Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 17-06-2010 | 
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First the good news: The nation’s colleges are attracting record numbers of new students as more Hispanics finish high school and young adults opt to pursue a higher education rather than languish in a weak job market. A Pew Research Center study highlights the growing diversity in higher education amid debate over the role [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 16-06-2010 |
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Many state 4 year colleges will not accept all the credits community college students want to transfer for general education and majors. Consequently, community college students have to take the same or similar courese over again after transfer. This wastes time and money.
California lawmakers appear set to approve a major change in the college transfer process [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 15-06-2010 |
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In 1970 nearly three quarters of the workers considered to be middle class had not gone beyond high school, but by 2007 that figure dropped to 40%. Now a new study says the number of jobs requiring at least a 2 year postsecondary program will exceed supply of qualified people who complete community college or [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 14-06-2010 |
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The Hope scholarship program in Georgia began a wave of state initiatives that were similar to the Georgia program. Hope guarantees state aid if students meet certain academic course requirements and grades. When Georgia launched a college scholarship program called HOPE in 1993, it was the first financial-aid program of its kind. HOPE essentially [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 12-06-2010 |
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One of the main reasons students do not go to college is that they never graduate from high school. Diplomas Count 2010 by Education Week explores the graduation-rate challenges facing many students and districts and looks at how schools are using data to help students finish high school and earn diplomas. The report shows that [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 10-06-2010 |
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Only 31 percent of students placed into remedial math ever move beyond it, according to the Community College Research Center at Columbia University’s Teachers College, meaning the students never even get to college-level work, much less graduate. The prospects are especially bleak for students who test into the lowest level of [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 09-06-2010 |
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Other than age,race , and income here are 7 research based risk factors for failure to complete college after enrolling: being financially independent,having dependents,being a single parent,attending part time,working full time, stopping out, and withdrawing from courses. These risk factors are additive, and colleges should track students like these , and intervene intensively once [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 07-06-2010 |
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A new national organization Complete College America has been formed with the support of foundations. Below is a link to their website and an example of how one state will collaborate with the new group.
State officials are looking for ways to boost the number of college degree holders in Oklahoma by participating in a [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 06-06-2010 |
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The federal governments main date system -IPEDS- does not include part time students, and counts transfers from the first institution who complete their programs as a drop out from the first institution. This is very significant because less than half of postsecondary students in the United States fit into the category of students IPEDS tracks. [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 04-06-2010 |
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The major community colleges associations have all recently endorsed the idea that two-year institutions need to focus more on retention and completion issues, and generally are in agreement on some of the steps they should take so greater shares of students achieve various goals. But how much progress is realistic to [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 03-06-2010 |
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Community colleges are a critical part of our nation’s education system, serving nearly half of all undergraduates in the United States who are working to earn the degrees and training needed in today’s increasingly competitive job market. Yet millions of dollars in financial aid are left on the table each year by low- and moderate-income [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 02-06-2010 |
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Today, the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) released a set of state-led education standards, the Common Core State Standards, at Peachtree Ridge High School in Suwanee, GA. The English-language arts and mathematics standards for grades K-12 were developed in collaboration with a [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 31-05-2010 |
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Currently, most of the data that government agencies and higher education institutions use to report progress on college access and success omit large numbers of students. Transfer students and part-time students, for example, aren’t included in the success rates reported in the major national database on postsecondary education, nor does the database flag low-income students [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 27-05-2010 |
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The Education Trust and Achieve are launching the nonprofit U.S. Education Delivery Institute (EDI) with the support of McKinsey & Company under the leadership of Sir Michael Barber, founder and former head of Prime Minister Blair’s Delivery Unit. EDI is dedicated to building the capacity in state public education systems to implement [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 26-05-2010 |
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Pennsylvania is in the midst of developing a sophisticated data system that will track students from preschool to elementary and secondary education to postsecondary education to the work force. The U.S. Department of Education announced it will contribute $14.3 million to help pay for the design and implementation in Pennsylvania of a statewide longitudinal data [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 25-05-2010 |
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Developmental education is a $200 million-a-year problem in Texas. But relatively few students who need remedial classes go on to earn a degree, raising questions about whether money spent on developmental education is a wise investment. The legislature has agreed to change the way it pays for the courses, encouraging colleges to break away from [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 24-05-2010 |
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Last year girls were 58% of college grads and the gap is growing . The new book reviewed below is stimulating, but lacks the data to answer why the graduation gap is so large-particularly among Hispanics and African Americans. It is still worth reading for thinking about this crucial but ignored issue in college completion. Many [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 23-05-2010 |
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Millions of dollars in federal financial aid go unclaimed each year by eligible low-income students at community colleges, according to a College Board report. The study notes that community college students are less likely than their four-year counterparts to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. During 2007-08, 57.8% of Pell [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 19-05-2010 |
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College tuitions are rising. Seat space—especially in community colleges—is often scarce. University endowments are shrinking. State institutions are facing enormous cuts in state funding.
