ERIC ED505690: Minnesota Measures: 2009 Report on Higher Education Performance

2009·1.1 MB·English

by  ERIC

Minnesota Measures
2009 Report on Higher Education Performance
“Building Minnesota’s world-leading status in the knowledge
economy requires us to set goals for higher education and
measure results. This report gauges outcomes so we can
focus on strategies for improvement in productivity and
student success.”
– Governor Tim Pawlenty
Acknowledgements
The Office ofHigher Education thanksthe Minnesota State Collegesand Universities,
the UniversityofMinnesota, the Minnesota Private College Counciland the Minnesota
Career College Association for their participation and assistance in thisprocess.
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Table of Contents B
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Introduction ..........................................................................................3 E
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Executive Summary ..............................................................................3 T
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College Readiness and Academic Preparation.........................................................6
Minnesota College Enrollment Overview.............................................................8
Goal1: Improve successofallstudents, particularlystudentsfrom groupstraditionallyunderrepresented
in higher education. ...................................................................................9
College Participation ............................................................................10
1A: What percentage of Minnesota high school graduates enroll in postsecondary education in the
year following graduation?
Retention .....................................................................................12
1B: Are first-time students being retained in the second year?
Graduation Rates ...............................................................................13
1C: How do Minnesota institutions compare on college graduation rates?
Achievement Gap...............................................................................19
1D: Are undergraduates from all racial and ethnic groups enrolling in higher education at equal rates?
1E: Are undergraduates from all racial and ethnic groups completing postsecondary programs at
similar levels?
Goal2: Create a responsive system thatproducesgraduatesatalllevelswho meetthe demands
ofthe economy. ......................................................................................22
Enrollment Rates ...............................................................................23
2A: What are the Minnesota postsecondary enrollment rates by age group?
Online Learning ................................................................................24
2B: AreMinnesota’scolleges and universities meeting the demand for online learning?
DegreeAttainment .............................................................................25
2C: What percentage of the state’s working-age population possess a postsecondary degree?
2D: What is the proportion of undergraduate awards conferred to full-time enrollment?
Programs of Study ..............................................................................29
2E: Are Minnesota’s students choosing programs and majors that lead to occupations in demand?
2F: Are Minnesota students from all racial and ethnic backgrounds choosing programs that lead to
occupations in demand?
Occupational Demand ...........................................................................35
2G: Are Minnesota’s colleges producing graduates to fill high demand and high paying jobs?
Goal3: Increase studentlearning and improve skilllevelsofstudentsso theycan compete effectively
in the globalmarketplace. ............................................................................38
Learning Outcomes Assessment ...................................................................41
3A: How is student learning currently measured through standardized tests at Minnesota
postsecondary institutions?
Student Engagement ............................................................................42
3B: Are Minnesota students fully engaged in the educational process?
Graduate Preparation ...........................................................................45
3C: How areMinnesota postsecondaryinstitutions preparing their graduates for further study?
Continued
MinnesotaMeasures- 2009 1
Certification and Licensure Preparation .............................................................48
3D: How do graduates of Minnesota programs compare to students nationally and in peer states on
certification and licensure exam pass rates?
Preparation for Employment ......................................................................50
3E: How satisfied are Minnesota employers with recent graduates of Minnesota postsecondary institutions?
Goal4: Contribute to the developmentofa state economythatiscompetitive in the globalmarketthrough
research, workforce training and other appropriate means. ...............................................52
Research and Discovery ..........................................................................53
4A: What is Minnesota’s relative position in its national share of academic research?
4B: How does the University of Minnesota compare to other flagship research institutions?
4C: What are the total expenditures on research and development as a proportion of gross
domestic product?
Workforce Development .........................................................................57
4D: What is the activity at Minnesota State Colleges and Universities in customized and contract training?
4E: How areMinnesota postsecondary institutions meeting the workforce training needs of
employers in the state?
