Measuring College Success

VIDEO BY: Ajinur Setiwaldi

Data from Complete College America 

The University of Oklahoma may see a decline in graduation rates as result of the U.S. Department of Education's plan to broaden graduation rate reporting to include students who have previously been factored out of the equation.

Students who are traditionally not included in these measurements are nearly 75 percent of all undergraduates nationally, according to a Washington Post article by higher education reporter ,Daniel de Vise.

Current measurement standards excludes a substantial portion of students by requiring institutions to track graduation rates for full-time, first-time students, according to a press release by the Department of Education. The new measure “Action Plan for Improving Measures of Post-secondary Success” was created to accurately demonstrate how college students are preparing students for success in different ways, according to the press release.

The current system of measurement is problematic because it doesn’t accurately reflect the multiple factors that play into graduation rates, OU political Science professor Alisa Fryar said.

Fryar has been researching student success in higher education with a four year grant she received in 2008. OU's graduation rates is not an accurate measure of college success, Fryar said.

“Any statistic we have using first-time full-time freshmen is likely higher than the truth,” Fryar said.

OU is a four-year public college, yet it uses six year graduation rates to refer to student success, Fryar said. Even if we consider six year graduation rates to be on time, a significant portion of the student population isn't making it into the equation, Fryar said.

OU's six year graduation rates for the first-time full-time degree seeking freshmen cohort of 2005 is 67.8 percent, according to OU's 2012 Factbook. A little over 35 percent of the first-time full-time degree seeking students of 2005 graduated in four years, according to the OU Factbook.

OU's six year graduation rate with the current measurement is the highest in Oklahoma, according to Complete College America. It's higher than the national average rate of 55.5 percent, according to 2009 data from the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems.

According to that report, the state of Oklahoma has a graduation rate of 44 percent. Oklahoma ranks 42nd in the United States in terms of six year graduation rates, according to the NCHEMS.

“Behind the numbers we are masking a lot of other issues,” Fryar said.

Four-year and six-year graduation rates don't carefully consider part time students, transfer students, students who decide to change majors or study abroad and others who face a number of issues moving towards graduation, Fryar said. The numbers don't tell us much in terms of what challenges students face trying to achieve success in college, she said.

“Students have different struggles,” Fryar said.

Galen Buttitta, a astrophysics and linguistics junior, said he had to give up his four year graduation plan after having to change majors. Buttitta said he will graduate in six years because of his major change.

“I'm going to be here for a while,” Buttitta said.

Katie Trivitt, a mathematics freshman, said she has a four year graduation plan. Trivitt said that while she plans to study abroad a semester, she is going to take advantage of all the resources at OU to stay on track.

It's hard to stay on track when you can't control the system of obstacles, mechanical engineering junior, Phillip Baker, said. Baker is graduating a year later than expected because he had to wait a year to take a class offered only once a year, he said.

The new system may be able to better measure the success of students like Buttitta and Baker and still include rates for students like Trivitt who plan to graduate in four-years, Fryar said.

“It's going to be messy,” Fryar said. “But if they are able to do it, it's going to give us a better measure.”

The key to measuring college success and increasing graduation rates is about careful oversight and ongoing communication among policy makers, university officials and students to figure out what needs to happen, Fryar said.

Sources:
Alisa Fryar
Political science professor
(405) 397 7697
ahicklin@ou.edu

Katie Trivitt
OU student
katie.trivitt@ou.edu

Phillip Baker
OU student
Phillip.A.Baker-1@ou.edu

OU Factbook
http://www.ou.edu/provost/ir/Factbook_2012/Factbook12_TofC.htm

National Center for Higher Education Management Systems
HigherEdInfo.org : graduation rates

Complete College America : completecollege.org

U.S. Department of Education Press Release
http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/education-department-releases-action-plan-improve-measures-postsecondary-success

Article by Daniel de Vise
Higher education reporter at Washington Post
Author of College Inc. blog
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/college-inc/post/college-grad-rates-are-bad-data/2012/01/26/gIQAfmdKTQ_blog.html

Dog therapists relieve student stress

"A New Leash on Life" visits the Bizzell Memorial Library with therapy dogs.  PHOTO BY: Ajinur Setiwaldi

Three certified therapists visited the Bizzell Memorial Library Tuesday morning with a mission to spread love and good cheer to the stressed students preparing for finals. But Katie, Sunny and Jack aren't your typical therapists. They are canines certified by New Leash On Life Inc.

The dogs visited the University of Oklahoma on the invitation of Darin Fox, the director of OU's law library. They have visited the law library before, but this is their first time visiting Bizzell Library, Michelle Traw, a member of New Leash on Life Inc.,  said. 

New Leash on Life Inc is an Oklahoma-based organization that works to change people's lives by developing the special ability of service dogs, therapy dogs and rescued pets, according to organization's website. Volunteers and their certified therapy dogs serve as ambassadors of good cheer -- visiting homes, assisted living centers, hospitals and schools, according to the organization's website.

The idea is to get students' minds of their finals and get them to relax by having fun with our therapy dogs, Traw said. 

The friendly canines provide some stress relief to students stressed about their final exams and missing their own pets, Fox said. The therapy dogs are especially beneficial to law students who spend weeks reading thousands of pages to prepare for their final exams, Fox said. 

Fox said he invited several therapy dogs and their owners to the law library during finals week. 

"It's really intense and stressful," Fox said. "The dogs give them a little stress reduction."

 Michelle Traw and her therapy dog, Jack, were among the three teams present at Bizzell Library today. The therapy dog program was added to the organization in 2008 under the direction of Traw, according to organization's website. 

The therapy dogs visit over 22 facilities on a regular basis, Traw said. They visit elementary schools and get kids to read to dogs, she said. 

"We get a lot of positive feedback," Traw said. 

Fox said if student responses continue to be positive, he will invite the therapy dogs back to campus next semester.  

Sources:

Michelle Traw

organization phone: 405-2247715

Darin Fox

Director of Law Library

darinfox@ou.edu

Organization website
newleashinc.org