A conversation about transfer students

Rick AdrionPI CAITEPI ECEP

ECEP History & Context• 2 successful regional alliances (CAITE & Georgia

Computes!)– NSF asked us to think about how to become a

national resource• High-Level Plan

• Refine and integrate CAITE & Georgia Computes! interventions and practices

• Take to other states & regions (partners, associates, others through CSTA & STARS) • Our experiences, practices and out comes• Those of our “experts bureau”

Background• Georgia Computes!

– Summer camps (Girl Scouts , YWCA, Cool Girls. general) & after-school programs

– Teach HS teachers how to teach computing– Workshops on new approaches to motivate computing education and Train-

the-Trainers for USG to replicate• CAITE

– Pathways (recruiting, retention, advising, alignment, institutional change) within 15 public institutions (9 CCs) focused on community colleges in underserved regions

– Regional outreach (community colleges, school districts, Boys & Girls clubs, Girls Inc., Citizen Schools, FIRST Robotics, BATEC, TechHub, NE-LSAMP, UM-LSAMP, NEAGEP, ...)

– Teacher Professional Development • Both tightly integrated with evaluation

Questions• how is HE in GA organized?

– 2-year TCSG -> workforce oriented? CTE?– 2-year USG -> workforce oriented? CTE?

transfer?– Access schools?– Do 4-year schools offer AS/AA degrees?– How do 2-year certificates differ from degrees

Articulation• common course numbering?• course equivalencies?• guaranteed admission?• transfer offfices?• transfer pathways?

– What are the patterns of transfer?

What are your goals?

What I found

Does this suggest that increasing diversity is not a primary goal?

What I found

A different view

What I found

Does this suggest that TCSG is a target rather than USG 2-year grads?

What I found

Again is TCSG a target? But what about women?

Associate degree programs in USG & TCSG

Does this indicate the difficulty of supporting transfer?

USG Institutions

Research Universities

State Universities

Regional Universities

State Colleges

Two-Year Colleges

1,850 5,976

2,041

5,037

6,805

11,833 482

1786,263

2,061

1,083 1,731

In-State non-USG/OOS

4,412 4,552224 127

532

61

33,122 3,733

What I found - Transfers

Does this suggest that increasing articulation within USG is a target?

NCWIT job GA projections

These data suggest that production falls short of demand?

GA Pathways• GAcollege411 – students, parents, advisors site for college prep. Info• General education transfer between USG institutions• University System of Georgia (USG) and Technical College System of

Georgia (TCSG)– Complete College Georgia, 2012

• Articulation Agreement between systems (January, 2012)• AS degree articulation (new degrees)• General education course transfer

• Georgia Transfer Articulation Cooperative Services (GAtracs) – Transfer student portal

• Regents Approve 17 General Education Courses for Transfer to Support Complete College Goals - March 14, 2012

Complete College Georgia• Goal:To increase

the percentage of Georgians who hold high quality college credentials to 60 per cent by 2020.

• Why?

Equity and broader workforce

The National Picture

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), Spring 2011, Enrollment component.

Jobs Held by level of degree

Community College roles• Career Technical Education CTE

– connected to Perkins Act HS CTE programs• Life Long Learning

– Skill Enhancement– Individual Interests– Dual Enrollment

• "Junior College" (Transfer)• Developmental Courses

– GED– Poor K12 preparation– 2nd Chances Survey of CC student intentions

Source NCES

Diversity in enrollment

Source: NCES 2010 Digest of Educational Statistics Table 236

Issues• Gatekeeper vs. Gateway• Awareness of opportunities• CTE vs. transfer• Financial Incentives• Academic Incentives• Institutional agents• Mentoring and retention• Curricular Alignment

Institutional agents2-year Institution 4-year Institution Issues• Faculty member • Academic Counselor• Admissions Counselor• Special program director

from a 4-year institution • Tutoring center director • College dean from a 4-year

institution• Special program director• Academic dean from a 4-

year institution• Academic dean • Peers advisors (academic

advisors)

• Peer advisor (orientation program)

• Special program director• University advisor• Peer mentor (residence

hall advisor)• Faculty advisor• Special program dean• Faculty member• Provost

• through the first semester or year at the community college wondering what they were doing there

• felt overpowered by the sheer physicality of the 4-year campus

• plagued by feelings of doubt as to whether they belonged at college, particularly at a selective institution

• many had been told explicitly or implicitly in HS that they were not “college material.”

