Adopt a third-semester point-in-time persistence definition to report second-year college re-enrollment data up to six months earlier¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 1 claim (1 for) · 1 study (1 associational), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description¶

The To&Through Project redefined college persistence to count students who immediately enrolled and were "enrolled in college in the fall term of the second year after their graduation". This point-in-time third-semester definition is calculable with fewer data pulls, aligns more closely with CPS and other organizations' definitions, and is simpler and more easily reproducible by external organizations. The authors judged its timeliness and consistency benefits to outweigh its modestly lower predictiveness.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Access to National Student Clearinghouse enrollment data for second-year fall term; requires shifting definitions on the To&Through online tool

Constraints¶

• The predictiveness of the new metric is slightly lower than other metrics; reported rates may be higher without indicating a higher likelihood of college graduation
• Still not in perfect alignment with the CPS definition, due to differences in immediate enrollment definition and data availability
• Makes comparison to persistence rates reported in past reports invalid

Target Learners¶

• Chicago Public Schools high school graduates enrolled in college

Target Learning Goals¶

• Tracking post-secondary persistence and completion outcomes to inform college counseling and practitioner interventions

Claims¶

• 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 [+W]

Related Strategies¶

• Retain summer-and-fall immediate enrollment as the headline metric while supplementing it with reporting on spring first-time enrollees

Examples¶

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Key Sources¶

• 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