Learn how to use the Postsecondary Data Partnership Outcomes Institution-Level dashboard to measure the difference in outcomes between full-time and part-time students three years after enrollment.
Transcript
In this tutorial, we demonstrate how to use the outcome institution-level dashboard to measure the difference in outcomes between full-time and part-time students three years after enrolling in our institution.
The Outcomes Institution-Level dashboard reports the completion rates and other outcomes for students by the cohort year in which they first enrolled. Outcomes include students who earned either a bachelor’s degree, associate degree, or certificate or are still enrolled in college.
Let’s use this dashboard to answer this research question: For the 2020-21 cohort, what is the difference in three-year outcomes between students attending college full-time vs. part-time?
First, navigate to the PDP Outcomes Institution-level dashboard. To begin our exploration, let’s change our Outcomes Timeframe to 3 years.
Because we’re interested in three-year outcomes, we need to remove the two most recent cohorts from the report using Chart Settings.
Because we’re interested in the difference in three-year outcomes between students attending full-time and part-time, we need to apply the Attendance dimension. To do that, click on “Edit” which opens Chart Settings. Select “Attendance” from the Dimension drop down and click "Apply Settings".
Now, we’re ready to answer our research question. Our line chart shows a line for full-time students, one for part-time students, and one for students whose enrollment status is unknown. We can use Chart Settings to filter out the students whose enrollment status is unknown to reduce the complexity of this chart.
Now, let’s review the results. The line chart shows a consistent gap in three-year completion rates between full-time and part-time students across all cohorts reported.
Hovering over the 2020-21 data point, we find that 25.9% of full-time first-year students who entered our institution during that academic year have completed a credential in three years.
Looking across the prior cohorts, that rate has declined from 29.2% for the 2015-16 cohort for a 3-percentage point decrease.
For part-time students entering in the 2020-21 academic year, 18.3% have completed a credential in three years. Looking across the prior cohorts, their completion rate has declined from 19.8% in 2015-16 for a nearly 2-percentage point decrease.
Now, let’s focus our attention on full-time students by removing the Attendance dimension and applying the Attendance filter to include only full-time students.
Scrolling down to the next chart, we can explore the outcomes of our full-time students.
First, make sure that the correct cohort is selected. Because we are interested in the 3-year outcomes of the 2020-21 cohort, we have selected that option.
Now we’re ready to review the part-to-whole chart.
We find that 21.5% of our full-time first-year students from the 2020-21 cohort have completed an associate degree within the three years since they entered our institution and another 19.2% are still enrolled at our institution.
We also find that 11.3% transferred to a 4-year institution and are still enrolled there, 3.3% transferred to a 2-year institution and are still enrolled there 2.8% completed a bachelor’s degree at another institution and 1.6% completed an associate degree at another institution. The remaining 40.3% of that cohort are no longer enrolled in higher education.
Now, let’s review the outcomes of part-time students by changing the Attendance filter.
We find that 13.1% of our part-time first-year students from the 2020-21 cohort have completed an associate degree within the three years since they entered our institution and another 16.3% are still enrolled at our institution.
We also find that 8.4% transferred to a 4-year institution and are still enrolled there. 3.2% transferred to a 2-year institution and are still enrolled there, 4% completed a bachelor’s degree at another institution and 1.2% completed an associate degree at another institution. The remaining 53.9% of that cohort are no longer enrolled in higher education.
Let’s summarize what we learned through this exploration. We found that:
- Regardless of cohort, three-year completion rates of full-time students are higher compared to part-time students.
- The gap in completion rates between these student groups has remained consistent for several years.
- For both student groups, completion rates have declined over time.
- The stop out rate for part-time students is higher compared to full-time students.
We encourage you to explore your institution’s PDP dashboards to identify equity gaps between your student populations. This will help identify students who might need additional support.
Thank you for joining us.