Goal5: Provide access, affordabilityand choice for allstudents. ..........................................59
Student Choice .................................................................................60
5A: Wheredo low-income students enroll?
Net Prices......................................................................................61
5B: How do tuition and fees at Minnesota institutions compareto the tuition and fees
at colleges nationally?
Affordability ...................................................................................63
5C: What is the net price of higher education in Minnesota by student and family income?
Borrowing Patterns.............................................................................66
5D: To what extent are Minnesota undergraduates borrowing to finance their education?
NextSteps ...........................................................................................67
Endnotes ............................................................................................68
Appendix: Terms, Definitionsand Data Sources .........................................................69
This document can be made available in alternate formats for people with disabilities.
2 MinnesotaOfficeofHigher Education
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Minnesota Measures R
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Areporton higher education performance
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Executive Summary
Now in its third year, Minnesota institutions in the state”[Minnesota While the state’s higher education
Measuresprovides policymakers and Session Laws 2005]. It is a tool to aid systems and many institutions are
educators with a statewide look at Minnesota policymakers in the actively engaged in implementing
higher education effectiveness in the difficult and important work of accountability measures specific to
context of broad state objectives and providing the vision, identifying their operations, Minnesota Measures
national and international performance priorities and setting goals needed provides a statewide perspective on
comparisons. In challenging economic to move Minnesota forward to lead the postsecondary sector as a whole.
times, Minnesotans have historically in the information age. Comparisons with Big 10 “peer states”,
turned to higher education to upgrade the national average and other
their skills or earn a degree that will Minnesota students and taxpayers countries, where possible, help to
give them an advantage in a contracting value and support higher education. identify broad areas in which
job market. Minnesota’s higher State taxpayers provide more than Minnesota excels and others where
education sector will play a key role $1.3 billion annually to the state’s improvement may be needed.
in the state’s economic recovery, which public colleges, universities and
iswhy the collective effectiveness of financial aid programs. Over the last How were the goals developed?
higher education in Minnesota is so 10years, state lawmakers have In 2005 and 2006, educators,
critical today. approved millions in funding for policymakers, employers and other
capital bonding for construction, leaders were involved in a process
This report is produced in response remodeling and repair of state-owned to identify broad goals and indicators
to legislation passed in 2005 requiring higher education facilities. In addition, of success. Five goals emerged, which
the Minnesota Office of Higher Minnesota students and their families serve as the framework for this report.
Education to “develop and implement pay tuition and fees to institutions across In 2009, the Office of Higher Education
aprocess to measureand reporton the state with an expectation, in will invite public discussions on each of
the effectiveness of postsecondary return, of academic quality and value. the goals and corresponding indicators.
GOALONE Improve successofallstudents, particularlystudentsfrom groupstraditionally
underrepresented in higher education.
GOALTWO Create a responsive system thatproducesgraduatesatalllevelswho meetthe
demandsofthe economy.
GOALTHREE Increase studentlearning and improve skilllevelsofstudentsso theycan compete
effectivelyin the globalmarketplace.
GOALFOUR Contribute to the developmentofa state economythatiscompetitive in the global
marketthrough research, workforce training and other appropriate means.
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GOALFIVE Provide access, affordabilityand choice for allstudents. iv
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MinnesotaMeasures- 2009 3
Executive Summary, continued
The Good News • Economicresponsiveness: Areas of Concern
Minnesota is a leader among states in Minnesota’s higher education Feedback received from policymakers
many areas important to the state’s sector is responding to employment from the first two editions of
vitality, workforce and quality of life. demand in many critical and Minnesota Measuresin 2007 and
growing fields by producing 2008 pointed to a need for more
• College participation:Nearly graduates to fill high demand/high specific identification of areas where
seven out of 10 Minnesota high paying occupations identified by the performance is low and improvements
school graduates are enrolling Minnesota Department of are needed in Minnesota postsecondary
directly in college following Employment and Economic institutions.