While colleges have fewer resources, they are admitting students who present greater challenges. Increasing numbers of students arrive on campus without the preparation to do college-level work. An estimated 42 percent of [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 18-05-2010 |
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by Daniel de Vise
The Washington Post
This spring, some colleges in the Washington region have assembled waiting lists that rival the size of their incoming freshman classes, a measure of their uncertainty at a volatile time in higher education.
The University of Virginia has offered admission to 6,900 students and wait-listed 3,750, a group large enough to [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 17-05-2010 |
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President Obama, foundation leaders and the heads of advocacy groups all agree that community colleges need to focus on more than access and drastically improve their generally low completion rates. By and large, these leaders believe that these institutions know, whether by research or common sense, just what to do – [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 17-05-2010 |
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The Obama administration proposes to regulate for profit colleges by using a gainful employment standard that that shows students will make enough money with their degrees to pay back their loans. Profit colleges have been accused of encouraging low income students to take large loans, and then provides the students with degrees that are [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 16-05-2010 |
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Many students overestimate college tuition by 3 to 6 times the actual cost. Click on this report for the latest evidence.
Cost Perceptions and College-Going for Low-Income Students
The Pathways to College Network and the National College Access Network have released a joint “Research to Practice” brief describing how many low-income students overestimate [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 13-05-2010 |
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Does the performance of certain groups of students lag that of other groups? Why?
What can we offer to assist these students?
How effective Is this assistance, and how might we approve it?
When a student drops out, where does he or she go?
Lumina Foundation has developed data standards to answer these questions. Many 4 year colleges [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 12-05-2010 |
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In 2008, Hispanics were about half as likely as African Americans and a third as likely as White students to obtain a four year degree. But similar to all college attainment statistics Hispanic females are moving forward much faster than males . Indeed, in an Amercan Enterprise Institute Study of 433 colleges, Rising To The [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 11-05-2010 |
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Young adults are less likely to have earned a degree than their older counterparts, according to a Brookings Institution report based on Census data. Though the percent of adults with a baccalaureate degree rose from 24 to 28 from 2000 to 2008, a smaller percentage of 25-to-34 year-olds than 35-to-44 year-olds held one in 2008. [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 11-05-2010 |
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Most broad access 2 and 4 year colleges have low completion rates and constraints on enrolling in courses students need. Their student services are often underfunded and ineffective. Here are 4 crucial questions from the Lumina Foundation before deciding to enroll at such colleges.
What is the college’s graduation rate for stdents like me?
What trouble spots am [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 08-05-2010 |
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Many states have created end of course exams for Biology, World History, and Algebra 2. These exams align better with what is taught than cross cutting exams like mathematics or science. For example, ACT uses generic science and social studies exams that are not aligned with courses in high school.
