The National Academies Press

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1 Introduction
Pages 17-32

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From page 17... ... . The college completion agenda, discussed further below, has emerged as a national priority, and with it the need to resolve persistent disparities in graduation rates by gender, race, socioeconomic status, and parental education (Mann and DiPrete, 2013; National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2016a; Xie et al., 2015) Read the entire page →
From page 18... ... In focusing solely on persistence and success during college, the committee followed on a prior, related report, which found that educational attainment was strongly predictive of labor market success, a finding that was upheld even with rigorous research approaches designed to approximate random assignment (National Research Council, 2012b) Read the entire page →
From page 19... ... At the same time, it recognized that leaders in higher education are beginning to target intra personal competencies such as ethics and lifelong learning and interpersonal competencies such as teamwork and intercultural sensitivity as desired learning outcomes that are expected to be valuable for work and in life after college graduation. To address this current interest, the committee briefly considered selected intra- and interpersonal competencies that have been identified by higher education leaders as important learning outcomes. Read the entire page →
From page 20... ... found that only 40 percent of first-time fulltime STEM aspirants entering 4-year institutions in fall 2004 had completed a STEM degree 6 years later. The authors report wide variation across STEM fields of study in the probability that students completed the originally intended major, switched to another STEM field, switched to a non-STEM field, or dropped out of college entirely. Read the entire page →
From page 21... ... . Retaining and graduating students in STEM majors is considered an essential component of the broader completion agenda, focused on building and diversifying the STEM workforce (President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, 2012) Read the entire page →
From page 22... ... As part of the broader national effort to increase completion rates, researchers and policy makers in higher education are exploring the role of intra- and interpersonal competencies in supporting student success. As noted earlier, these sets of competencies represent two of three domains of competence outlined in a previous National Academies report (National Research Council, 2012b) Read the entire page →
From page 23... ... has identified teamwork, problem solving, and lifelong learning as essential learning outcomes for all college graduates and has also developed rubrics for assessing these competencies.2 The requirement of the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (2015) that undergraduate engineering programs develop students' ability to function on multidisciplinary teams and to engage in lifelong learning has spurred faculty members, researchers, and administrators to develop assess ents m aligned with this requirement. Read the entire page →
From page 24... ... . Although often focusing on graduation rates and graduates' earnings, policy makers also are asking institutions to define college outcomes for students more clearly and to provide reliable indicators of students' progress toward and attainment of these outcomes (Campbell, 2015) Read the entire page →
From page 25... ... STUDY APPROACH The committee's approach to addressing its charge entailed reviewing the relevant research; considering competencies, diversity, and contexts; examining available assessments of intra- and interpersonal competencies; and establishing priorities for the development and use of assessments. Identifying Competencies Related to College Success To address Task 1, the committee conducted an extensive search of the literature examining the relationships between various skills, competencies, attitudes, and abilities and persistence and success in undergraduate education. Read the entire page →
From page 26... ... was asked to explore whether intra- and interpersonal competencies that have been targeted as desired learning outcomes for college graduates might also be predictors of postsecondary persistence and success. The committee requested that he analyze data from the Wabash Study of Liberal Arts Education on the relationships between several competencies and college success, breaking the data down for different student groups (males and females, minorities, and first-generation students; see Chapter 5) Read the entire page →
From page 27... ... Considering Competencies, Diversity, and Contexts Considering the growing diversity of the undergraduate population and the disparities in graduation rates across different student groups, both generally in all fields of study and specifically in STEM fields, the committee identified the theme of inclusion and diversity as central to responding to its charge. As a first step toward addressing this theme, the committee identified the student groups to be the focus for inclusion and diversity. Read the entire page →
From page 28... ... These inquiries catalyzed changes in practices and policy, and one institution saw marked improvements in mathematics outcomes for African American and Hispanic students, along with an increase in success rates in college-level mathematics among all students who began in developmental mathematics classes (Dowd, 2015) Read the entire page →
From page 29... ... The authors tested a brief intervention highlighting the relevance and value of the biology course and found that it helped students from all groups find utility value in the course content, which in turn tended to improve course performance. The intervention's effect size and the improvement in course grades were statistically and practically significant only for the first-generation underrepresented minority groups. Read the entire page →
From page 30... ... The committee searched the literature, deliberated on committee members' own work in this area, and reviewed relevant National Academies reports (e.g., National Research Council, 2012b, 2015a, 2015b) to identify the strengths and weaknesses of various assessment methods. Read the entire page →
From page 31... ... Chapter 5 identifies a set of intra- and interpersonal competencies that have been targeted by higher education leaders as desired outcomes for college graduates, examines whether these competencies are related to college success, and considers their assessment. Chapter 6 summarizes the committee's recommendations. Read the entire page →

From page 17...

... . The college completion agenda, discussed further below, has emerged as a national priority, and with it the need to resolve persistent disparities in graduation rates by gender, race, socioeconomic status, and parental education (Mann and DiPrete, 2013; National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2016a; Xie et al., 2015)

1 Introduction Pages 17-32

1 Introduction
Pages 17-32