Source: Dowd, A. C., Pak, J. H., & Bensimon, E. M. (2013). The role of institutional agents in promoting transfer access.Education Policy Analysis Archives, 21(15).

CCG: Create a Cadre of Champions• On Campus

– Administration? – Faculty? – Students? – Student Affairs?

• State and Regional – Political leadership? – Employers? – Non-profits/

foundations? – Community/

advocacy groups? – Faith-based?

Transfer SAI-Four-Year College Version

(1) Recruitment, admission, and orientation services;

(2) Financial aid; (3) Personnel; (4) Publicity and public statements; (5) Institutional transfer policies and practices; (6) Partnerships and collaboration with

community colleges; (7) Barriers to transfer access; (8) Institutional mission

http://cue.usc.edu/assests/CUE_Transfer_Access-Self_Assessment_Inventory_4Year.pdf

Transfer SAI-Two-Year College Version

(1) Transfer counseling services for students; (2) Financial support for students seeking to

transfer to selective four-year institutions; (3) Personnel; (4) Publicity and public statements; (5) Institutional transfer policies and practices; (6) Partnerships and collaboration with

selective four-year institutions; (7) Barriers to transfer access; (8) Institutional missionhttp://cue.usc.edu/assests/CUE_Transfer_Access_Self_Assessment_Inventory_2Year.pdf

Assessing Pathways

WHAT CAITE DID

Supporting College Transitions: HS-CC/4YR and CC-4YR• Goals:

–Increase the interest, enrollment and retention in computing programs

–Promote CC pathways, both transfer & CTE

–Increase the transfers to and retention in 4YR colleges

Supporting College Transitions: HS-CC/4YR and CC-4YR

• Strategies– Outreach to underserved communities (via CC

regions), using the CAITE network (career fairs, open houses)

– Develop pathway support infrastructure (advising, information, mentoring, targeted programs)

– Address articulation, alignment, program/course equivalency

~230Miles

~325Miles

~150Miles

~52Miles

USG = 33 InstitutionsTCSG = 26 institutionsServe 79% of total students

UMass = 5 campusesState Universites = 7 + 2CC = 15 + 1Serve 43% of total Students

How can this work in GA? Some comparisons

College Enrollments

More comparisons• 86% of ~81K GA recent HS grads going to

college enrolled in GA HE; 85% of all GA residents who were freshmen attended college in their home state.

• GA has 132 incolleges and universities –27 Public 4-year institutions–40 Public 2-year institutions–32 Private 4-year institutions, nonprofit–2 Private 2-year institutions, nonprofit–18 Private 4-year institutions, for-profit–13 Private 2-year institutions, for-profit

• 59% of ~64K recent MA HS grads going to college enrolled in MA HE; 67% of all MA residents who were freshmen attended college in their home state.

• MA has 124 colleges and universities:–14 Public 4-year institutions–16 Public 2-year institution–80 Private 4-year institutions, nonprofit–3 Private 2-year institutions, nonprofit–7 Private 4-year institutions, for-profit–4 Private 2-year institutions, for-profit

CAITE Pathways: Increasing Interest• Introducing the opportunities

–Career fairs, transfer fairs, open houses, CC days

–Information resources–Working in CC “draw” areas–Reaching college counselors, teachers–In many underserved regions, a community college is the expected pathway, but•Perhaps only to a job•And CC pathways are not promoted by HS counselors

BCC

UM D

BSU

CCCC

How might this work in GA?

Promoting Community Colleges• Our partner BATEC

– Close connection with industry and industry needs– 4YR pathways for CTE and transfer students

• MassTransfer– programs with the full transfer of credit, guaranteed admission, and a

tuition discount– Potential for a STEM block

• Community College Connection– priority review of application, transfer credits, financial need; on-

campus housing; priority advising and course registration• ABLE4STEM

– 2 components: 1) establishing course-specific "2+2" articulation agreements for the entry of associate of science graduates of CCs into STEM majors at UMass and 2) "reverse transfer" of credits to community colleges for AS degree completion by CC students who enter UMass

"Go to the Front of the Line"

ABLE4STEM @ UMASS

CC Pathways: Enabling Successful Transfer

• Transfer Summits, Regional Meetings, Faculty visits & IT4U–Renew articulation agreements and equivalencies

–Develop Roadmaps to Transfer

–Build on MassTransfer–Increase awareness

Transfer & Regional Summits, Portals

CCG Summit in Feb 2013 organized regional WG; can AACCD do this too?

