Category: UCLA

Are we evaluating colleges the right way?

By Sylvia Hurtado (UCLA)

College-completion rates only partially reflect institutional quality, and we have yet to adequately make use of completion information for institutional improvement where it is needed most—with students who are first generation, low income, or are from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. Recent analyses of national data that track full cohorts of freshmen to graduation suggest that completion rates reflect entering-student characteristics and intentions, how students are able to finance college, peer norms associated with enrollment-mobility patterns, and institutional resources. Continue reading “We Have Yet to Use Them Where They Are Needed Most”