott Swail via <mailto:wswail@educationalpolicy.org>email.

The Institute for Higher Education Leadership & Policy has released a new publication, Beyond the Open Door: Increasing Student Success in the California Community Colleges. This report is one of two technical reports that describe in more detail the analyses summarized in the policy brief, Rules of the Game, released earlier this year. Following a comprehensive review of the literature to identify probable factors in student success, the report describes analyses of success and completion among California community college students, identifies student characteristics and patterns of enrollment that are related to higher levels of success and
completion, and offers broad outlines of new policy directions aimed at increasing student success. The report includes a qualitative analysis of the system's assessment and placement process. Another Institute report, due for release this fall, contains a comprehensive analysis of community college finance policy and offers suggestions on how state finance policies could be reformed to increase student success.

The Executive Summary and the full report (which includes the identical Executive Summary) can be viewed on the Institute's website at <http://www.csus.edu/ihe.

Labels: Student Success

David Conley of the University of Oregon has published a new conceptual paper on college readiness for the Gates Foundation.

He uses major facets- habits of mind, academic knowledge and skills and academic behaviors.

• Habits of mind include intellectual openness, inquisitiveness, analysis, reasoning etc.
  
• Academic knowledge and skills include writing research, and subject matters like math.
  
• Academic behaviors include study skills, time management, note taking etc., and contextual skills include concepts that embody college knowledge like admissions and financial aid information.
  

Each of these facets is covered in depth with specific examples.

A key finding is how an expansive definition of college readiness greatly enhances the possibility of college completion.

Labels: academic preparation, College Readiness, College Success

A new PACE Policy Brief by Anne Driscoll of the University of California at Davis explains why California must do more than expand access to community college if our state is to prepare the workforce needed to remain economically competitive in the 21st century.

Beyond Access: How the First Semester Matters for Community College Students' Aspirations and Persistence shows that fewer than half of the young high school graduates who entered California community colleges with the goal of transferring to four-year colleges in 1998 made it through their first semester with their goals intact. One quarter of these young people did not return for the second semester, and barely half of those who returned still planned to transfer to four-year schools. Approximately 40 percent of those who aspired to transfer to four-year colleges when they entered community college ultimately achieved their goal. Driscoll's analysis illuminates the decisive importance of the first semester in students' post-secondary academic careers, and suggests that providing additional guidance and support to students as they enter college for the first time could yield big dividends in terms of student persistence and eventual transfer.

Download the new Policy Brief http://pace.berkeley.edu/reports/PB.07-2.pdf.