Students planning to nourish one of the nation'southward 4,500 colleges and universities have a new interactive College Scorecard touted by President Obama in his State of the Union address as a tool "to compare schools based on a simple criteria – where y'all can get the well-nigh bang for your educational buck."

Example of a California community college scorecard. The actual design has not been finalized. Source: California Community College Chancellor's office. (Click to enlarge).

Example of a California community higher scorecard. The bodily blueprint has non been finalized. Source: California Community College Chancellor'south office. (Click to overstate)

Community college leaders say the focus on costs and graduation rates is a flawed lens for measuring their worth. Give it a few weeks, though, and the California Community College Chancellor's Office will be launching its own scorecard tailored to the broad mission and local telescopic of the state'south 112 campuses.

The federal scorecard is "very 4-year axial data," explained Patrick Perry, Vice Chancellor for Technology, Inquiry and Information Systems for California Community Colleges. "It tracks get-go-fourth dimension, full-time freshmen degree-seeking students. That'south a small per centum of who's coming to u.s.."

In late March or early April the chancellor's office is expected to release AARC 2.0, an updated and more attainable version of its current Accountability Reporting for the California Community Colleges, an unwieldy 856-page document mandated by a 2004 state law.

The new scorecard will shine a low-cal on key indicators of success and provide information on how well each of the 112 campuses is measuring up. There are 6 specific categories, or what Perry calls "momentum points," that research has shown are correlated with student success. These are based on progress over six years.

  • Persistence Rate – the pct of students seeking a degree or transfer to a four-yr school who remain enrolled for three sequent terms,
  • 30 Unit of measurement Rate – the pct of first-time students seeking a degree or transfer who earn at least thirty units,
  • Student Progress and Attainment Rate – the pct of degree-or-transfer seeking students – separated into cohorts of those who start in basic skills and those who begin in college-level classes – who earn a degree, earn a certificate or transfer to a 4-year college or university,
  • Basic Skills Progress Rate – the percentage of students who start out in remedial classes who go on to succeed in higher-level courses,
  • Career Technical Education – the percentage of students who complete a career technical didactics program and earn a degree, earn a document or transfer, and
  • Career Evolution and College Preparation Rate – the completion rate for students in not-credit career evolution and not-credit college prep courses, such as English as a second language, which are offered at near a third of the state'due south community colleges.

Paul Steenhausen with the Legislative Analyst'south Office, who worked on the scorecard, said it contains multiple layers of statistics that he likens to a

The community college scorecard is built like a pyramid, with aggregate state data on top and more nuanced statistics for deeper analysis. Source: California community college chancellor's office. (Click to enlarge).

The community college scorecard is congenital similar a pyramid, with amass state information on top and more nuanced statistics for deeper analysis. Source: California Community College Chancellor'south Office. (Click to enlarge)

pyramid. The tip contains the aggregated statewide figures; beneath that is more nuanced information that "allows researchers and analysts to drill down and become fifty-fifty more granulated information."

Bakersfield College microbiology professor Janet Fulks, who worked on the algorithm, said there are so many levels of data that she could follow a group of students placed in basic skills math to see how many semesters information technology took to pass and move into higher-level classes, and then whether they graduated or transferred.  Colleges could track students who complete education plans to see if they do increase completion rates. And all that data can be disaggregated by race, sex activity and ethnicity. Where faculty run across problems, they can make changes and try new strategies to help students succeed.

"I am telling you lot it's actually unbelievable," said Fulks. "Without that kind of data how do we improve the way that students consummate their educational pathways?"

The scorecard information has been sent to each individual college for review. They accept 30 days to verify or alter the information.

The economic payoff

A companion community collegeinformation file that's due to curlicue out at about the aforementioned time equally the scorecard lets students expect into the future earlier choosing a major or career technical programme. Under an agreement with the land Economic Development Section, the community college system will show the median wages for students based on their major ii years after they graduate and five years subsequently that.

The early analysis, said Perry, shows that career technical instruction graduates in nursing and other wellness occupations, burn down engineering and some information technology fields are doing the best. On the other mitt, students considering fine arts may want to start seeking a patron as soon equally possible.

The federal scorecard, not even a week quondam, is already getting mixed reviews. "We are dazzled," exclaimed Nancy Coolidge, coordinator of federal and state financial assist programs at the University of California. She said it's easy to utilise and gives students and their families a good indication of college costs. "Nosotros are generally impressed with the transparency and the intuitive way it functions," said Coolidge.

Copy of the federal scorecard for UCLA. (Click to enlarge).

Copy of the federal scorecard for UCLA. (Click to enlarge)

She said the scorecard would accept been helpful to have a few days agone, when she was working with a family and had to employ a unlike database, which she finds clunky and not intuitive. "This is much more accessible and easy to look at. I call up this is a step in the right direction."

Hither'due south how information technology works. Let'south say a high school pupil has her middle set on attending college in San Diego. If she and her parents look up San Diego Country, they'd see that the median cost later grants and loans is well-nigh $8,500 a yr, the boilerplate loan is near $15,600 and the six-year graduation rate is 65.half dozen percentage. Comparing that to UC San Diego, they'd see the median cost is just over $12,600 a year and those families borrow more than $17,700. But the six-year graduation rate is significantly college at 85.iii percent.

But the federal scorecard nevertheless has some bugs to work out. Early on in the twenty-four hour period, when Coolidge typed in the Academy of California, upwards popped Bethesda Academy of California in Anaheim.

Other problems are potentially more serious. Debbie Cochrane, research director for The Constitute for College Access and Success (TICAS), said some of the data lacks context and "could be misleading rather than enlightening," particularly for community colleges.

On loan default rates, the institute cautions that the scorecard doesn't report the percentage of students at each college who borrow money. In a blog posted just hours later on the scorecard was released, TICAS gives the example of American River College. The community college has a 27.5 per centum default rate, more twice the national average. But what the scorecard doesn't show is that only 8 percentage of students at the college have out federal loans. "Implying that the default rate solitary is indicative of pupil outcomes more generally does a disservice to would-be students," they write.

The federal data also derives its median student loan corporeality by lumping together all loans without regard to whether a educatee borrowed for only one twelvemonth or for four years.  "You lot could have a school where everyone drops out after six months, only their median debt is going to exist very low," said Cochrane. "It gives you no scope of the borrowing." Cochrane said the plant has already made the U.Southward. Section of Instruction aware of their concerns.

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