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I’ve been lucky to spend the past day and a half in London. During this time, I’ve learned a few things, made some new friends, and enjoyed some delicious meals. Although my breakfast this morning wasn’t a true Full English, it certainly left me feeling that way. But what did I read at the table?
The old community college try
Community colleges are the true workhorses of U.S. higher education, offering vital access, skills training, and pathways to four-year institutions. However, assessing their performance through conventional metrics can be challenging. According to IPEDS data, the graduation rate for two-year institutions is just over 28%, compared to a rate in the high 50% range for four-year institutions.
Part of the issue lies in how IPEDS collects data, which doesn’t align well with the student populations that community colleges primarily serve or the ways these institutions operate. IPEDS measures student success by tracking first-time, full-time students who enter in the fall and earn a degree or certificate. Yet, many community college students are part-time, they enroll at multiple points in the year, are not first-time higher education attendees, and many have a goal of transferring to a four-year institution rather than finishing up at the college where they started. These students are either excluded from the metrics, or counted as unsuccessful. Additionally, the growing number of high school students taking dual enrollment courses at community colleges are also left out of these measurements.
This gap in data collection has long troubled those in the community college sector. In recent years, the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond has undertaken a pilot project to develop better metrics for capturing community college student success and to analyze the insights these improved measures provide.
