Research + News | Topic: Graduation Rates

High School GPAs Are Stronger Predictors Of College Graduation Than ACT Scores

Students’ high school grade point averages are five times stronger than their ACT scores at predicting college graduation. Read the article here.

The Latest Research On Helping Students To Fail Forward

Are students passing classes even though they don’t complete assignments and they often fail tests? Tim Elmore explores this topic in a blog post.

Read his blog here.

Enabling Students to Find Their Place – Part One

College might not be the right choice for everyone, so how can we help them develop their gifts in the right place? Read the blog post from Tim Elmore here.

College Students with Involved Fathers 98% More Likely to Graduate

Fathers can play a big role in whether or not their children graduate from college. Read the article here.

Does the SAT or ACT Make a Difference in Graduation Rates?

standardized-testingAccording to a report by the National Association for College Admission and Counseling, there is “virtually no difference in graduation rates for students who submit or do not submit standardized test scores to colleges and universities.”

From the report:

“Does standardized testing produce valuable predictive results, or does it artificially truncate the pools of applicants who would succeed if they could be encouraged to apply?  At least based on this study, it is far more the latter.  In a wide variety of settings, non-submitters are out-performing their standardized testing.  Others may raise the more complex issues of test bias, but this study asks a much simpler and more direct question: if students have an option to have their admissions decisions made without test scores, how well do these students succeed, as measured by cumulative GPAs and graduation rates?”

Read the report here.

Download the full report (.pdf) here.

Better-Looking Teens More Likely to Graduate College

la-sci-sn-looks-teens-college-study-20131211-001The Los Angeles Times reports on a study that found “that teens rated as good-looking in high school got higher grades and were ultimately more likely to graduate college and get bigger paychecks as adults.” From the article:

“As you might have observed in your high school cafeteria, researchers found that teens with better looks had more friends and romantic partners and were more likely to participate in sports.

But the academic effects might seem more surprising: Attractive teens got better grades and were nearly 3 percentage points more likely than those with average looks to graduate from college.

That means that when it comes to college, looks make as big of a difference as living with both parents in high school instead of just one, researchers found.”

Read the full article here.

Jobs Status Key to College Choice

According to a new GALLUP poll “Americans are as likely to say the percentage of graduates who are able to get a good job is the most important factor in choosing which college or university to attend as they are to say the price. Far fewer care about the graduation rate.”

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Read the full report here.

Academic March Madness

Using the NCAA basketball tournament bracket, Inside Higher Ed announces the winner of the annual Academic Performance Tournament in which victories are determined based on each team’s multi-year Academic Progress Rate, the NCAA’s tool to measure classroom success.

Academic Performance Final Four: Butler, Memphis, Belmont, Kansas.

Read the full report here.

Download the tournament bracket (.pdf) here.

Higher Ed Leaders Call for Bold Action on Attainment

In an open letter released by the National Commission on Higher Education Attainment, leading college and university presidents call upon their colleagues to make retention and completion a critical campus priority to stem the unacceptable loss of human potential represented by the number of students who never make it to graduation.

Read more about the open letter here.

College Graduates Well-Protected Against Recession

How Much Protection Does a College Degree Afford? The Impact of the Recession on Recent College Graduates, the newest research from Pew’s Economic Mobility Project, reveals that a four-year college degree helped shield the latest graduates from a range of poor employment outcomes during the Great Recession, including unemployment, low-skill jobs, and lesser wages.

Read the press release here.

Download the full report (.pdf) here.

Read an article about the research from Forbes here.

Read an article about the research from The Huffington Post here.