Because of their commitment to the voluntary measurement and improvement of student learning outcomes, colleges and universities that are members of the Council of Independent Colleges (CIC) have been at the forefront of the national shift from teacher-centered to student-centered learning. The institutions participating in the CIC Degree…

In recent years, there has been a surge of interest in competency-based degree programs at the postsecondary level. These programs are promising for the future of higher education because they establish clear expectations for what graduates must know and be able to do, and many models have been designed to allow students to learn and earn a degree…

The USHE Data Book is a compilation of reports on the Utah System of Higher Education and its eight component institutions. Some form of this book has been published each year since the creation of the Utah State Board of Regents and the Utah System of Higher Education in 1969. The book is intended to allow the Governor's Office, Legislators and…

This report provides the results of analysis of more than 40,000 students who received baccalaureate degrees from the public baccalaureate institutions in Washington during the 2005-06 and 2006-07 academic years. The purpose of this study was to follow students after graduation to determine the extent to which degree recipients were able to secure…

This is one in a series of data briefs developed by the Delta Cost Project at AIR using data from the "IPEDS Analytics: Delta Cost Project Database 1987-2010," which was released on August 14, 2012, by the U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. The intent of these briefs is to update key tables and…

In the early heyday of ITA education, English as a second language (ESL) educators played a key role in defining three basic learning needs for ITAs: Language, teaching, and culture. Of this model, culture is the most broadly defined and least developed component. It was predicted by some, apparently on the basis of nationality, that ITAs would…

This study investigated the simultaneous impact of demographic, personality, intelligence, and (prior) study performance factors on students' academic achievement in a three-year academic problem-based psychology program. Information regarding students' gender, age, nationality, pre-university education, high school grades, Big Five personality…

This AIR Data Brief breaks down the "cost per degree" estimates for 28 disciplines, including those in the STEM fields, which among the most expensive degrees to produce. The brief points to ways colleges can change their tuition structure to finance STEM degrees more affordably. This data brief is the fourth of four in the series. (See…

African American men pursuing bachelor's degrees at historically White colleges and universities (HWCU) are not graduating at the same rates as Caucasian men. With a continued rapid decline in degree completion, establishing a framework of success for these students is becoming increasingly difficult. While research concerning graduation…

In this paper, we provide a comprehensive and up-to-date snapshot of the most important postsecondary education and labor market outcomes in the United States using two nationally representative sources of data: the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) and the National Educational Longitudinal Survey (NELS). We find that postsecondary…

In higher education in the state of Arkansas, two courses are considered to be gateway courses to obtaining a college degree--College Algebra and English Composition I. While students may obtain Certificates of Proficiency and Technical Certificates without taking these courses, few, if any, can earn an Associate's or Bachelor's degree without…

Low-income students earn bachelor's degrees at significantly lower rates than their high-income peers. This qualitative study interviewed 21 Fall 2008 full-time first-year Pell Grant recipients in May 2012 when almost all were near the point of baccalaureate degree completion at a large urban doctoral-granting institution with very high research…

One of the most pressing problems facing our nation is the large percentage of students who enroll in college but never complete a degree. The U.S. Department of Education estimates that only 57 percent of students who sought a bachelor's degree and enrolled in a four-year institution in the fall of 2002 completed that degree within six years. For…

Use of the community college as preparation for transfer to four-year institutions and bachelor degree attainment continues to be a critical means of access to higher learning for students from diverse backgrounds. What variables distinguish community college transfers to four-year institutions who earn a bachelor degree from transfers who do not…

The present study investigated the differences in pedagogical thought units between teachers with a bachelor's degree (B.A.) in English and their counterparts with a master's degree (M.A.) in TESOL. English-as-a-foreign-language (n = 8) teachers with similar teaching experiences (between 2 and 3 years of teaching experience) and teaching in…