Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is the Degree Progress and Success Analysis?
2. Who developed the Degree Progress Analysis?
3. Is the Degree Progress Analysis similar to accountability analyses done in other states?
4. How does the Degree Progress Analysis account for students who may not have a degree as a goal?
5. How does the 27-credits-attempted threshold relate to time-to-degree?
6. Why not define the cohort as all students starting full-time in the fall?
7. How does the Degree Progress Analysis report outcomes for developmental students?
8. Why was only developmental math used in the model and not developmental writing?
9. What determines whether a math course is remedial or not remedial?
11. When was the Degree Progress Analysis first completed?
12. Is the Degree Progress Analysis a part of state accountability reporting?
13. What are the data elements in the model?
1.
What is the Degree Progress and Success Analysis?
The Degree Progress and Success Analysis is a model used to report the progress toward degree completion of community college students incorporating developmental education needs and completion, interim measures of success, and transfer to other institutions including private and out-of-state institutions.
2. Who
developed the Degree Progress Analysis?
The Degree Progress Analysis was developed by the Maryland Community College Accountability Work Team during 2005 in response to a charge from the statewide community college presidents' group (Maryland Council of Community College Chief Executive Officers). The presidents appointed the Work Team with an initial charge to "Create a value-added statewide assessment model incorporating developmental studies, graduation, transfer, and job placement." The Degree Progress Analysis addresses the first three outcomes measures contained in this charge.
3. Is the
Degree Progress Analysis similar to accountability analyses done in other
states?
Over the initial year the Maryland Work Team did extensive
national literature reviews of state accountability systems and indicators. The
basic framework for the Degree Progress Analysis was adapted from statewide
accountability practices in
4. How
does the Degree Progress Analysis account for students who may not have a
degree as a goal?
People attend community colleges for a variety of reasons
other than earning a degree. Identifying degree-seekers is not straightforward,
as student goal data are often incomplete, changeable, out of date, and even
deliberately false. Students may not know whether they want to pursue a degree
when they enroll. Data collection systems may not reliably collect student goal
data. Relying on a student's declared major is problematic since many colleges
require all students (including non-degree-seekers) to declare a major, and to
qualify for financial aid students may have to declare themselves to be
degree-seeking. An alternative to reliance on goal questions or declared majors
is to examine student enrollment behavior. The Maryland Work Team decided to
modify a criterion used in
Lane's model uses the criterion that examines the achievements of students attempting 27 quarter credits. This includes credit courses below the 100 level as well as courses 100-level and above.
5. How
does the 27-credits-attempted threshold relate to time-to-degree?
The Maryland Work Team felt it was incumbent upon students to make the effort to persist and succeed if the colleges are to be held accountable for their achievements. Accountability indicators are time bound (in this case we measure persistence, graduation, and transfer after four years) and many students attend part-time, stop out, have job and family responsibilities, and thus progress slowly even if they pass all their courses. Attempting 27 credits over two years is an average of 13-14 credits attempted per year and indicates a student has made a reasonable commitment to achieving a goal at Lane. At that pace, if a student did not need developmental coursework and passed every course, he or she would take approximately seven years to earn a "two year" degree.
6. Why
not define the cohort as all students starting full-time in the fall?
Research suggests that many students who start full-time
shift to part-time attendance. At
7. How
does the Degree Progress Analysis report outcomes for developmental students?
After the initial cohort is identified based on having attempted 27 credit in two years, the percentage of students graduating, transferring, earning 45 credits in good academic standing, and persisting at the end of the study period are reported for four groups: 1) students who were college-ready when they first enrolled, 2) students needing developmental math who completed all developmental math requirements, 3) students yet to complete their developmental math requirements and 4) all students in the cohort.
For this analysis, the term college-ready has been changed to degree-ready. Math requirements vary by program. Some programs require 100+ level math courses that could be transferable to a four-year institution. Other programs require less than 100 level math courses which would not be transferable to a four-year institution, but which would be the highest math level a student would need to complete in order to earn a degree or certificate.
8. Why
was only developmental math used in the model and not developmental writing?
Lane has recently (spring/summer of 2007) revised not only the writing test score processes, but also the instruments themselves. These changes were made to more accurately place students in writing classes.
Because the model requires four years of analysis from the initial cohort, the first cohorts to be analyzed were F00, F01, F02 and F03. The model could not accurately reflect the outcomes analysis of the groups using writing test scores and subsequent completion of writing classes before Summer/Fall of 2007. Since the math test scores have been stable over this time period, only math test scores were used.
The Fall 2007 cohort would be the first cohort for which writing test scores could be used to determine in which of the four groups each student belonged: 1) students who were college-ready at first enrollment, 2) students needing developmental math who completed all developmental math requirements, 3) students yet to complete their developmental math requirements and 4) all students in the cohort. The Fall 2007 cohort would be scheduled to be analyzed after four years had passed (after Spring 2011).
