In response to President Obama’s goal of increasing the number of college graduates, the Department of Education has developed an action plan for improving measures of postsecondary student success. This action plan is based on the recommendations of the Department’s Committee on Measures of Student Success, which found that the “current federal graduation rate measure is incomplete and does not adequately convey the wide range of student outcomes at two-year institutions.” The Committee also found that “data are not collected on other important outcomes achieved by students at two-year institutions.”

The Department’s Action Plan for Improving Measures of Postsecondary Success seeks to provide more complete information on student persistence and completion by augmenting current postsecondary measures of student success. For example, graduation rate reporting required for institutions of higher education will be broadened to include part-time and other students who have previously attended postsecondary education.

Nancy Conneely, Public Policy Manager

Tags: community colleges, Data, Graduation Rates, postsecondary, Public Policy, student outcomes

This entry was posted on Monday, April 16th, 2012 at 11:26 am and is filed under Public Policy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.