graduation. The rate at which high Development through 2016. In a
school graduates enroll directly in 2008 survey of Minnesota employers • College readinessand
college is known as the college conducted for the Minnesota Office preparation gap:Vast disparities
participation rate. In Minnesota, of Higher Education, 96 percent of persist in the academic achievement
68.4 percent of high school employers rated the employment among groups of high school
graduates enroll within the year preparation of Minnesota college students. On average, low-income
following graduation, the ninth graduates as either good (77 percent) students and students who are
highest participation rate in the or very good (19 percent). Black, American Indian or Hispanic
country. This rate, when considered posted dramatically lower-than-
with Minnesota’s nation-leading • Participation in learning average scores on Minnesota
high school graduation rate, assessments:On measures of Comprehensive Assessments as well
demonstrates that high school student learning, many public and as the ACT college entrance exam.
graduates are navigating the high private institutions are implementing The ACT is taken voluntarily by
school to college transition with learning assessments and surveys to about 70 percent of high school
some degree of success. The state’s gauge the value added by higher students, all of whom presumably
participation rate has increased education. For example, the have college aspirations. As
slowly but steadily over the last Minnesota State Colleges and Minnesota grows increasingly more
15 years. Universities system, which enrolls diverse, effectively addressing this
more than half the undergraduates achievement gap becomes an
• Educationalattainment: in Minnesota, began requiring its urgent moral and economic
Minnesota leads the nation and institutions to conduct a standardized imperative.
many developed countries in the survey of student engagement at
percentage of its population with least biennially in 2008. National While not directly accountable
an associate degree or higher. discussions on the importance of for the readiness of high school
For the period 2005 through 2007, learning assessment and how best graduates, Minnesota’s public and
39.9 percent of adults 18 to 64 years to accomplish this task areongoing. private colleges are increasingly
old possessed an associate degree These may someday lead to the identifying ways to reach out to the
or higher, the fourth highest availability of widespread learning K-12 system in general and partner
percentage among states. As a and engagement outcomes for with local middle and high schools
regional economic hub, the Twin Minnesota institutions that can in particular to improve academic
Cities metropolitan area has be compared nationally and rigor and college awareness.
traditionally drawn degree holders internationally.
from other states, contributing to
the educational attainment level
of Minnesota residents.
4 MinnesotaOfficeofHigher Education
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• College completion for • Affordable college options:
studentsofcolor:Three years Minnesota’s gross and net tuition
ofdata suggest students of color and fees were higher than the
(particularly Hispanic, American national average for most public
Indian and Black students) are and private institutions. The net
completing two- and four-year price of attending college plays
degrees at lower rates than their acritical role in understanding
White counterparts. This is true at student access and is reflected in
both two- and four-year colleges. the college choices students make.
For example, 56 percent of White Minnesota undergraduates from
students initially enrolled at two- families with annual incomes less
year colleges either graduated or than $30,000 were much more likely
transferred to another institution to attend public two-year institutions
after three years, compared with than any other option; students
33 percent of American Indian, from families with annual incomes
44 percent of Black and 35 percent of $60,000 or morewere more likely
of Hispanic students. The remainder to enroll in private colleges and the
neither completed nor transferred. University of Minnesota. This and
This and other data suggest the other enrollmentpatterns suggest
achievement gap persists into that price is driving college choices
postsecondary education and and may be limiting program and
solutions to improve student college options for low-income
success rates are needed. students.
• Productivityand completion
rates:Learning for the sake of
learning is important; but for
degree-seeking students, program
completion is what matters. Among
states, Minnesota’s three-year, four-
year and six-year graduation rates
areat the national average. While
graduation rates as calculated at
the federal level arealess-than-
perfect measureof productivity,
the rate is widely and consistently
used by colleges and national
organizations. An alternative
measure of degree completion –
awards conferred as a proportion
of full-time enrollment – confirms
aneed to focus on getting students
through to degree completion.