The newest edition of The Progress [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 06-05-2010 |
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A few key steps can make all the difference in determining whether a student enrolls in a four year college. Specifically, there are five crucial steps to getting ready for a four-year college that have been completed by about 95 percent of the students who enroll in such institutions in a timely [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 05-05-2010 |
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The Obama administration is preparing to produce tougher regulations that could reduce the amount of federal financial aid flowing to for-profit colleges, cutting the companies’ annual revenue growth by as much as a third. The tougher rules would require for-profits to show that their graduates earn enough money to pay off their student loans. If for-profit [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 04-05-2010 |
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This is an important question because the answer can illuminate college incentives for enhancing student completion. At some private colleges it costs a lot to recruit a new student. So helping academically struggling students can make sense economically. There are costs to the personnel needed such as admissions officers and scholarsip money that is [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 03-05-2010 |
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Lumina has provided funds to 41 community colleges to create and use data to track student progress and completion. The program is called Achieving The Dream. The grants promote a change in culture to use data for interventions that will improve the current 31% completion rate after 6 years. The completion rate is from [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 02-05-2010 |
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The US Department of education reported that over 70% of high school graduates went from high school directly to college. This increase was caused by the recession, but the percent has been at 67% in recent years. After 18 months from graduation about 73% go to college. So the problem is less one of access [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 27-04-2010 |
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Occasionally, I bring back to the blog some of the best research on how to prepare for and complete college. Here is a summary of Clifford Adelman”s 2006 seminal study.
The Toolbox Revisited is a follow-up to the 1999 Answers in the Tool Box. Using NELS 1988/2000 data, this new study followed students who were eighth [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 26-04-2010 |
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The current thinking of those creating the community college system is to have two main sections: learning outcomes and job training. Janice Yoshiwara, education services director for the Washington State Board of Community and Technical Colleges, is on the working group focused on learning outcomes, and she described the approach that will be taken. She [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 25-04-2010 |
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A new study suggests that the growth in the length of time needed to earn bachelor’s degrees - six years or longer - is indeed real and cause for concern. But the study finds that the shift to longer time-to-degree rates is not uniform across colleges, but is concentrated among students who [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 22-04-2010 |
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Systemic Incentives for High School Senior Slump
Now that the senior year of high school is ending, it is an appropriate time to examine its impact upon college preparation and college completion. The American educational system does little to discourage high school seniors from focusing on matters other than academic work. Rather than using the [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 22-04-2010 |
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I really enjoyed your article on 3 year college programs. It is definitely something to consider. I am one of the individuals who could have graduated easily after 3 years, partially due to a few AP courses in high school and partially because I really enjoyed classes and therefore took more each semester than required. [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 21-04-2010 |
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In July 2009, President Barack Obama vowed that the United States “will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.” While this echoes a widespread sentiment that the country needs to re-create the last century’s “Golden Age” of American higher education in which high completion rates were the norm, few have [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 20-04-2010 |
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Arizona, Indiana, and some other states are considering a slimmed down 3 year bachelors degree in new or revamped colleges that will offer fewer courses and degrees. Presumably, this will save money for students and the state. For example:
Governor Mitch Daniels called on Indiana’s colleges and universities to give Hoosiers the chance to push [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 19-04-2010 |
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Forty eight states have joined together to create a de facto national k-12 common core curriculum-see www.ccsso.org. One of the issues they are struggling with is whether the curriculum standards for college ready and career ready are the same. Though the terms”college ready” and “career ready” have been used together in many education plans [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 16-04-2010 |
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President Obama’s health care and student loan victories have overshadowed the collapse of another key domestic priority: helping more students graduate from college, writes The New Republic’s Kevin Carey. Because of last-minute political developments, the administration allowed negotiators of the reconciliation bill to strip out a “smart, progressive” package of reforms that could have helped [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 15-04-2010 |
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New: Report on Learning Communities : From Teachers College ,Columbia National Center On Postsecondary Research
Scaling Up Learning Communities: The Experience of Six Community Colleges
By: Mary Visher, Emily Schneider, Heather Wathington, and Herbert Collado
Community college leaders are using many strategies to improve their students’ ability to complete their studies, particularly their academically underprepared students. In recent [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 14-04-2010 |
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Guest blogger Will Fitzhugh, Concord Review :
A survey of college professors done a couple of years ago by the Chronicle of Higher Education found that 90% of them thought the students they were seeing were not very well prepared in reading, doing research, and writing.
