PLACING IOWA WITHIN THE SUCCESS PARADIGM

LINDA SERRA HAGEDORN, PH.D.

ASSOCIATE DEAN – COLLEGE OF HUMAN SCIENCES; UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS, TRANSFER, STUDENT SERVICES, & INTERNATIONAL PROGRAMS

PROFESSOR – EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP AND POLICY STUDIES

WHAT IS COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENT SUCCESS?

• What do you measure?

• Issues of Longitudinal versus cross-sectional

• Differences by demographic groups

• Transfer versus non-transfer• Full time versus part-time• Age• Gender• Work status• Etc.

All About Completion

WHY NOW?• The country is suddenly aware of community

colleges!

• President Obama has consistently sought to expand resources for community colleges

• The American Graduation Initiative of 2009, promised to bolster the work force by producing millions more community college graduates over the next decade.

• The plan was reduced from $10 billion to $2 billion for job training

• Recently, President Obama proposed an $8 billion Community College to Career Fund to train two million workers for well-paying jobs in high-demand industries

WHY NOW?• Attention has been diverted to “less than optimal success rates

for community college students

• The SRK graduation rate is 22.3 percent of first time, full-time (FTFT) community college students in degree programs attained a postsecondary credential in their starting institutions after three years.

• Colorado

• The remediation rate for community colleges was 58.2 percent and 20.5 percent at four-year schools.

Transfer rates by level of high school resources. (Source: Civil Rights Project, UCLA, 2012).

Michigan

WHAT ABOUT IOWA?

CHANGING IOWA DEMOGRAPHICS

• Educational attainment (2010)1

• High school graduate or higher:  90.6%

• Bachelor's degree or higher:      24.9%

• Veteran status (2010)1

• Civilian veterans:   10.0%

• Disability status (2010)1

• Population 5 years and over with a disability:  11.2%

Families (2010)1

• Married couple family with own children under 18 years:  20.1%

• Single householder with own children under 18 years:  29.3%

• Nativity and citizenship (2010)1

• Native:  95.4%• Foreign-born: 

4.6%   • Naturalized citizen:

37.1%• Not a citizen: 62.9%

• Language spoken at home (2010)1

• English only: 92.6%• Spanish: 4.0%• Asian and Pacific

Islander:  1.2%• Other:  2.2%

Iowa Data Center

HOWEVER……….Arabic 3Bosnian 1Chinese 11German 2Haitian; Haitian Creole

1

Japanese 1Kannada 1Korean 4Spanish 19Swahili 1Turkish 5Urdu 4

Vietnamese 1

Total (Language)

54

Cedar Falls

Russian 1Spanish 122

Ukrainian 2

Total (Language)

125

125

Postville

Total (Selected

Arabic 5Bosnian 33Chinese 9

Creoles and pidgins (Other)

2

Creoles and pidgins, French-based (Other)

1

Dinka 1Ewe 1Hindi 2Japanese 1Kannada 1Korean 3

Kuanyama; Kwanyama

2

Marathi 1Nepali 1Panjabi; Punjabi

1

Russian 6Shona 1Somali 2Spanish 42Swahili 5Tagalog 1Telugu 10

Ukrainian 1

Uncoded languages

4

Urdu 1

Vietnamese 10

Total (Language)

147

Waukee

SHOULD IOWA BE CONCERNED?• Iowa 3- year success Rate (Graduation + Transfer) =

53.4%

• Average time to degree = 2.4 years

• Graduation Rate= 35.8%

• Median Salary=$29,592

IA Dept. of Ed, Division of Community Colleges MIS and NSC

Is this where you want to be?Are you measuring what is important?

What would you like to do about it?

CONFUSION!!!!

• Who’s Included in success rates?• When do you start counting?• When do you give up?

• Stop-outs may come back• What about gains from attendance?• We have NO idea what the

transfer/graduation/retention rates SHOULD be?

What can be done about it??

INITIATIVES• Achieving the Dream

• Complete College America (CCA)

• Voluntary Framework of Accountability (VFA)

• Complete to Compete

• National Governors Association • Washington State Student Achievement Initiative

• Use of incentive funding• Allocation of points system

• And many more………..

ACHIEVING THE DREAM• Currently serving close to 200 community colleges in 32

states.

• Goal: Success for more community college students, especially students of color and low-income students.

• Success Definitions• Successfully complete remedial or developmental

instruction and advance to credit-bearing courses• Enroll in and successfully complete the initial college-

level or gateway courses in subjects such as math and English

• Complete the courses with a grade of "C" or better• Persistence from one term to the next• Earn a certificate or associate degree

ATD APPROACH• Close achievement gaps and accelerate student success

• Guiding Evidence-Based Institutional Change • Coaching and Technical Assistance 

• Influencing Public Policy • Generating Knowledge• Engaging the Public

• Institutional Change

• Creation of a culture of evidence and Institutional Improvement• Committed Leadership

1. Use of Evidence to Improve Programs and Services

2. Broad Engagement

3. Systemic Institutional Improvement

• Increasing Student Success:  1. Commit to Improving Student Outcomes

2. Use Data to Prioritize Actions

3. Engage Stakeholders to Help Develop a Plan

4. Implement, Evaluate, and Improve Strategies

5. Establish a Culture of Continuous ImprovementATD Youtube!

WHY DOES ATD WORK?

