Persistence in High School & College: Tools to Help Increase Persistence and Degree
Attainment
Educational Research Section
Princeton University
April 30, 2010
Profile of LaGuardia 17,000 degree-seeking students 35,000 non-degree-seeking students 60% female; 40% male 57% full-time; 43% part-time 52% aged 17-22; 27% aged 23-29 56% foreign born; 44% US born 160 countries; 124 languages 315 full-time faculty, most with terminal degrees
Community Colleges in America
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Per Capita Student Spending
0
5,000
10,000
15,000
20,000
25,000
30,000
2 year 4 year
Underserved Students Community College Students are by definition
underserved
QED—We have a responsibility to educate all our students and we believe the best way to do that is to provide a high quality education that gives each of our students an opportunity to demonstrate how good they are
First Year Academy Learning Communities Liberal Arts Clusters Non-ESL Basic Skills clusters and pairs ESL Clusters and Pairs More than 1,000 students in LCs in Fall 09
Liberal Arts Clusters Required for Liberal Arts majors (full-time
students) Theme-based All include 2 English courses: Freshman
Composition and Research Paper Two courses from other discipline areas
(Social Science and Humanities) 1 credit “Integrating Seminar”
Aggregate Passing Rates For English 101 in Lib Arts Clusters vs. Stand-Alone
79.2
69
62
64
66
68
70
72
74
76
78
80
Liberal Arts Cluster All Other Students
Liberal Arts Cluster n=1,514
All Other Students n=16,383
Non-ESL Basic Skills Clusters and Pairs Sample Themes
The CyberPlanet
Bright Lights, Big City
Truth, Reality and You
Voicing America: The Many Views of
Freedom
Imagining America
Beyond Dr. Phil
First Year Academy Non-ESL Learning Communities: Pass Rates
60%
65%
70%
75%
80%
85%
90%
95%
100%
Comparison (Stand-Alone Sections) 72.0%
Academy Learning Communities 77.1%
Comparison/Academy
First Year Academy Non-ESL Learning Communities: Comparison of pass rates in discipline-area courses
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Non-Academy LC 70.0% 73.00%
Academy LC 76.7% 80.00%
American History SSH102 (Spring 06) Critical Thinking HUP102 (SPring06)
First Year Academy Non-ESL Learning Communities: Four year comparison of pass rates in English 099 (Fa04>Sp08)
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Non-Academy (ENG099) 63.6%
Academy (ENG099) 69.5%
Non-academy / Academy
FY Academy ESL Learning Communities Comparative Grades (GPA)
2.74
2.432.25
2.62
2.36
2.15
1.00
1.20
1.40
1.60
1.80
2.00
2.20
2.40
2.60
2.80
3.00
College-LevelCourses
Basic SkillsCourses
ESL Courses
ESL Learning Community Regular
Students obtain
significantly higher
grades in all course
types when courses
are taken in the
learning community
format.
93%
84%
69%66%
82%89%
0.00%10.00%20.00%30.00%40.00%50.00%60.00%70.00%80.00%90.00%
100.00%
College-LevelCourses
Basic SkillsCourses
ESL Courses
Learning Community Regular
FY Academy ESL Learning Communities Comparative Pass Rates in Courses
Pass rates in the learning community sections of all course types were significantly higher than pass rates in regular sections of the same courses.
ePortfolio 10,000+ students with ePortfolios Not merely an electronic resume or a
version of Blackboard Allows students to express and explore Allows faculty a fuller view of what students
can do Allows the institution to get a better handle
on assessment of student work
High End Learning Phi Theta Kappa More than 400 active members 2009—NY Region Most Distinguished Chapter
Award 2010—NY Region Most Distinguished Chapter
president; Leadership Hallmark Award; Scholarship Hallmark Award; Pinnacle and Five-Star Chapter Awards; Top 100 National Chapter; All NY 1st and 2nd Academic Team Members
Transfer Moved from a straightforward
administrative model to a more pro-active academic model
Exploring Transfer—Vassar Intercollegiate Partnership--Barnard Engineering articulation with Swarthmore City College as a “fallback” for our
students
ResultsJudge us not by how our students
come in, but rather where they wind up!