Recent SILCS graduate Sametta Taylor was profiled by her local newspaper in July about her “life-changing experience” at SILCS. You can read the article in the Berkley Independent here.
Archive for the ‘news’ Category
SILCS grads in the news
Monday, September 21st, 2009News: Ph.D. enrollment growth
Wednesday, September 16th, 2009The Council of Graduate Schools (CGS) has released its annual report for 2008, Graduate Enrollment and Degrees: 1998 to 2008. Enrollment for all U.S. minority groups increased 4.5%, compared the 1.5% increase for White, non-Hispanic students, and nearly all minority groups saw greater growth in 2008 than the average annual change from 1998-2008.
Growth in first-time enrollment from 2007 to 2008 was greater for students from all racial/ethnic minority groups than for White students: 10.6% for Hispanics/Latinos, 8.8% for American Indians/Alaskan Natives, 6.7% for Asians/Pacific Islanders, and 6.5% for Blacks/African Americans, compared to 3.5% for Whites. (link [PDF])
The one ethnic group that did not see a greater growth than average was Blacks/African Americans. The 6.5% growth was the lowest growth for all other groups except Whites and was lower than the average of 7.6%.
Similarly, though all fields showed moderate growth in enrollment, only the Arts and Humanities demonstrated a lower growth rate than the average for that field and the lowest growth rate of all other fields in the study. This was particularly the case in terms of Black/African Americans, who only showed a 1.6% average annual increase in Arts and Humanities, the smallest growth of all ethnic groups.
Inside Higher Ed noted that “many graduate programs have for years now been creating programs to diversify their pool of students, and [Nathan E. Bell, director of research and policy analysis for CGS] said that he hoped the data suggest that those efforts are starting to pay off. He noted that many of these efforts were destined to take a while to show returns.”
News: Ph.D. Enrollment and Completion
Friday, September 19th, 2008Two reports have hit the news recently concerning enrollments and attrition in Ph.D. programs, focusing on gender and ethnicity. The first, titled “Graduate Enrollment and Degrees: 1997 to 2007″, takes data on applications and enrollment in graduate programs to find trends in the growth and success of such programs. The second, “Ph.D. Completion and Attrition: Analysis of Baseline Demographic Data from the Ph.D. Completion Project”, studies ten- and seven-year Ph.D. completion rates of different demographics. Both reports were done by the Council of Graduate Schools (CGS).
The first report used surveys from 683 colleges and universities to study graduate school enrollment and degrees awarded. The study found that the number of doctorates conferred in 2007 rose 9% from the year before, and rose faster for women than men. Enrollment rates also jumped, growing faster for U.S. minorities than for White, non-Hispanic students.
“The increase in doctorates awarded, particularly in key fields, is a necessary step in producing the highly qualified workforce required to enhance U.S. competitiveness,” said Debra W. Stewart, CGS President. “While the increased representation of minority students is another encouraging sign, we must continue to expand the domestic pipeline to ensure that America has the talent pool it will need in the 21st century global economy,” she added. (link [PDF])
The second study, using data submitted by 24 institutions for 12 academic years, found that completion rates in Ph.D. programs varied greatly based on gender, ethnicity and citizenship. Men tended to finish doctoral programs more quickly and in higher numbers than women; international students finished far more quickly than domestic students; and White students had the highest completion rates of all other ethnicities, followed by Hispanic Americans, Asian American, and African Americans. However, women and African Americans had higher completion rates in Humanities.
The cumulative ten-year completion rates for the racial/ethnic groups vary widely across broad fields (see Figure 3). African Americans and Whites complete at the highest rate (60%) in the Life Sciences. White students also complete at the highest rate in Engineering (60%), five percentage points ahead of Hispanic Americans and seven points ahead of Asian Americans. Asian Americans (53%), Hispanic Americans (53%), and Whites (52%) complete at similar rates in Mathematics & Physical Sciences. African American students have the highest rate (52%) in the Humanities, followed closely by White students (51%). White students complete at the highest rate (57%) in Social Sciences, two percentage points ahead of Hispanic Americans. (link [PDF])
The study was Phase I of the Ph.D. Completion Project, which aims to address the issues surrounding Ph.D. completion and attrition. Phase II will utilize exit surveys of students to discover the causes behind the attrition rates and develop possible interventions.
Taken together, the two reports suggest that while the number of minorities entering graduate programs is increasing, there is a need for programs to help retain students. The Chronicle of Higher Education writes that minority students are “academically and, in some cases, culturally unprepared for the demands that will be placed on them”. Inside Higher Ed provided a few strategies for increasing completion rates, which included giving students more information about what grad school will be like before they enter as well as help with dissertation writing and providing family leave time.
News: Graduation Rate Gap
Monday, April 21st, 2008Education Sector, an independent research group, released a report today [PDF] that said while there is a staggeringly large gap between the graduation rates of black and white students, the gap is relatively easy to close.
Florida State University has been particularly successful in closing this gap–it is the only institution of its size and type where black students graduate at a higher rate than white students. FSU’s success is due in part to its Center for Academic Retention and Enhancement (CARE), which starts identifying potential students as early as the sixth grade, using counsellors and summer programs to help guide the students through the application process into college, and onward through graduation.
Education Sector found that most of the problem had to do with not paying attention to the students. When students were left to fend for themselves, they tended to do poorly and drop out; those students who were helped by mentors and counsellors tended to remain in school. This did not translate to coddling students or lowering standards, but rather increasing the quality of the teaching and the engagement of the students, as stated by the National Survey of Student Engagement:
Although African American students at the lowest levels of engagement were less likely to persist than their White counterparts, as their engagement increased to within about one standard deviation below the mean, they had about the same probability of returning as Whites. As African American student engagement reached the average amount, they became more likely than White students to return for a second year (link, pg 8).
The report suggests a few policy changes to close the graduation gap. Such changes include changing the rankings published by U.S. New and World Report to include graduation gaps instead of just graduation rates; improve the measures of graduation rates; improve accountability systems; and move back to need-based financial aid.