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Ph. D. Completion and Attrition: Analysis of Baseline Data

Ph. D. Completion and Attrition: Analysis of Baseline Data. NSF AGEP Evaluation Capacity Meeting September 19, 2008 Robert Sowell Council of Graduate Schools. Ph.D. Completion Project. Guiding Principles:

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Ph. D. Completion and Attrition: Analysis of Baseline Data

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  1. Ph. D. Completion and Attrition: Analysis of Baseline Data NSF AGEP Evaluation Capacity Meeting September 19, 2008 Robert Sowell Council of Graduate Schools

  2. Ph.D. Completion Project • Guiding Principles: • Students admitted to Ph.D. programs should be given every opportunity to complete their degrees. • Understanding and improving student degree completion and attrition rates is key to increasing the effectiveness of doctoral programs. • Graduate deans are in the best position to lead conversations about the best practices that will improve student completion rates.

  3. Ph.D. Completion Project • Funding provided by Pfizer Inc and the Ford Foundation • Phase I (2004-2007) • Phase II (2007-2010) • 29 Research Partner institutions received grants • Additional (~25) Project Partner institutions are currently participating in various aspects of the project (unfunded)

  4. Ph.D. Completion Project • Goal - to improve Ph.D. student completion • Selected set of institutions • Implement new interventions • Provide baseline completion and attrition data • Focus - underrepresented minorities and women

  5. Requirements to Participate in the Ph.D. Completion Project • Engage in activities to increase Ph.D. completion in at least eight programs • Provide baseline completion and attrition data for each program for an initial twelve-year period followed by an additional four years • Implement at least six new interventions in an effort to increase completion

  6. Baseline Data Requirements • Completion and attrition data by program • Aggregate demographic completion data by broad field • Factor assessments for each institution and program • Student Exit Surveys (Completers and Non-Completers)

  7. Categories of Potential Interventions • Selection/Matching • Mentoring and Advising • Financial Support and Structure • Program Environments • Research Experiences • Curricular and Administrative Processes and Procedures

  8. Program completion and attrition 30 Institutions 5 Broad Fields 54 Disciplines 330 Programs ~49,000 Students Broad field demographiccompletion Gender (G) Citizenship/Ethnicity (CE) 24 Institutions (G) 23 Institutions (CE) ~40,000 Students CGS Ph.D. Completion ProjectQuantitative Data Submitted by Institutions12 Years (1992-93 through 2003-04)

  9. Ten-Year Completion Analysis:For Students Entering Ph.D. Programs in1992-93 through 1994-95 (A Cohorts) • From Program Data • Completion: Overall, broad field and discipline • From Demographic Data • Completion: Overall and broad field • Gender • Citizenship • Ethnicity

  10. Profile of Data (A-Cohorts) for Ten-Year Completion Analysis Approximate distribution across fields

  11. 60 57 55 51 46 40 36 Cumulative Completion Rate (%) 23 20 11 5 0 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Source: Council of Graduate Schools Completion and Attrition Program Data Overall Ten-Year Completion Rates

  12. 70 60 50 40 Completion Rate (%) 30 20 10 0 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Year Engineering Life Sciences Mathematics & Physical Sciences Social Sciences Humanities Ten-Year Cumulative Completion Rates by Broad Field 64 63 57 56 54 55 48 49 41 29

  13. Ten-Year Completion Rates for Selected Disciplines

  14. Ten-Year Completion Rates for Selected Disciplines

  15. Engineering Life Sciences Math & Physical Sciences 60 60 60 40 40 40 20 20 20 0 0 0 2 4 6 8 10 2 4 6 8 10 2 4 6 8 10 Cumulative Completion Rates Social Sciences Humanities 60 60 40 40 20 20 0 0 2 4 6 8 10 2 4 6 8 10 Year Private Public Graphs by BF Source: Council of Graduate Schools Completion and Attrition Program Data Ten-Year Completion Rates for Students Entering from1992-93 through 1994-95, by Institution Type and Broad Field

  16. Engineering Life Sciences Mathematics & Physical Sciences 30 40 30 30 20 20 20 10 10 10 0 0 0 5 10 0 5 10 0 5 10 Cumulative Attrition Rates Social Sciences Humanities 40 40 30 30 20 20 10 10 0 0 0 5 10 0 5 10 Year Small Medium Large Graphs by BF Source: Council of Graduate Schools Completion and Attrition Program Data Ten-Year Attrition Rates for Students Entering from1992-93 through 1994-95, by Cohort Sizes and Broad Field Small: 1-7 Medium: 8-14 Large: 15+

  17. Gender Data

  18. Ten-Year Completion Rates: Broad Field and Gender

  19. 60 50 40 Cumulative Completion Rate (%) 30 20 10 0 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Year Female Male Cumulative Ten-Year Ph.D. Completion Rates by Gender in Engineering

  20. 20 16 12 Annual Completion Rate (%) 8 4 0 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Year Female Male Annual Ph.D. Completion Rates by Gender in Engineering

  21. 60 50 40 Cumulative Completion Rate (%) 30 20 10 0 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Year Female Male Cumulative Ten-Year Ph.D. Completion Rates by Gender in Life Sciences

