Students meeting the continuous four-term persistence definition completed college at higher rates than students meeting the third-semester definition, for both bachelor's and community college enrollees¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · associational r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2024 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Among bachelor's degree enrollees enrolled in the third semester, four-year completion was 44% and six-year completion 68%, 5 and 7 points lower than continuously enrolled four-semester students (49% and 75%). → Mahaffie 2024 q2 i? For the 2015 class, 46% of third-semester community college enrollees and 59% of continuous four-semester enrollees completed a credential within six years; among non-persisters, completion was 7% and 9% respectively. → Mahaffie 2024 (2)

Evidence¶

Mahaffie 2024¶

Mahaffie, S., Nagaoka, J., & Usher, A. (2024). Measuring Patterns of Immediate and Continued College Enrollment among CPS Graduates. University of Chicago Consortium on School Research and the To&Through Project. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/measuring-patterns-of-immediate-and-continued-college-enrollment-among-CPSs-graduates

q2 · i? · associational · r2

Descriptive comparison (Figure 7) of completion rates for CPS bachelor's degree enrollees under the two persistence definitions. Third-semester enrollees completed at 44% (four-year) and 68% (six-year), which the article reports as 5 and 7 percentage points lower than four-semester continuous enrollees (49% and 75%); these are descriptive rates, with no effect size printed.

"Among CPS graduates who were enrolled in bachelor’s degree granting institutions in the third semester, the most recent four-year completion rate was 44% and the most recent six-year completion rate was 68%"

Mahaffie 2024 (2)¶

Mahaffie, S., Nagaoka, J., & Usher, A. (2024). Measuring Patterns of Immediate and Continued College Enrollment among CPS Graduates. University of Chicago Consortium on School Research and the To&Through Project. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/measuring-patterns-of-immediate-and-continued-college-enrollment-among-CPSs-graduates

q2 · i? · associational · r2

Descriptive analysis (Figures 10 and 11) of six-year credential completion for the CPS graduating class of 2015 among community college enrollees, comparing third-semester point-in-time persisters with continuous four-semester persisters and with non-persisters under each definition; a 13 percentage point difference is reported.

"46% of the third semester enrollees (and 7% of those who did not meet this definition of persistence) and 59% of the students who were enrolled continuously through semester four (and 9% of the students who did not meet this definition of persistence) completed a credential within six years"

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Time and Continuity — predictor: learners who differ on it differ in outcomes

Related Claims¶

• Each additional semester of continuous college enrollment is associated with a higher completion rate, but no specific semesters carry distinctive predictive value — related
• Five persistence definition variants show similar predictiveness of completion, but the third-semester point-in-time definition yields persistence rates up to 14 percentage points higher than the continuous four-term definition — related
• Four-year college graduation rates remained flat at about 49 percent for direct four-year enrollees, with much lower rates for two-year (8 percent) and delayed enrollees (4 percent) — related
• Among 2014 CPS graduates who immediately enrolled in college, 46% completed a credential within six years, with large gaps by enrollment pathway — related
• Six-year college completion among the CPS class of 2015 varied sharply by enrollment pathway: 55.8% for immediate four-year enrollees, 32.5% for immediate two-year enrollees, and 7.8% for delayed/non-enrollees — related
• Half of CPS 2017 graduates who immediately enrolled in a four-year college completed a bachelor's degree within six years — related
• Among 2014 CPS graduates who immediately enrolled in a bachelor's-degree-granting institution, 30% completed within four years versus 51% within six years — related
• Find the Fit made no significant difference in college persistence into the third year after high school — related
• College persistence was similar among College Track completers and similar students who enrolled in college, despite College Track's stricter persistence definition — related