Making Graduation Rates Matter

Lederman, D. Making graduation rates matter. Inside Higher Ed March 12, 2007. http://insidehighered.com/views/2007/03/12/adelman

This article presents Cliff Adelman's ideas for keeping a more accurate track of successful student completion rates without requiring a national "student unit record" as called for by the Spelling's Commission. Adelman explains that such an idea will never get past Congress given privacy concerns, so he proposes an easier-to-implement formula.

First, he proposes that an "academic calendar year" be defined as July 1 through June 30, rather than just the Fall semester, and count first-time students who enrolll in 6 or more semester-equivalent credits in their first term. Many students begin their academic careers in the Spring, and their completion rates are currently not counted. He also recommends that students be grouped into two categories: those under the age of 24 and those 24 and over.

Third, he proposes counting students who enter a school as a formal transfer, likely with a transcript from another school and a signed statement of transfer. Right now, students who begin at a community college are "counted" when they transfer to a four-year institution (and the community college gets the credit), but if those students complete a bachelor's degree, their completion is not counted and the four-year university does not receive credit.

In order to account for traditional and non-traditional students, as well as transfer students and those who progress slowly, he proposes that all postsecondary institutions report student graduations at two intervals - for community colleges, at 4 and 6 years, for baccalaureate institutions, every 6 and 9 years.

Finally, he proposes that postsecondary institutions should be required to make a good faith effort to find students who started at their institution and graduated elsewhere using the National Student Clearinghouse as well as state higher education offices, to help "clean up" the data regarding completion rates.

Characteristics of Community College Presidents

http://chronicle.com/free/v53/i24/24a03301.htm?cch

A Profile of Community College Presidents

A Profile of Community College Presidents. The Chronicle of Higher Education. October 27, 2006. http://chronicle.com/weekly/v53/i10/10b01601.htm?cch

Presents a snapshot of characteristics of community college presidents, including age, gender, ethnicity, marital status, previous positions, amount of time spent performing various duties of the presidency, participation in advisory boards, etc. These data are interesting and potentially quite useful - just wanted to capture the URL for future use.

The Propaganda of Numbers

Adelman, Clifford. The propaganda of numbers. The Chronicle Review, 53(8), 6.

This article presents an interesting perspective on how statistics have been (mis)used in educational research and in developing public policy. Adelman notes that at any given time one can find a variety of different statistics surrounding the same educational phenomenon, including graduation rates, persistence rates, percentage of student requiring remedial courses, and the like. What's most frightening is that the statistics that will reign as truth are often not those that are the most reliable, but rather those whose supporters have the best or most aggressive public relations campaign or understanding of ways to use the Internet to propagate (mis)information.

Adelman present two primary causes for why this is occurring. First, given that our society's current focus is on quantitative measures and that so much of our information gathering takes place on the Internet, "soundbite statistics" are very attractive. We tend to assume that these statistics are true, particularly when they appear multiple times on websites and in the media. Second, often times the statistics are presented in such a way that we don't understand the methodology used to arrive at presented conclusions. We tend to concern ourselves less with their validity and reliability and more about the "general impression" these statistics leave with us and whether or not they support our own instincts or agendas.

Adelman presents the example of NCAA graduation rates (which he describes as "unofficial statistics). While most often occurring in the sports sections of newspapers, published graduation rates varied widely but left the general impression with readers that rates were low. As such, public policy was created in the "Student-Athlete Right-to-Know Act." Adelman points out that this policy was based on 1) unofficial statistics and 2) statistics that were based on only 1.2% of students who attend four-year colleges (students participating on varsity teams in major sports). Adelman then points out that the graduation-rate formula that was created excludes roughly half of traditional-age undergraduates, as it does not take into account those who do not enter a college or university in the fall semester or who do not begin as a full-time student, or those who do not receive a degree from the same institution where they began their higher education.

Adelman also cites an example of a study that misused and combined statistics to create artificially low number of 9th graders who continue on to college and ultimately complete a bachelor's degree. In fact, the percentages of successful completion cited in the "unofficial" statistics are almost half of what is calculated using official statistics.

This article serves as an important reminder to be a critical consumer of information, particularly of concise statistics. While they may be compelling and present an interesting version of the truth, they may also be woefully incomplete.

Advisee Management Tip: Ask for a Memo

McKinney, Mary. Advisee Management Tip: Ask for a Memo. Tomorrow's Professor Mailing List, October 6, 2006.

This article serves as an important reminder that while it is easy for students to forget that their faculty advisor mentors many students at one time, and that the dissertation, while first and foremost in the student's mind, may not be the only thing on the faculty advisor's mind. Suggestions for helping to make the advising process more effective include: attaching a memo with each submission of the dissertation which includes bullets of any additions or modifications to the document since the last submission, providing a brief explanation of the changes to the dissertation that are in response to the advisor's prior suggestions, and highlighting any text that the student particularly would like the advisor to review. These tips will be useful both for my dissertation and for comps.

The World is Flat

Friedman, Thomas L. (2005). The world is flat: A brief history of the twenty-first century. New York: Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.

Main concept: the world is flat – the playing field is being leveled and countries are now able to compete for global knowledge work as never before (p. 7).