On Track to Complete? A Taxonomy of Beginning Community College Students and Their Outcomes Three Years After Enrolling: 2003-04 through 2006

This study uses a classification scheme, the Community College Taxonomy (CCT), to analyze outcomes for beginning community college students according to how "directed" (strongly directed, moderately directed, or not directed) they are toward completing a program of study. Levels of direction are based on factors associated with student persistence and degree attainment, and outcomes examined included institutional retention, student persistence, 4-year transfer rates, enrollment continuity, and first-year attrition. The study is based on data from the 2004/06 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS:04/06), a national sample of undergraduates who enrolled in postsecondary institutions for the first time between July 1, 2003, and June 30, 2004. Participants were interviewed in 2004 and 2006. This study includes only students who initially enrolled in a community college and were not enrolled concurrently in any other institution. Some key findings include:

  • Students classified according to the CCT as "strongly directed" toward completion had higher rates of institutional retention, student persistence, AA degree attainment, and 4-year transfer than did their less-directed peers.
  • Nearly one-fourth left college in their first year and did not return within the 3-year study period. "Strongly directed" students left college in their first year at a lower rate (16 percent) than did their "moderately directed" (29 percent) or "not directed" (41 percent) counterparts.
  • Overall, 49 percent of students had maintained their enrollment or completed a program of study at their first institution, and 55 percent had persisted in any postsecondary institution, within three years after their enrollment.
  • Some 10 percent of students had earned an AA degree, 5 percent had obtained a vocational certificate, and nearly 20 percent had transferred to another institution.

To view, download or print the report, please visit:
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2009/2009152.pdf

A Profile of Successful Pell Grant Recipients: Time to Bachelor's Degree and Early Graduate School Enrollment

This report describes characteristics of college graduates who received Pell Grants and compares them to graduates who were not Pell Grant recipients. For both groups of graduates, data from the Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B:200/01) were analyzed to determine the time it took them to complete a bachelor's degree as well as the percentage who enrolled in graduate school within one year of college graduation. Key findings include the following:

  • About 36 percent of 1999-2000 bachelor's degree recipients received at least one Pell Grant while in college.
  • Higher percentages of Pell Grant recipients had at least one of several undergraduate risk characteristics (e.g., delaying postsecondary enrollment or failing to graduate from high school) than did non-recipients.
  • Parents' education was the only factor consistently related to both time-to-degree and graduate school enrollment for Pell Grant recipients. Those whose parents did not attend college took longer to attain a bachelor's degree and enrolled in graduate school at lower rates than recipients whose parents had at least a bachelor's degree.
  • Although Pell Grant recipients had a longer median time-to-degree than non-recipients, when controlling simultaneously for parents' education, undergraduate risk characteristics, and transfer history, recipients had a shorter time-to-degree than non-recipients.

To view, download or print the report, please visit:
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2009156.

Achievement Gaps: How Black and White Students in Public Schools Perform in Mathematics and Reading on the National Assessment of Educational Progress

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) within the Institute of Education Sciences has released a new report analyzing Black-White achievement gaps at both the national and state levels, using NAEP scores as a common yardstick. The study examines data from all main NAEP mathematics and reading assessments through 2007, supplemented by data from long-term trend NAEP results through 2004. Readers will find context for understanding these gaps, as the report examines both the changes in the performance of Black and White students and the changes in the Black-White achievement gap over time.

Mathematics and reading scores on NAEP have increased since the first time the assessment was administered. These score increases have been observed among both Black and White students. However, statistically significant score differences between the two groups have also been observed.

View/download the full report at:
http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/studies/gaps.