Ph D Completion and Attrition Baseline Program Data
Ph. D. Completion and Attrition: Baseline Program Data Robert Sowell University of Georgia January 28 -30, 2008
CGS Ph. D. Completion Project § Funding provided by Pfizer Inc and the Ford Foundation § 29 Institutions received grants § 25 Other institutions are currently participating in the project (unfunded) § Institutions participate in one or both project phases: • Phase I (2004 -2007) • Phase II (2007 -2010)
CGS Ph. D. Completion Project § Goals: • To study doctoral student completion and attrition patterns at a specifically selected set of Partners institutions. • To give deans context to lead conversations about what attrition and completion patterns actually are at their universities, and what practices could be implemented to improve these patterns. • To empower graduate deans to develop interventions that are tailored to disciplines, departments, and programs at their universities.
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
Categories of Potential Interventions § § § Selection/Matching Mentoring and Advising Financial Support and Structure Program Environments Research Experiences Curricular and Administrative Processes and Procedures
New CGS Publication “Ph. D. Completion and Attrition: Analysis of Baseline Program Data from the Ph. D. Completion Project”
Number of Programs and Entering Students in Baseline Data # of Programs # of Entering Students Engineering 54 9, 496 Life Sciences 66 6, 925 Math & Physical Sciences 78 15, 262 Social Sciences 65 9, 671 Humanities 67 7, 759 All Fields Total 330 49, 113
Cohort Definitions for Baseline Data Analysis § A-Cohorts (10 -year cohorts) • Students enrolling in 1992 -93; 1993 -94; 1994 -95 • 12, 135 students (313 programs) § B-Cohorts (7 -year cohorts) • Students enrolling in 1995 -96; 1996 -97; 1997 -98 • 11, 697 students (320 programs) § C-Cohorts (4 -year cohorts) • Students enrolling in 1998 -99; 1999 -2000; 200001 • 12, 125 students (323 programs)
60 Overall Ten-Year Completion Rates 54. 6 56. 6 Cumulative Completion Rate 20 40 50. 9 45. 5 36. 1 22. 5 10. 5 0 4. 5 3 4 5 Source: Council of Graduate Schools Completion and Attrition Program Data 6 7 8 9 10
30 Overall Ten-Year Attrition Rates 28. 4 29. 5 30. 2 30. 6 9 10 27 25. 4 0 Cumulative Attrition Rate 10 20 23. 6 19. 9 13. 8 6. 6 1 2 3 Source: Council of Graduate Schools Completion and Attrition Program Data 4 5 6 7 8
Cumulative Completion Rate 70 Ten-Year Completion Rates by Broad Field 63. 6 62. 9 60 56. 8 55. 9 54. 7 49. 3 40 50 53. 7 48. 2 40. 9 0 10 20 30 29. 3 3 4 5 6 7 Year 8 9 10 Engineering Life Sciences Mathematics & Physical Sciences Social Sciences Humanities Source: Council of Graduate Schools Completion and Attrition Program Data
Cumulative Attrition Rate 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 Ten-year Attrition Rates by Broad Field 1 2 3 4 5 6 Year 7 8 9 Engineering Life Sciences Mathematics & Physical Sciences Social Sciences Humanities NOTE: 10 -Year Attrition Rates include all cohorts entering 1992 -93 through 1994 -95 Source: Council of Graduate Schools Completion and Attrition Program Data 10
60 50 40 30 20 10 0 Cumulative Completion Rate 70 Ten-Year Completion Rates for Mathematics & Physical Science Disciplines 3 4 5 Chemistry Mathematics Source: Council of Graduate Schools Completion and Attrition Program Data 6 year 7 8 9 Computer and Information Sciences Physics and Astronomy 10
5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 Cumulative Attrition Rate Ten-Year Attrition Rates for Mathematics & Physical Science Disciplines 1 2 3 4 5 Year 6 7 8 9 Chemistry Computer and Information Sciences Mathematics Physics and Astronomy NOTE: 10 -Year Attrition Rates include all cohorts entering 1992 -93 through 1994 -95 Source: Council of Graduate Schools Completion and Attrition Program Data 10
80 60 40 20 0 Cumulative Rates % 100 By Year 10, Percentage of Continuing Students Plateaus in SEM, but Not SSH Fields 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 STEM Fields Continuing 10 3 4 5 6 8 9 Social Sciences & Humanities Completion Note: 10 -Year Cohorts include all cohorts entering 1992 -93 through 1994 -95 Source: Council of Graduate Schools Completion and Attrition Program Data 7 Attrition 10
0 Cumulative Completion Rate 10 20 30 40 50 60 Ten-Year Completion Rates by Institution Type 3 4 5 6 7 Year Private Source: Council of Graduate Schools Completion and Attrition Program Data 8 Public 9 10
Cumulative Completion Rate 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 Ten-Year Completion Rates by Cohort Size Small: 1 -7 Medium: 8 -14 Large: 15+ 3 4 5 6 Year Small Large Source: Council of Graduate Schools Completion and Attrition Program Data 7 8 Medium 9 10
Seven-Year Completion Rates Over Time: A- and B- Cohorts, SEM vs. SSH Fields 51. 9 SEM Fields 50. 6 35. 8 SSH Fields 35. 7 0 10 20 30 40 Cumulative Completion Rate A-cohorts NOTE: A-cohorts include all students entering 1992 -93 through 1994 -95 B-cohorts include all students entering 1995 -96 through 1997 -98 Source: Council of Graduate Schools Completion and Attrition Program Data B-cohorts 50 60
Comparison of Seven-Year Completion Rates between A- and B- Cohorts, by Broad Field Mathematics & Physical Sciences
Four-Year (Early) Attrition Rates Over Time: A-, B- and C-Cohorts 23. 6 24. 2 20. 2 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 Attrition Rate A C NOTE: A-cohorts include all students entering 1992 -93 through 1994 -95 B-cohorts include all students entering 1995 -96 through 1997 -98 C-cohorts include all cohorts entering 1998 -99 through 2000 -01 Source: Council of Graduate Schools Completion and Attrition Program Data 16 B 18 20 22 24
Four-Year Attrition Rates Over Time: A-, B- and C-Cohorts, SEM vs. SSH 21
Four-Year Continuing Rates Over Time: A-, B- and C-Cohorts 22
Trend of Decreasing Attrition and Increasing Continuing Student Rates at Four Years 23
Future Questions to be Addressed in the Ph. D. Completion Project § § How do completion patterns vary by ethnicity, gender and citizenship? Why do students say they complete (or not)? What are the perceptions about graduate school of completers and non-completers? What is the impact of the six categories of interventions? How does efficacy vary across broad field and for which populations? Can we project ultimate completion and time to degree from our completion and attrition data?
Future Ph. D. Completion Project Publications § Baseline demographic data (publication expected March 2008) § Student exit surveys (publication expected October 2008) § Promising practices, policies and activities (publication expected August 2008) § Publications based on 2007 and 2009 data submissions (2009 -2010) § Final “Best Practices” report (2010)
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