An Alternate Approach to Studying Transfer Student Outcomes

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An Alternate Approach to Studying Transfer
Student Outcomes
Sam Houston State University Office of
Institutional Research Assessment
Suresh Gangireddy, GRA Lakshmi Kokatla, GRA
Fang Duan, Former GRA Xiaohong Li, GRA Rita Caso,
Director
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PRESENTATION OUTLINE

• SAM HOUSTON STATE UNIVERSITY BACK GROUND
• WHY DO WE STUDY TRANSFER STUDENTS?
• HOW DO WE STUDY TRANSFER STUDENTS?
• FREQUENTLY USED METHOD
• PROPOSED NEW METHOD
• COMPARING FREQUENTLY USED METHOD TO PROPOSED
• NEW METHOD
• CONCLUSION

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ABOUT SAM HOUSTON STATE UNIVERSITY (SHSU)

• Located in Huntsville, TX (Piney Hills, East TX)
  90 miles north of Houston
• Founded in 1879, member of the Texas State
  University System, and Carnegie Classified
  Doctoral, Professional Dominant
• There are 79 undergraduate degree programs, 52
  masters' programs, and 5 doctoral programs
• There are 5 colleges within the university Arts
  and Sciences, Business Administration, Criminal
  Justice, Education, and Humanities and Social
  Sciences
• Fall 2007 Total Enrollment of approximately
  16,416 of whom 28 are minorities, and 1 are
  International students
• Average class size is 31 students and the
  Faculty Student ratio is 120
• SAT Admissions standards are above the national
  average
• In Fall 2007, 1755 new transfers enter SHSU,
  compared to an 2213 New Freshmen.

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WHY DO WE STUDY TRANSFER STUDENTS?

• To determine if we are providing the best
  environment experiences to promote their
  success and to improve these for better outcomes
• i.e.,
• Enrollment Mgmt
• Enrichment and Support Programs
• Student Services
• Academic Depts with Articulation Agreements
• To satisfy external accountability requirements

TX Association of Institutional Research (TAIR)
2008 Conference, 2/5-7/08
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HOW DO WE STUDY TRANSFER STUDENTS?

• Examine outcomes such as retention, graduation
  rates and final GPAs by..
• Comparing outcomes among subgroups within the
  transfer population. I.e.,
• Gender,
• Ethnicity
• Type of transfer
• Entry cohort
• of SCHs transferred at entry, etc.
• Comparing them against pre-existing idealized,
  external, or internal benchmarks
• Comparing transfer student outcomes to native
  student outcomes.

TX Association of Institutional Research (TAIR)
2008 Conference, 2/5-7/08
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EXAMPLE Comparison with pre-existing
benchmarks external, or internal benchmarks

• New Transfer Cohort 2001
• Idealized benchmarks
• Graduation within three years if entering with
  30 or more credits
• 54 of Transfers with gt29 credits graduate in
  three years
• Graduation within four years if entering with
  lt30 credits
• 40 of Transfers with lt30 credits graduate in
  four years
• External benchmarks
• State benchmark for Fall 2005 Cohort 44
• Internal benchmarks

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EXAMPLE Comparing Transfers to New Freshman
Natives Who Entered in Same Year

• Comparison of Graduation Rates up to S2007 by
  ethnicity for..
• Students who entered SHSU as New Freshmen (NFN)
• University Transfers (UT)
• Community College Transfers (CCT)

66.67
58.33
43.18
39.04
32.83
25
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EXAMPLE Comparing Transfers to New Freshman
Natives Who Entered in Same Year on Graduation
GPA

• Comparison of GPA up to S2007 by ethnicity for..
• Students who entered SHSU as New Freshmen (NFN)
• University Transfers (UT)
• Community College Transfers (CCT)

3.28
3.15
3.21
2.90
3.03
2.81
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ALTERNATE APPROACH Comparing New Transfers to
Credit-Comparable Natives
Graduation Rates of F2001University Transfers
(UT) and Community College Transfers (CCT) with
credits between 12-30 31-45 46-60 and gt60 VS.
Native Students with Comparable Credits in F2001
(CCN)
65.11
60.59
54.12
47.35
Note CCNs are Students who are previously
enrolled as Native Freshmen.
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Comparing Results Using Native New Freshmen
(NFN) vs. Credit-Comparable Natives as Cohorts
(CCN) By Ethnicity, On Graduation Rates
66.67
58.33
39.04
43.18
57.53
51.68
49.69
32.83
46.84
25
42.50
39.39
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Comparing Results Using Native New Freshmen
(NNF) vs. Credit-Comparable Natives as Cohorts
(CCN) By Ethnicity, On Graduation GPA
3.28
3.04
3.21
3.15
3.03
2.89
2.98
2.94
2.84
2.90
2.70
2.81
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Comparing Results Using Native New Freshmen
(NFN) vs. Credit-Comparable Natives (CCN) as
Cohorts By Gender, On Graduation GPA
3.05
2.98
2.86
2.76
TX Association of Institutional Research (TAIR)
2008 Conference, 2/5-7/08
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WHO ARE SHSUS TRANSFER STUDENTS?
TX Association of Institutional Research (TAIR)
2008 Conference, 2/5-7/08
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How Different Are the NFN and CCN Comparison
Populations?
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How Different Are the NFN and CCN Comparison
Populations?
Cohort Fall 2001 (NFN/CCN/Difference) Graduation
Rates by Gender up to S2007
Cohort Fall 2001 (NFN/CCN/Difference) Graduation
Rates by Gender up to S2007
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How Different Are the NFN and CCN Comparison
Populations?
Cohort Fall 2001 (NFN/CCN/Difference) GPA by
Gender up to S2007
Cohort Fall 2001 (NFN/CCN/Difference) Graduation
GPA by Gender up to S2007
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Conclusion

• One justification for comparing New Transfers to
  Credit-Comparable Natives, rather than Freshman
  New Natives is that this improves the
  authenticity of the comparison based on greater
  underlying similarities between these groups
• However, in this case, the CCNs were NOT much
  more similar to the New Transfer s except in its
  representation of older students
• With regard to graduation rate outcomes of New
  Transfers compared to Credit Comparable Natives,
  the CCN population did provide a closer
  comparison than New Freshman Natives.

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Conclusion

• HOWEVER, regarding GPA outcomes
• The CCN population was found to have lower GPAs
  than the NFNs overall, with statistical
  significance between genders
• There was also statistically significant
  difference between CNN and NFN population GPAs
  among Asian, Black and White students .
• Among both males and females , the GPAs of CCNs
  are less comparable to New Transfers
• Among Whites, the GPAs of the CCNs were less
  comparable to New Transfers
• Among Asians, the GPAs of CCNs were more
  comparable to University Transfer Students
• Among Blacks, GPAs of CCNs were more comparable
  to Community College Transfers.