This week, colleges and universities across the country conclude another season of commencements and celebrate the remarkable achievement of our graduates. There may be no better moment to observe this significant disconnect: a number of students who crossed the stage at MCC’s ceremony and at every other institution will not be counted as official graduates within the framework established by the US Department of Education. They hear their names called; they receive diplomas; but they do not count.
Why? The federal graduation rate is focused on students who begin and complete at the same institution within 150% of degree length. For two-year colleges, this is three years. If students transfer and then complete, they are not counted. If students complete after year three, they are not counted. Do we celebrate them? Yes. By every standard we set and value, they are successful. But, they are not counted.
To many of us in higher education, this seems absurd. If we are truly focused on helping students achieve their academic and career goals, the measure should be student-based, not institution-based. The two- and four-year degree timeline reflects an era when most college students were unencumbered 18 year olds enrolled full time. Today’s “traditional” student is yesterday’s “nontraditional” student: part-time, non-residential, older, and attending multiple colleges (occasionally at the same time). In other words, the data measure reflects neither the mission of higher education nor the reality of students served.
The Student Achievement Measure (SAM) has launched a campaign, #CountAllStudents, to urge the US Department of Education to be more inclusive in their assessment of student outcomes. According to SAM (of which MCC is an inaugural member), 65% of students starting full-time at community colleges in fall 2009 had graduated (30%), transferred (30%), or were still enrolled (5%) at the end of six years. SAM found that 200,000 of these students were not counted by the federal graduation rate. To put that in perspective, it is equivalent to not counting 87 MCC graduation classes.
SAM participants agree to make their data public. You can find MCC’s data here <
https://studentachievementmeasure.org/participants/193326> . It shows that a more inclusive, six-year measure of MCC student achievement yields a success rate of 68%. That’s considerably higher than a three-year graduation rate of about 23%.
We all know the stories of students whose success has simply not been counted. The single parent who has never wavered from her degree path but has had several stop-out semesters that delayed her graduation. The student veteran whose service in the reserves has pushed out his completion. The honors student who transferred early, received a significant scholarship, and completed a bachelor’s but never an associates. I encourage you to encourage them to share their stories <
https://studentachievementmeasure.org/countallstudents/?p=80> on the SAM #CountAllStudents site.
Their success matters. It should count.
Do you know a student whose achievement should be counted? Share their story in the comments section of the
blog.