9.
What determines whether a math course is remedial or not remedial?
Since the highest math level required for each program varies from MTH 020 to MTH 111, how is it determined in which group students belong: the degree-ready group, the group who had completed remedial math or the group who had not completed remedial math?
While the initial cohort is not defined by a student's self-declared major (but rather by the number of credits taken within two years of initial enrollment), the majors of the cohort students were subsequently taken into account to determine in which analysis group each student belonged.
For example, program 'x' might require MTH 95. Students declaring program 'x' would be considered not degree-ready if they tested below MTH 95. If they completed lower level math classes to enable enrollment into MTH 95, then they were determined to be in the group of 'not degree-ready, developmental completers.' If they had not completed lower level math classes to enable enrollment into MTH 95, then they were determined to be in the group of 'not degree-ready, not developmental completers.'
As another example, program 'y' might require MTH 111.
A student declaring program 'x' and who tested into MTH 95 would be considered degree-ready. That same student declaring program 'y' and who tested into MTH 95 would be considered not degree-ready.
10.
What happens if a student did not take a math placement test or a student
declared an unknown or undecided major?
Since math test scores and program declaration were essential to determining in which group a student was placed, students were excluded from the cohort if they had not taken a math placement test or had not declared a program for which there was a specified math requirement (e.g. unknown or undecided majors).
11.
When was the Degree Progress and Success Analysis first completed?
In
12.
Is the Degree Progress Analysis a part of state accountability reporting?
The Maryland Council of Community College Chief Executive
Officers endorsed the Degree Progress Analysis and other proposed changes to
the state-mandated Performance Accountability Report on September 16, 2005. The
first Performance Accountability Reports incorporating indicators based on the
Degree Progress Analysis were submitted to the Commission July 1, 2006. The
analysis will be required in
The
13.
What are the data elements in the model?
Data Elements Worksheet for Fall Entering Cohort: All
Students
|
Line |
# |
% |
Degree
Progress and Success |
Notes |
|
1. |
|
|
First-time-any-college fall headcount (full- and
part-time) |
Includes
full- and part-time students. |
|
2. |
|
|
Number attempting fewer than 27 quarter credits over
first 2 years |
Hours
attempted include hours in developmental courses if offered for credit. |
|
3. |
|
100% |
Cohort for analysis (Line
1 - Line 2) |
The
denominator for all the percentages reported below. |
|
4. |
|
|
Earned Associate degree from |
Associates
degree earned at this community college (first college attended). |
|
5. |
|
|
Earned certificate, but no degree, from |
Certificate,
but no degree, earned at this community college (first college attended). |
|
6. |
|
|
Total Associate and certificate graduates (Line 4 + Line 5) |
Total
unduplicated award earners at this community college. |
|
7. |
|
|
Transferred to |
Lane Transfer Student System merged with National
Student Clearinghouse files. |
|
8. |
|
|
Transferred to |
Lane Transfer Student System merged with National
Student Clearinghouse files. |
|
9. |
|
|
Transferred to |
Lane Transfer Student System merged with National
Student Clearinghouse files. |
|
10. |
|
|
Transferred to out-of-state two year/technical
college |
National Student Clearinghouse transfer data. |
|
11. |
|
|
Transferred to out-of-state four-year college or
university |
National Student Clearinghouse transfer data. |
|
12. |
|
|
Total transfers (unduplicated
Lines 7 - 11) |
Unduplicated since student may attend 2 or more
transfer institutions. If a student transferred to both a two-year and a
four-year in the first transfer semester, report the four-year school. |
|
13. |
|
|
Graduated and transferred both (those in both Line 6 and Line 12) |
Graduated from |
|
14. |
|
|
Graduated or transferred {(Line
6 + Line 12) - Line 13} |
Unduplicated students who either graduated from Lane
or transferred. |
|
15. |
|
|
No award or transfer, but 45 quarter credits with
GPA ≥ 2.00 |
Minimum
cumulative 45 credits earned at this college (original institution). |
|
16. |
|
|
Successful transition to higher ed (Line 14 + Line 15) |
Have
earned 45 credits with 2.0 GPA or graduated from this college, or
transferred. |
|
17. |
|
|
Enrolled at original institution last term of study
period |
Excludes
students included in Line 16. |
|
18. |
|
|
Successful or persisting (Line
16 + Line 17) |
|
The above worksheet is completed for 4 groups: 1) students who were college-ready at entry, 2) students needing developmental math who completed all developmental math requirements, 3) students yet to complete their developmental math requirements and 4) all students in the cohort.