Minnesota’spublic and private
colleges have focused on degree
completion in recent years, and E
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improvements in the state’s e
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graduation and related measures u
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are expected to improve in the iv
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MinnesotaMeasures- 2009 5
College Readiness and
ReadingGrade10 ReadingGrade10
Academic Preparation
MinnesotaComprehensive MinnesotaComprehensive
Assessment Assessment
The effectiveness of the higher ResultsbyIncome2008 ResultsbyRace/Ethnicity2008
education sector depends, in part, MinnesotaPublicSchools MinnesotaPublicSchools
on the preparation of new students
entering the state’s colleges and
universities directly out of high school. 100% 100%
Students completing more rigorous
48% 36% 42%
courses in core academic subjects in 48% 58%
high school consistently score higher 80% 71% 78% 71%
50% 50%
on standardized tests and college
64% 58%
entrance assessments. These students 52% 52% 42%
are more likely to participate and 20% 29% 22% 29%
succeed in college. 0% 0%
Low Notlow All
Tawcaod eemxaimc s trreesnuglttsh isll uasntdra wtee athkenesses (i1n8c,o1m06e) (i4n6c,o9m83e) (s6t5u,d0e8n9t)s AmericanIndian Asian Black Hispanic White Allstudents
of Minnesota high school students: Meetsorexceedsstandards Meetsorexceedsstandards
the Minnesota Comprehensive Doesnotorpartiallymeetsstandards Doesnotorpartiallymeetsstandards
Assessments and the ACT exam.
Note:Lowincomestudentsareeligibleforfreeor
reducedpricelunch.Familiesareeligiblebasedon
incomeandfamilysize.
Source:MinnesotaDepartmentofEducation Source:MinnesotaDepartmentofEducation
Minnesota Comprehensive
Assessments
Minnesota Comprehensive Assessments MathematicsGrade11 MathematicsGrade11
measurestudent progress toward MinnesotaComprehensive MinnesotaComprehensive
Minnesota’sacademic standards for Assessment Assessment
K-12 education. All public school ResultsbyIncome2008 ResultsbyRace/Ethnicity2008
students in grades three through eight MinnesotaPublicSchools MinnesotaPublicSchools
take reading and mathematics
assessments. Students in grade 10 take
reading assessments and students in 100% 100%
16% 11% 8% 14%
grade 11 take mathematics 40% 34% 31% 38% 34%
assessments.
50% 50% 86%
The statewide results of public high
85% 60% 66% 89% 69% 92% 62% 66%
school students in 2008 indicate
71 percent were meeting the minimum
competency standards set by the 0% 0%
Mrine aimndnainetgsho awtane dDr ee3 p4e sappretemrccieeannllytt oianfc umEtdeau tfhcoa.r tG ilooanwp si-n (i1n4Lc,oo3mw77e) (Ni4no6ct,o6lmo2w5e) (s6t1uA,d0lle0n2t)s AmericanIndian Asian Black Hispanic White Allstudents
income students and students of color. Meetsorexceedsstandards Meetsorexceedsstandards
About 25 percent of public high school Doesnotorpartiallymeetsstandards Doesnotorpartiallymeetsstandards
students were low income and about
Note:Lowincomestudentsareeligibleforfreeor
20 percent were students of color.
reducedpricelunch.Familiesareeligiblebasedon
incomeandfamilysize.
Source:MinnesotaDepartmentofEducation Source:MinnesotaDepartmentofEducation
6 MinnesotaOfficeofHigher Education
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ACT College Entrance Exam ACT has developed college readiness N
Minnesota’s high school graduates benchmarks in each of the four testing
posted the highest average areas of its college entrance exams.
composite score in the nation among Based on ACT research, these
states where more than 50 percent benchmarks define the score needed to
of students took the ACT. The mean have a 75 percent chance of earning a
score was 22.6 out of a possible 36. grade of ‘C’ or better in related college-
Almost 69 percent of Minnesota level courses. Less than one-third of
high school graduates took the ACT. Minnesota’s ACT test takers were
While Minnesota had the highest academically prepared to succeed in all
average composite score in the four subject areas: college-level English,
nation, a significant proportion of social science, algebra and biology.
high school graduates were not Minnesota students of color and low-
prepared for college-level work, income test takers were less college
according to ACT. ready overall than white students.