Can AACCD create a portal or leverage GACollege411?

CC Pathways: Enrollment & Retention

• Builds on the Transfer effort– Articulation, alignment, equivalency and pathway

support – Alternative pathways

• (e.g., CTECS/IT program at UMB)• Enhanced by

– Strengthening programs (joint/shared offerings)– Mentoring at both CC and 4YR– Incentives (financial aid, housing, registration)

TCSGUSG, or USG USG CS/IT alignment: articulation, course equivalencies, roadmaps or alternative pathways?

TCSGUSG, or USG USG CS/IT financial/academic incentives

Some examples; Source: Complete College America

Guided Pathways to Success• Whole Programs of Study

• Students choose coherent programs, not random, individual courses.

• Informed Choice• Choice becomes more informed,

deliberate, and simpler.• No wasted credits

• All courses count toward degrees.

• Default pathways• Students remain on their chosen

path unless given approval to change.

• Intrusive, on-time advising• Academic advising is intrusive,

just in time, efficient, and cost effective.

GPS is something that CCG is promoting

CAITE's CC Pathway Successes• CAITE is contributing to both growing and increasing

diversity in enrollments.– The four UMass campuses are seeing a significant increase in CS

enrollments, due in part to an increase in transfer students– Computing-related associate degrees awarded to female

and underrepresented minority students at CAITE partner institutions have increased 29% in CC from 2007 to 2010

– UMass enrollments are increasing at a greater rate than those at comparable institutions nationally. Community college enrollment is up dramatically.

Extra Slides

Some CC4-Year Programs• MassTransfer

http://www.mass.edu/masstransfer/ Community college students who complete associate degrees or any student in the Massachusetts public higher education system who completes the MassTransfer Block (General Education)– Full transfer of credit (up to 60 credits)– Guaranteed admission with GPA 2.5+– Tuition waiver 33% with GPA 3.0+

• UMass Amherst Community College Connectionhttp://www.umass.edu/umccc/ • Designed for community college graduates who participated in Joint Admissions or

MassTransfer programs• Guaranteed admission with a 2.5 or higher cumulative GPA, and you are in good

academic, financial, and disciplinary status at all previously attended colleges• Waiver of in-state tuition with graduation GPA of 3.0 or higher (67%)• Benefits include: priority processing for admission, transfer credit, financial aid,

housing, and course registration

CAITE’s Peer Mentoring (PM) Program• CAITE’s “peer mentor” program utilizes supplemental peer

instruction (SPI), facilitated study groups (FSG), and peer-led team learning (PLTL) models, adapted to each campus.

– Weekly sessions supplement regular class meetings and are led by trained “peer” (student) mentors

– Sessions focus on supplementing and enriching course material. They are free and open to all students in class

Fall 2010 Spring 2011 Fall 2011 TotalUnique Campuses 7 7 8 8Courses supported 10 9 12 31

Course enrollments 600 410 444 1454

Student attendees 147 84 186 417

Participation in CAITE Peer Mentoring, Fall 2010-Fall 2011

Course Performance differences between peer mentoring participants and non-participants*

from -10% to -1% from 0% to 9% from 10% to 19% from 20% to 29% from 30% to 39% from 40% to 49% from 50% to 59%0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7Differences in Pass Rates (participants vs. non-participants)

University Community College

PM Pass Rate - Non-PM Pass Rate

Num

ber o

f Cla

sses

*Data collected between fall 2010 and fall 2011; 29 courses evaluated

ECEP CC Pathway EvaluationIndicator Two: Organizational Capacity

Organization Capacity Evaluation MethodTwo-year colleges

Increased transfer of CS/IT students into 4-year schools

Institutional enrollment and transfer dataInstitutional course performance dataCount of new pathwaysIncreased student retention in CS/IT

Four-year colleges

Increased student retention in CS/IT Institutional enrollment and transfer dataInstitutional course performance dataCount of new pathwaysTrain-the-trainer follow-up surveys

Increased curricular alignment with 2-year schools

✔

✔• Increased pass rates in courses with mentoring• Gathered baseline data on retention in majors and courses, but

difficulties in getting updates due to data collection demands.

✔✔