  22. 20 16 12 Annual Completion Rate (%) 8 4 0 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Year Female Male Annual Ph.D. Completion Rates by Gender in Life Sciences

  23. 60 50 40 Cumulative Completion Rate (%) 30 20 10 0 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Year Female Male Cumulative Ten-Year Ph.D. Completion Rates by Gender in Mathematics & Physical Sciences

  24. 20 16 12 Annual Completion Rate (%) 8 4 0 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Year Female Male Annual Ph.D. Completion Rates by Gender in Mathematics & Physical Sciences

  25. 60 50 40 30 Cumulative Completion Rate (%) 20 10 0 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Year Female Male Cumulative Ten-Year Ph.D. Completion Rates by Gender in Social Sciences

  26. 12 8 Annual Completion Rate (%) 4 0 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Year Female Male Annual Ph.D. Completion Rates by Gender in Social Sciences

  27. 60 50 40 Cumulative Completion Rate (%) 30 20 10 0 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Year Female in Public Male in Public Female in Private Male in Private Cumulative Ph.D. Completion Rates by Gender and Institution Type

  28. Citizenship Data

  29. Ten-Year Completion Rates: Broad Field and Citizenship

  30. Race/Ethnicity Data

  31. Ten-Year Completion Rates: Broad Field and Ethnicity

  32. 60 50 40 Cumulative Completion Rate (%) 30 20 10 0 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Year Asian American White African American Hispanic American Cumulative Ten-Year Ph.D. Completion Rates by Race/Ethnicity in Engineering

  33. 60 50 40 30 Cumulative Completion Rate (%) 20 10 0 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Year Asian American White African American Hispanic American Cumulative Ten-Year Ph.D. Completion Rates by Race/Ethnicity in Life Sciences

  34. 60 50 40 30 Cumulative Completion Rate (%) 20 10 0 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Year Asian American White African American Hispanic American Cumulative Ten-Year Ph.D. Completion Rates by Race/Ethnicity in Mathematics & Physical Sciences

  35. 60 50 40 30 Cumulative Completion Rate (%) 20 10 0 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Year Asian American White African American Hispanic American Cumulative Ten-Year Ph.D. Completion Rates by Race/Ethnicity in Social Sciences

  36. Ten-Year Completion Rates: Ethnicity + Int’l and Broad Field

  37. 60 50 40 30 Completion Rate (%) 20 10 0 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Year Engineering Life Sciences Math & Physical Sci Social Sciences Humanities Cumulative 10-Year Ph.D. Completion Rates by Broad Fields for African American Students 60 52 47 47 37

  38. 60 50 40 30 Cumulative Completion Rate (%) 20 10 0 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Year Engineering Life Sciences Math & Physical Sci. Social Sciences Humanities Cumulative Ph.D. Completion Rates by Broad Field for Hispanic American Students

  39. Cumulative Ten-Year Ph.D. Completion Rates by Race/Ethnicity and Institution Type

  40. Comparison of Seven-Year Completion Rates For Students Entering Ph.D. Programs in1992-93 through 1994-95 (A-Cohorts) vs. 1996-97 through 1998-99 (B-Cohorts) • Completion: Overall and Broad Field • Gender • Ethnicity

  41. 41 Female 43 48 Male 49 0 10 20 30 40 50 Cumulative Completion Rate (%) A-Cohorts B-Cohorts Cumulative Seven-Year Ph.D. Completion Rates for A- versus B- Cohorts by Gender

  42. 39 Asian American 40 43 White 46 34 African American 35 33 Hispanic American 34 0 10 20 30 40 50 Cumulative Completion Rate (%) A-Cohorts B-cohorts Cumulative Seven-Year Ph.D. Completion Rates for A- versus B- Cohorts by Race/Ethnicity

  43. Interventions: Selection and Matching • Pre-admission visits to campus. • Adapt best practices in recruiting for different disciplines and demographics. • Increase minority student recruitment activities during the academic year with the efforts of the new Diversity Coordinator • Incorporate alumni into program recruitment strategies, in particular women and members of underrepresented groups.

  44. Interventions: Mentoring and Advising • Require each first year student to have an advisor or advisory structure. • Monitor the process of advisor/mentor selection, especially for minorities and women. • Participate in peer-to-peer mentoring programs for new students, especially women and underrepresented groups. • Develop a graduate student supervision workshop for new faculty

  45. Interventions: Program Environments • Monthly support group for minority students • Initiate a seminar series to address the theme of inclusion and diversity. • Women’s Leadership Society that links prominent professional and graduate women with current doctoral students. • Develop institution-wide policies on family and medical leave for graduate assistants.

  46. Interventions: Other • Dissertation assistance workshops, “Dissertation Boot Camps.” • Web-based systems for tracking student progress to degree. • Study student data from the past ten years to assess patterns of attrition versus short-term enrollment gaps. • Inclusion of completion rates and time-to-degree in the program review process.

  47. Future Ph.D. Completion Project Activities & Reports • Student exit surveys • Document promising interventions, practices, policies and other activities • Collect completion and attrition data through data through the 2007-08 • Final “Best Practices” report at the conclusion of the project in 2010 documenting impact of new interventions on completion and attrition

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