New data on Latino/a college completion

From this morning's (4/11/12) Inside Higher Ed...
Excelencia in Education on Tuesday released data showing Latino college completion rates, by state. "The state-level data on Latino college completion show that today’s investment, or lack thereof, in Latino academic preparation and degree attainment can have a compounding effect on state populations, economies, and communities in the near future,” said Deborah Santiago, the organization's co-founder and vice president for policy and research.

State level and summary reports are available for download here: http://www.edexcelencia.org/eaf/50states

New IPEDS data available

Data on --financial aid, retention and graduation rates, etc. for higher ed. "...findings include:

• In fall 2010, Title IV institutions enrolled 19 million undergraduate and 3 million graduate students. Of the 19 million undergraduates, 56 percent were enrolled in 4-year institutions, 42 percent in 2-year institutions, and 2 percent in less-than-2-year institutions.
• Approximately 58 percent of full-time, first-time students attending 4-year institutions in 2004 who were seeking a bachelor’s or equivalent degree completed a bachelor’s or equivalent degree within 6 years at the institution where they began their studies.
• Overall, first-time undergraduate student 1-year retention rates were higher for full-time students (72 percent) than for part-time students (44 percent)."

To view the full report please visit
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2012280

Projections of Education Statistics to 2019

New report out from NCES that covers "statistics on enrollment, graduates, teachers, and expenditures in elementary and secondary schools, and enrollment and earned degrees conferred expenditures of degree-granting institutions. For the Nation, the tables, figures, and text contain data on enrollment, teachers, graduates, and expenditures for the past 14 years and projections to the year 2019. For the 50 States and the District of Columbia, the tables, figures, and text contain data on projections of public elementary and secondary enrollment and public high school graduates to the year 2019."
I will also put a link to this source in the Education subject guide on the "Statistics and Demographics" page. http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2011017

Longitudinal data on HS graduation & dropout rates

Nevada still tops the list--of lowest graduation rates (51.3%). Wisconsin must be doing something right since they graduate 89.6% of their students. Data from NCES covers the period 1978-2008 and is also broken down by race/ethnicity, sex and age. Overall, "approximately 3 million 16- through 24-year-olds were not enrolled in high school and had not earned a high school diploma or alternative credential as of October 2008, [representing] 8 percent of the 38 million non-institutionalized, civilian individuals in this age group living in the United States..." Highest dropout rates continue to be among Hispanic Americans while Asian Americans and students of more than one race have the lowest rates. Full report is here:
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2011012

Newest data on college retention and graduation

photo © 2008 Jackie Bucci | more info (via: Wylio)
Nice summary from Inside Higher Ed today (Dec. 2, 2010) on the graduation rates of the 2003-04 cohort of students entering college. 49% had earned a certificate or degree from a post-secondary institution within 6 years and these rates have not improved since the last cohort (1994-95) was surveyed. The article provides a table comparing data from the two cohorts. This survey looks at retention and graduation from the student rather than the institutional perspective so is able to offer information on the relative completion rates of students who do and don't transfer, as well as comparisons between those who start at community colleges vs. 4-year institutions. Data on different ethnic groups is also provided. A link to the full report from NCES/IES is here: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2011151

New IPEDS data released

Findings from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) fall 2009 data collection,  includes three survey components: institutional characteristics for 2009-10 (e.g.,  degrees offered, type of program, application information, tuition and other costs); the number and type of degrees conferred from July 2008 through June 2009; and 12-month enrollment data for the 2008-09 academic year.
Among other findings:

• An increasingly higher percentage of women are getting higher education degrees (2- and 4-year)
• Tuition has increase across the spectrum of higher education institutions (duh!)

To view the full report please visit: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2010161

College graduation rates for African Americans and Latinos don't need to lag

Two new reports from Education Trust find that there are ways to close the historically large gaps between college graduation rates for minority groups compared to those of white students. Institutions of similar student body make-up have been able to close or even reverse the gaps through consistent utilization of "transition programs for at-risk students and 'early warning' systems that alert officials to struggling students," according to this overview of the two reports in today's (Aug. 10) Inside Higher Ed.

Two new reports from College Board on college completion

Two new reports have been issued by the College Board on college completion. The first, "College Completion Agenda: 2010 Progress Report,"  provides data on issues related to college completion rates: associate and beyond,  internationally as well as state by state, breakdowns by age and race, etc...with 10 detailed recommendations. The second is a briefer set of policy recommendations, "The College Completion Agenda: State Policy Guide."

2007-2008 Data on HS Graduation Rates

This newest data from NCES shows Nevada with the lowest high school graduation rate in the nation: 51%. Tthe only other jurisdiction with a graduation rate in the 50's is Washington, D.C. at 56%.

"Nationwide, 75 percent of public high school students who started as freshmen in the fall of 2004 graduated high school in 2008—up from 74 percent who graduated on time in the spring of 2007.

