[COPLAC-IR] Request from Bill Spellman...

[Anita Fraley]

Georgia College currently collects and reports graduation rates by department and major (in our department chairs annual report, an internal document).  Our students have the opportunity to declare a major upon entry, although a substantial number do not and there is significant movement between majors over time.  Thus the concerns of other schools are also a factor for GC.  We calculate 4, 5 and 6 year graduation rates by entry major for the IPEDS cohort AND  4, 5 and 6 year graduation rates by major at the start of the seventh term (nominal junior year) for the IPEDS cohort.  While the second metric does give a more balanced assessment of the impact of the department on the graduation rate it is clearly not without problems.  We are investigating possibly using some variation of the following metrics (proposed by Dr. Mike Crow, IR director at Savannah State university):

1.    include only students of junior or senior status declaring the major as the denominator.  It is not as clean but it will miss all the students who go away or switch majors as a result of interacting mainly with the lower division core curriculum (thus, in many settings most of the generalized attrition)-who should not be counted as attrition against a particular major.

2.    calculate "graduate production rates" where the denominator is the number of seniors claiming the major AND enrolled in courses in the major in the year and the numerator is the number actually graduated from the major in the same academic year.

3.    calculating "program efficiency rates" where the denominator is the total number of students claiming the major AND enrolled in courses in the major for a given academic year and the numerator is the total number of graduates from the major for the same academic year.


GC would be interested in participating in a COPLAC based data collection system if a standardized metric could be established.




B. Edward Hale, Ph.D.
Director
Office of Institutional Research
Chief Data Officer
Georgia College & State University
Georgia's Public Liberal Arts University
478-445-3350 (voice)
478-445-3221 (fax)
478-445-6353 (direct)
ed.hale at gcsu.edu<mailto:ed.hale at gcsu.edu>


Anita Fraley
Georgia College & State University
Institutional Research
Campus Box 52
Milledgeville, GA 31061
478-445-3350 Phone
478-445-3221 Fax


From: lboyce at usao.edu [mailto:lboyce at usao.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, March 23, 2011 10:40 AM
To: coplac-ir at lists.onenet.net; 'Anita Fraley'; 'Archer Gravely'; 'Babs Varano'; 'Beth Carter'; 'Bill Spellman'; 'Brian Lashley'; 'Cassandra Slaybaugh'; 'Cristi Carson'; 'Doug Rawlings'; 'Elizabeth Acker'; 'Elizabeth Clune'; 'Fort Lewis Institutional Research'; 'Ginger Otwell'; 'Hui-Min Wen'; 'Jason Canales'; Miller,James L; 'Julie Rao'; 'Laura Coghlan'; Laura Dorman; 'Martha Davis'; 'Mascetti, Kris'; 'Mathew Wilkerson'; 'Matt Stillman'; Nancy Asher; 'Nancy Helsper'; 'Orien McGlamery'; 'Pat Parson'; 'Sarah Maene'; 'Scott Bevins'; 'Tim Hanson'; 'Wrenette Tedder'
Subject: Request from Bill Spellman...

Dear COPLAC Colleagues:

One of our member institutions is studying rates of graduation by major and I have been asked if any other COPLAC campuses collect this data.

If your campus gathers this information and you would be willing to share, I would be very grateful. The more recent the data the better in terms of this study.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Bill

Bill Spellman
Director
Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges
One University Heights
Asheville, NC 28804
(828) 350-4590
www.coplac.org<http://www.coplac.org/>

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