MinnesotaACTTest-TakersMeetingCollegeReadiness
BenchmarksSetbyACT2007
100%
78%
62%
50% 57% 56% 56%
44%
35% 35%
31%
16%
0%
English(18) Algebra(22) SocialScience(21) Biology(24) AllSubjects
CollegeReadySubject
Lowincometesttakers
Alltesttakers
Note:Lowincometest-takershadanannualfamilyincomeoflessthan$30,000.Elevenpercent,or4,668testtakers,
werelowincome.MinimumACTscoreneededtomeetcollegereadinessshowninparenthesisincollegesubjectarea.
Source:ACT
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MinnesotaACTTest-TakersMeetingCollegeReadinessBenchmarksSetbyACTbyRace/Ethnicity2008 g
e
R
ACTPercentCollegeReadybyACTScorein: e
a
d
EnglishComposition: SocialScience: CollegeAlgebra Biology: i
n
scoreof18or scoreof21or scoreof22or scoreof24or AllFour e
s
higherinEnglish higherinreading higherinmath higherinscience SubjectAreas s
a
Allstudents 77% 64% 56% 40% 32% n
d
AmericanIndian 64% 58% 38% 23% 18%
A
c
Asian 55% 41% 41% 25% 19% a
d
Black 38% 26% 16% 9% 5% e
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Hispanic 59% 50% 34% 22% 17% ic
P
White 81% 67% 59% 42% 34% r
e
p
Note:Thedatainthistablearefrom2008whereasthechartabovepresents2007ACTdata. a
Source:ACT ra
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MinnesotaMeasures- 2009 7
Minnesota College
Enrollment Overview
An overview of who enrolls in
Minnesota postsecondary institutions
and student characteristics provides a
context for the indicators throughout
the report. In fall 2007, there were
397,059 students enrolled in all types of
MinnesotaUndergraduateEnrollmentby
Minnesota postsecondary institutions.
TypeofInstitution2007
• Three-quarters of all students were
enrolled in undergraduate programs. 120
ds)
n
• Undergraduates enrolled at four- ousa100
h
t 80
year institutions tended to be (in 5,972
age 24 or younger and enrolled nts 60 119,326 19,709 16,668
e
d
full-time. ofStu 40 59,376 46,387 49,277 4,708
er 20
• Two-year institutions had larger mb 24,408
u
N 0
numbers of undergraduates age
2Syte5uaadrn eidnn stotsi ltodufet rico oenlnosr roi nell nehrdiog plhleaedrrt natutim mtweb.oe-rs Statecolleges2-year Stateuniversities UniversityofMinnesota Private4-yearcolleges Privatecareerschools
than four-year institutions.
Graduate
Undergraduate
• Students of color were 10 percent
of all undergraduates. Source:MinnesotaOfficeofHigherEducation
MinnesotaUndergraduateEnrollmentbyAge MinnesotaUndergraduateEnrollment
andEnrollmentStatusFall2007 byRace/EthnicityandEnrollmentStatusFall2007
150 120
ds) ds)
n n
usa120 10,797 usa100
o o
th th 80
nts(in 90 nts(in 60 102,123
ude 60 18,776 113,749 ude
ofSt 35,702 ofSt 40 53,773 41,212
umber 30 50,489 22,199 13,308 umber 20 11,247 11,371 12,989 14,359
N 0 6,617 N 0 2,779
Full-time Part-time Full-time Part-time Full-time Part-time Full-time Part-time
2-year 4-year 2-year 4-year
Age25andolder White
Age24andyounger Studentsofcolor
Source:MinnesotaOfficeofHigherEducation Source:MinnesotaOfficeofHigherEducation
8 MinnesotaOfficeofHigher Education