This First Look presents findings associated with public high school graduation and event dropout counts for the 2007–08 school year. These data were collected as part of the Common Core of Data (CCD), a universe survey of public schools operating in the United States and associated other jurisdictions by the National Center for Education Statistics."
To view the full report please visit
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2010341

Those least likely to go benefit most from college

A "Quick Take" in today's Inside Higher Ed alerted me to this study due to be published in the April issue of American Sociological Review. You can see a pre-print here.
"The economic value of a college degree is nearly twice as high for women from disadvantaged backgrounds as for women from privileged backgrounds, the study says. For disadvantaged men, a college education is worth three times more than is the case for privileged college-goers." (from Inside Higher Ed). There are undoubtedly confounding factors, the authors suggest, such as high motivation levels among those who overcome the hurdles presented when "college is not a culturally expected outcome" (Brand & Xie, 2010, p. 32)

Improving Latino college graduation rates

A new report from the American Enterprise Insitute reaffirms the common wisdom that Latino graduation rates lag those of "white students" but also reveals some surprising discrepancies. Within the same groupings, i.e, different levels of admission selectivity, the top 10 performing schools often have 50% higher graduation rates for Latinos than the lowest 10 performing schools. A summary of the findings and links to the full report are here: "Rising to the Challenge: Hispanic College Graduation Rates as a National Priority"

New report from NCES on HS graduation and dropout rates

"High School Dropout and Completion Rates in the United States: 2007"
includes national and regional population estimates for the percentage of students who dropped out of high school between 2006 and 2007, the percentage of young people who were dropouts in 2007, and the percentage of young people who were not in high school and had some form of high school credential in 2007.

Annual data from 1972-2007 reveals trends by race, gender, income and other characteristics. State, regional and national level data is provided.
To view the full report please visit:
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2009064

Projections of Education Statistics to 2018

This updated report has also been added to the Statistics tab in my Education guide.
"It includes statistics on enrollment, graduates, teachers, and expenditures in elementary and secondary schools, and enrollment and earned degrees conferred expenditures of degree-granting institutions. For the Nation, the tables, figures, and text contain data on enrollment, teachers, graduates, and expenditures for the past 14 years and projections to the year 2018. For the 50 States and the District of Columbia, the tables, figures, and text contain data on projections of public elementary and secondary enrollment and public high school graduates to the year 2018."

New reports out from IPEDS on higher ed enrollment, graduation rates and financial aid

This First Look presents findings from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) spring 2008 data collection, which included four components: Enrollment in Postsecondary Institutions, Fall 2007; Graduation Rates, 2001 & 2004 Cohorts; and Financial Statistics, Fiscal Year 2007. These data were collected through the IPEDS web-based data collection system. Findings include:

In fall 2007, Title IV institutions in the United States enrolled a total of 18.7 million graduate and undergraduate students; 62 percent were enrolled in 4-year institutions, 36 percent were enrolled in 2-year institutions, and 2 percent were enrolled in less-than-2-year institutions.

Approximately 57 percent of full-time, first-time bachelor's or equivalent degree-seekers attending 4-year institutions completed a bachelor's or equivalent degree at the institution where they began their studies within 6 years.

During 2006-07 academic year, 73 percent of the 2.8 million full-time, first-time degree/certificate-seeking undergraduates attending Title IV institutions located in the United States received financial aid.

To view, download and print the report as a PDF file, please visit:
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2009155

Status and Trends in the Education of American Indians and Alaska Natives: 2008

"This report examines both the educational progress of American Indian/Alaska Native children and adults and challenges in their education. It shows that over time more American Indian/Alaska Native students have gone on to college and that their attainment expectations have increased. Despite these gains, progress has been uneven and differences persist between American Indian/Alaska Native students and students of other racial/ethnic groups on key indicators of educational performance." (Description from website)

2008 Schott report on graduation rates of black males

Today's Inside Higher Education notes, "A new analysis shows just how poorly many states are doing at graduating black males from high school. The Schott Foundation for Public Education last week released an “education inequity index,” comparing black male and white male graduation rates for high school — and the figures may be chilling for colleges hoping to boost black male enrollments. Nationally only 47 percent of black male students are graduating from high school with their cohorts, and in 10 states, the gap in black male and white male graduation rates is at least 30 points, let by Wisconsin, where the black male rate is 36 percent and the white male rate is 87 percent. Michigan, Illinois and Nebraska also have gaps of more than 40 percentage points. The states with the narrowest gaps (or none) tend to be states where there are relatively few black students, Vermont and Maine for example."

Nevada ranks 16th highest in the inequity index and has lower than national averages for graduation rates of both black (40%) and white (55% ) males.

"For over five years, The Schott Foundation for Public Education has tracked the performance of Black males in public education systems across the nation. Past efforts by Schott were designed to raise the nation’s consciousness about the critical education issues affecting Black males; low graduation rates, high rates of placement in special education, and the disproportionate use of suspensions and expulsions, to name a few.

The 2008 edition, Given Half a Chance: The Schott 50 State Report on Public Education and Black Males, details the drastic range of outcomes for Black males, especially the tragic results in many of the nation’s biggest cities. Given Half a Chance also deliberately highlights the resource disparities that exist in schools attended by Black males and their White, non-Hispanic counterparts. The 2008 Schott report documents that states and most districts with large Black enrollments educate their White, non-Hispanic children, but do not similarly educate the majority of their Black male students...

• More than half of Black males did not receive diplomas with their cohort in 2005/2006.

These trends... are evidence of a school-age population that is substantively denied an opportunity to learn, and of a nation at risk." (from the Executive Summary at http://www.blackboysreport.org/node/106)

Helping everyone graduate

This article today in Inside Higher Ed discusses a newly released report from Education Sector which documents some astounding gaps in the college graduation rates of black versus white students--often as high as 25-35 percentage points. And neither race nor money are the real issues--attention to the students is! The article offers concrete suggestions for helping schools improve minority graduation rates.