• It is both “top down” and “bottom up”

• Colleges must commit time, effort, and resources • Presidents are REQUIRED to attend events, participate in

dialogues and be active within the initiative• Colleges MUST assemble a leadership team

• President• VP of academic and student affairs• Institutional researcher• Faculty

• Developmental education

• Colleges work with 2 ATD coaches• Leadership coach• Data Coach

DATA DRIVEN • Culture of evidence

• Cohort data• Demographics

• Race, gender, age• Student background information

• Dual enrollment• Summer bridge• First –generation college

• Academic information• Previous college credits• GPA• Remediation

• By type and level• Remedial course grades

• Placement test scores• ESL scores• Credits attempted• Credits completed• Degree completion• Transfer• Financial aid

• Type and amount

Disaggregate by subgroups

COLLEGE-WIDE• Examination of key indicators

• Goal setting

• Determining interventions

• Pilot interventions

• Bring promising practices to scale

STEPS TO SUCCESS

SCORECARD

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES• Newsletters

• Data notes

• Data Tools

• D.R.E.A.M. Conference

• Data. Reform. Equity. Achievement. Movement.

Joining a network of peers and assistance

ANOTHER EXAMPLEWASHINGTON STATE SAI

PERFORMANCE FUNDING SYSTEM

STATE WIDE INITIATIVES-- WASHINGTON

• Student Achievement Imitative (SAI)

• 34 community and technical colleges• Vision

• Build strong communities, individuals and families, and achieve greater global competitiveness and prosperity for the state and its economy by raising the knowledge and skills of the state’s residents.

• Utilizes intermediate performance measures and incentive funding

• Points system• Colleges earn achievement points when students achieve

one or more educational milestones

WASHINGTON’S 6 METRICS

1. Improvement in performance on assessment of basic skills

2. Advancement across levels of developmental education toward college readiness

3. Accumulation of 15 college credits

4. Accumulation of 30 credits

5. Completion of quantitative reasoning courses

6. Degree, certificate or apprenticeship completion

• Measures• Total points• Change in

total points• Points

generated for each individual metric

• Points per student by each college

10 YEAR GOALS• Economic Demand

• Strengthen state and local economies• Reassess the knowledge and skills needed for a thriving economy • Increase the number of skilled employees in the areas of greatest

unmet need.• Meet the needs of small businesses• Offer high quality, relevant, flexible programs.

• Student Success

• Increased educational attainment for all residents across the state.• Enroll more underserved populations.• Improve academic achievement.• Ensure affordability and accessibility , • Provide smooth transitions from K12 • Expand the pipeline to associate and bachelor’s degrees, particularly

in math, science, engineering and health sciences.

WHAT DO THESE INITIATIVES HAVE IN COMMON?

COMPLETION AGENDA

College Board

IT’S ABOUT THE DATA• Emphasis on metrics

• What happens to students • Where do they make progress? • Where do they falter? • Milestones

• Outcome Metrics

• Degrees and certificates awarded• Graduation rates• Transfer rates• Time and credits to degree

• Progress Metrics

• Enrollment in remedial education• Success beyond remedial education• Credit accumulation• Retention rates• Course completion

AND MORE………COLLEGES INSTITUTE POLICIES TO CREATE AND SUSTAIN SUCCESS• Are Iowa community colleges ready for institutional

change?

• What will it take?

• How to begin?

Iowa Community College Completion Initiative

COLLEGE-WIDE APPROACH• Institutional change is difficult

• Get everyone “on-board”

• Gear up for the long haul

DETERMINE YOUR COMPLETION DATA POINTS AND MEASURES• Using guides and definitions determine how to measure

• Enrollment• Developmental Placement• Progress• Transfer and Completion• Workforce Preparation and Employment Outcomes

EXAMINE YOUR DATA• Courageously examine student success

• Who is progressing and who is not?

• Disaggregate• Full time/part-time• Transfer/ vocational• Age, gender, ethnicity

• What is the college doing well?

• What areas need to be guided, enhanced, or changed?

MAKE IT A STATE-WIDE, DISTRICT-WIDE, AND CAMPUS WIDE RESPONSIBILITY

• How can ISU CCLP help?

• Data analyses• Work jointly with IR

• Capstones• Dissertations• Internships

TO CONSIDER……..• Student Success Course

• Academic Planning

• Advising changes• Intrusive advising• Milestones

• Attendance policies

• Late registration

• Learning communities

• Revisions in Orientation

• Developmental Math/English revisions