Getting to graduation : the completion agenda in higher education

344 Pages·2012·2.24 MB·English

by  Andrew P. Kelly & Mark Schneider (eds.)

getting to graduation
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getting to graduation
The Completion Agenda in Higher Education
Edited by ANDREW P. KELLY ^ MARK SCHNEIDER
The Johns Hopkins University Press
Baltimore
© 2012 The Johns Hopkins University Press
All rights reserved. Published 2012
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Getting to graduation : the completion agenda in higher education / edited by Andrew P.
Kelly and Mark Schneider.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-4214-0622-0 (hdbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4214-0693-0 (elec-
tronic) — ISBN 1-4214-0622-5 (hdbk. : alk. paper) — ISBN 1-4214-0693-4 (electronic)
1. Education, Higher—Aims and objectives—United States. 2. Education and state—
United States. 3. Educational change—United States. 4. Educational attainment—
United States. 5. College graduates—United States. I. Kelly, Andrew P. II. Schneider,
Mark, 1946–
LA227.4.G49 2012
378.73—dc23 2012000019
A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library.
Special discounts are available for bulk purchases of this book. For more information,
please contact Special Sales at 410-516-6936 or [email protected].
The Johns Hopkins University Press uses environmentally friendly book materials, in-
cluding recycled text paper that is composed of at least 30 percent post-consumer waste,
whenever possible.
contents
Acknowledgments vii
Introduction 1
Andrew P. Kelly and Mark Schneider
part one: The Challenges
1 Increasing Higher Education Attainment in the United States:
Challenges and Opportunities 17
Arthur M. Hauptman
2 Graduation Rates at America’s Universities: What We Know and
What We Need to Know 48
Matthew M. Chingos
part two: The Performance and Potential of
Sub-Baccalaureate Programs
3 Can Community Colleges Achieve Ambitious Graduation
Goals? 73
Thomas Bailey
4 Certifi cate Pathways to Postsecondary Success and Good
Jobs 102
Brian Bosworth
5 Apprenticeships as an Alternative Route to Skills and
Credentials 126
Diane Auer Jones
part three: The Relationship between Policy and Completion
6 F inancial Aid: A Blunt Instrument for Increasing Degree
Attainment 157
Eric Bettinger
7 Remediation: The Challenges of Helping Underprepared
Students 175
Bridget Terry Long
8 Equalizing Credits and Rewarding Skills: Credit Portability and
Bachelor’s Degree Attainment 201
Josipa Roksa
part four: The Lessons from Three States
9 The Challenge of Scaling Successful Policy Innovations:
A Case Study of Three Colorado Community College
System Grants 225
Elaine DeLott Baker
10 Efforts to Improve Productivity: The Impact of Higher Education
Reform in Texas 246
Geri Hockfi eld Malandra
11 The Ohio Experience with Outcomes-Based Funding 269
Richard Petrick
Conclusion 293
Andrew P. Kelly and Mark Schneider
List of Contributors 313
Index 321
vi Contents
acknowledgments
Over the past fi ve years the nation has undergone a fundamental reor-
dering of priorities in higher education policy. Previously concerned pri-
marily with access (getting more students through the doors), political
rhetoric and policy debates have now shifted to a focus on completion
(ensuring that more students earn a degree). This rethinking has been
pushed by a number of lofty expectations and goals, including President
Barack Obama’s ambition to produce eight million more degrees by the
year 2020. In the wake of this ambitious agenda change, a number of
questions have been raised about whether our system of higher education
institutions and policies, as currently conceived, is capable of delivering
the dramatic increases in productivity necessary to meet these new goals.
To describe and analyze this challenge, we commissioned new research
from top researchers and policy analysts. The eleven chapters that re-
sulted present an overview of the new challenges and policy issues facing
the nascent “completion agenda” and discuss lessons from several states
that have experimented with various reforms. We believe our contributors
have provided thought-provoking research and arguments that will help
to shape policy debates in the years to come.
The chapters in this volume were initially presented at a research con-
ference at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) in February 2011. We
thank the following discussants for their invaluable feedback from that
conference: Dewayne Matthews, vice president for policy and strategy
at the Lumina Foundation; Travis Reindl, head of postsecondary educa-
tion work for the National Governors Association; Sara Goldrick-Rab,
assistant professor of educational policy studies and sociology at the
University of Wisconsin; Susan Dynarski, associate professor of educa-
tion and public policy at the University of Michigan; Eduardo Ochoa, as-
sistant secretary for postsecondary education at the U.S. Department of
Education; and George Pernsteiner, chancellor of the Oregon University
System. Their thoughtful comments and constructive criticism strength-
ened the volume considerably.
vii
We are grateful for the unwavering support provided by the American
Enterprise Institute and its president, Arthur Brooks. The project would
not have been possible without the generous fi nancial support of The
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and we are deeply indebted to our
program offi cers for their support and guidance throughout.
Thanks also to the staff at AEI, who coordinated the conference and
helped complete and edit this volume. In particular, we would like to
thank Olivia Meeks and Daniel Lautzenheiser for their diligent efforts,
as well as Jenna Talbot and Whitney Downs for their vital assistance.
Finally, we are deeply indebted to the terrifi c team at the Johns Hopkins
University Press, most notably executive editor Jacqueline Wehmueller
and editorial assistant Sara Cleary, who consistently supported and en-
riched our efforts to make this volume a reality.
viii Acknowledgments
Introduction
andrew p. kelly and mark schneider
American higher education, which has long regarded itself as the best
in the world, is in the midst of a dramatic and unprecedented in-
crease in expectations. In his fi rst State of the Union address, in 2010,
President Barack Obama issued a bold challenge to America’s colleges
and universities. “By 2020,” the president told a joint session of Con-
gress, “America will once again have the highest proportion of college
graduates in the world.”1 The president set an ambitious goal: meeting
the challenge will require the production of an additional eight million
degrees by the year 2020. Bill Gates, the country’s best-known college
dropout, set an even more ambitious goal for his foundation, propos-
ing to “double the numbers” of low-income students who earn a college
degree. Meanwhile, the Lumina Foundation for Higher Education is
pursuing its “Big Goal” of “increasing the share of Americans with high-
quality postsecondary degrees and credentials to 60 percent by 2025.”2
These goals represent more than political talking points or an incre-
mental shift in emphasis: they constitute a fundamental rethinking of
priorities in higher education policy. After four decades of a relentless
focus on improving college access, debates about higher education re-
form have shifted to questions of student success and degree completion.
Instead of simply opening the gates to more and more students and then
hoping for the best, the new “completion agenda” calls on institutions
and policymakers to create policies and practices that improve the rate at
which students fi nish their degrees. These goals have placed newfound
emphasis on the idea that institutions of higher education must play a
prominent role in promoting student success and institutional produc-
tivity, and that federal and state policies should emphasize student re-
tention and completion.
In the process of ratcheting up expectations, however, these ambitious
goals have also raised questions about the policy changes necessary to ac-
1