The Diploma to Nowhere report from 2008 found that more than [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 13-04-2010 |
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Most statewide secondary school assessments are multiple choice to keep costs low and improve reliability. For example, California tests are all multiple choice except writing in grade 7 State tests often lack the complexity to align with college standards. Competition has opened for $350 million in Race to the Top funds to design new [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 12-04-2010 |
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The for -profit sector is accelerating in its growth of market share. Six years ago, there were almost three times as many students enrolled in private nonprofit colleges as there were at for-profit institutions. By 2008-9, that ratio had slipped to about 2 to 1, according to a National Center for Education [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 09-04-2010 |
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an article from the New York Times, April 8, 2010:
By KATHARINE MIESZKOWSKI
Monica McCarthy, an academic counselor at City College of San Francisco for eight years, has worked with thousands of community college students hoping to transfer to state universities.
But lately she has encountered more and more state university students clamoring to enroll [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 08-04-2010 |
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Guest blogger Katheryn Horton
California State University trustees have put their collective foot down: No longer will remedial math or English be a part of the university system’s regular course offerings. Starting in 2012, students who fail to place in college-level courses after taking the CSU English and math placement exams must take CSU-developed courses during [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 07-04-2010 |
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Secretary Duncan release guidance for a 350 million competition to design and inplement new secondary school assessments. Here is the college linkage as reported by Education Week blogger Michele McNeil in her useful k-12 politics blog :
According to the final regulations out today, a consortium, to be eligible for the awards, must be at least [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 06-04-2010 |
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Whether by choice or by necessity, community colleges are the dominant institution for Latino students. So to the extent that Latinos are underrepresented among bachelor’s degree recipients in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields, increasing the flow of STEM students from community colleges to four-year institutions - and better ensuring the success of those who [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 06-04-2010 |
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The strategy of attaching the student aid bill to the health bill worked in terms of passing something big. The private lenders were excluded from making government guaranteed loans, and this type of lending will come directly from The US Education Department. This will lower student interest costs, and help college completion. But the small increases [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 04-04-2010 |
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Community colleges enroll about 50% of first year students. Most first-time community college students say they feel welcome at their institutions, but few receive information during orientation that is critical to their success. Most say they have the motivation and skills it takes to succeed, but also adopt behaviors that are detrimental [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 02-04-2010 |
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Florida is one of several state moving away from generic English and math tests that cut across grades, and are not linked to specific high school courses like algebra 2 and biology, A Florida legislative proposal would phase in requirements that students take geometry, biology, algebra II, chemistry or physics by 2013-14. The state [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 31-03-2010 |
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The following comes form a College Board news release:
Designed for eighth-graders, ReadiStep™ provides early feedback on academic strengths in reading, writing and mathematics. The assessment is formatted in three multiple-choice sections, and the results provide Skills Insight™ — information on the skills that students possess and the skills they need to develop, and advice on [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 29-03-2010 |
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A new study from the Consortium on Chicago School Research finds that although a 1997 Chicago Schools policy that increased the number of college-preparatory science courses that students took and passed, it also kept students from taking higher-level science courses and did not increase the college-going rate, according to Education Week. [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 26-03-2010 |
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A new American Enterprise Institute analysis digs more deeply into the data surrounding Latino college graduation rates, and confirms the overall reality that Latino students trail their white peers at all types of institutions. The report also reveals wide variation in the relative success of institutions with similar student bodies. The [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 25-03-2010 |
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State education officials plan to overhaul the way Massachusetts colleges and universities measure and report student achievement, in an effort to make the public system more relevant to the state economy and to ensure that students of all racial, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds are being served. The ambitious plan - the [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 23-03-2010 |
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Last year the President proposed a multi-faceted 12 billion dollar proposal to improve community colleges. The Congress could not pass this ambitious bill, so it was attached to health care with a 2 billion appropriation. Moreover, the purposes were restricted to job training, rather than more fundamental approaches to college completion and transfer to 4 [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 22-03-2010 |
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California Community College students are mostly lower income and many are first generation students. About 70% are in remedial courses. University of California (8 campuses) students are wealthier and well prepared. Below is the funding per Full Time Equivalent student
University of California $22,920
California State University $11,722
K-12 education [...]
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Posted by Dr. Michael Kirst | Posted in Uncategorized | Posted on 20-03-2010 |
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Last year girls were 58% of college graduates up from 35% in 1961. Below is one of the major reasons why this happened.
A new study from the Center on Education Policy (CEP) that analyzes state assessment data by gender finds good news for girls but troubling news for boys. According to CEP’s study, [...]
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