Higher Education Gaps Report

A recent congressionally mandated report released by the National Center for Education Statistics documents the scope and nature of a number of differences between sex and racial/ethnic groups in education preparation and achievement, as well as differences in postsecondary access, persistence, and attainment between males and females within and across racial/ethnic.

The Higher Education: Gaps in Access and Persistence Study, also called the Higher Ed: GAPS report, presents 46 indicators grouped under 7 main topics: demographic context; characteristics of schools; student behaviors and afterschool activities; academic preparation and achievement; college knowledge; postsecondary education; and postsecondary outcomes and employment.

The indicators include the most recently available, nationally representative data from NCES, other federal agencies, and selected items from the ACT and the College Board. The indicators provide a range of data that are relevant to a variety of policy issues surrounding gaps in postsecondary access and persistence. In addition, the report contains descriptive multivariate analyses of variables that are associated with male and female postsecondary attendance and attainment. The report draws on multiple sources that represent different years and different populations.

Among other findings, the report found that

* In 2010, the percentage of young adults whose highest level of educational attainment was a bachelor's or higher degree was lower for males than for females overall (27 vs. 35 percent) as well as for Whites (33 vs. 42 percent), Blacks (15 vs. 23 percent), Hispanics (11 vs. 16 percent), and persons of two or more races (30 vs. 35 percent).
* Among beginning postsecondary students who were recent high school graduates in 2004, after controlling for race/ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and other student, family, high school, and postsecondary institutional characteristics, the odds of attaining either an associate's or bachelor's degree by 2009 for males were 32 percent lower than the odds of degree attainment for females. Compared with White students, Black students had 43 percent lower odds and Hispanic students had 25 percent lower odds of attaining an associate's or bachelor's degree, after accounting for these factors.

Poll: China is Ahead of the U.S. and Germany in Use of Technology in Learning

# Chinese students in major cities say they spend more time using technology in school than American and German students

# Global poll respondents believe that technology gives students a more personalized experience that they value, but technology needs are not being met in schools today

# Teachers feel less comfortable using new technologies and social media than their students and want more professional development

Students, teachers and parents say that technology needs are not being met in school today, according to an opinion poll commissioned by Dell. Supporting respondents believe technology makes learning easier, makes teachers more accessible and can give students a personalized learning experience.

In nearly 1,600 interviews with students, teachers and parents in China,
Germany and the U.S., 71 percent of students said they have access to
more advanced technology at home than they do at school. Parents said
they would be willing to provide the technology their kids use at
school, but believe they should have a stipend for the purchase. Despite
this, a majority of students surveyed (51 percent) feel technology can
serve as more of a distraction rather than an enabler. But they also
said the benefits of technology to learning outweigh the potential
distractions. This stands in contrast to parents and teachers who
believe there should be more technology in the classroom, even though a
majority of teachers, including 63 percent in the U.S., say their
students know how to use technology better than they do.

Respondents view a personalized
approach to learning as the most effective approach to education.
Eighty-three percent said technology allows them to create a more
personalized learning experience. However, most students in the U.S. and
Germany indicate they spend two hours per day or less using technology
at school, highlighting an opportunity to integrate technology into more
curriculum areas and provide professional learning for teachers to
achieve truly differentiated instruction.

Highlights from the Dell Education Poll

Who is using technology at school most and for what? Chinese
students in major cities say they spend more time using technology in
school than American and German students. In China cities, respondents
say technology is integrated into more curriculum areas than in the
U.S. or Germany where respondents say technology is most often used
for research. Without this integration, technology in the classroom
can be a distraction. According to Dell, this highlights an
opportunity to more effectively and broadly integrate technology into
learning in the U.S. and Germany.

Are teachers knowledgeable about technology? Many teachers in
the U.S. and Germany said they don’t receive enough professional
development opportunities focused on technology. Their students agree.
Only 40 percent of students in the U.S. and 26 percent in Germany say
their teachers know how to use technology better than they do. This
suggests an opportunity for increasing and improving professional
development opportunities for teachers to more effectively use
technology in learning in and out of the classroom.

Is there a place for social media in the classroom? Social
media is playing an increasing role in the classroom according to
respondents. One in four students say they access social media in the
classroom on a daily basis. However, most teachers in the U.S. and
Germany say they never access social media in the classroom. Chinese
respondents are the most positive about the prospect of using social
media in the classroom. Approximately six in 10 U.S. respondents say
they disapprove of students using social media in the classroom to
share what they are learning, while most respondents in China say they
would approve of social media for this purpose. This demonstrates a
growing need to find a role for social media in learning.

How is technology bridging between home, school and life? Just
half of students say they interact with their school online outside of
school. Most students in Germany indicate they do not interact with
their school online, while a majority of Chinese students say they do.
However, students report that they use technology at home for school
work more than any other activity, indicating an opportunity for more
collaboration between home and school.

Are parents willing to pay more so their children can have access
to technology? Most respondents said parents should receive
stipends to ensure their children have up to date technology for
educational purposes. Additionally, parents across Germany, China and
the U.S. said they would be willing to pay for the technology their
children use in the classroom.

5 Alternative Routes To Middle Class Jobs

There are 29 million jobs that pay middle-class wages (between $35,000 and $75,000 annually). Nearly 40 percent pay more than $50,000 a year, according to the new study released jointly by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce and Civic Enterprises.

There are five pathways that provide career and technical training that lead to these jobs. Altogether, these Career and Technical Education (CTE) pathways account for $524 billion of investment in postsecondary education and training each year.

The study examines each of these five CTE pathways in major detail:

• Associate’s degrees account for 800,000 awards each year. Half of associate’s degrees are related to career-oriented fields, such as nursing, business, and information technology.

• Postsecondary certificates have eclipsed associate’s and master’s degrees as the second most common postsecondary award after the bachelor’s degree—about 1 million are awarded each year.

• Registered apprenticeships account for $6 billion in spending and reach roughly 400,000 Americans. Nine out of 10 apprentices are men and over half of apprenticeships are in construction.

• Industry-based certifications such as Microsoft, Cisco, and CompTIA certifications are test-based postsecondary credentials awarded by employers and account for $25 billion of spending on human capital development.

• Employer-based training represents the largest pathway at $454 billion of spending—$313 in informal training and $141 billion in formal training.

At a time when four out of five postsecondary students are working, these pathways provide students with good jobs that can pay the way to further education. The CTE system is the missing middle ground in American education and workforce preparation. Among students who graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in 2008, 28 percent started at a community college. Twenty-three percent of postsecondary certificate-holders go on to earn at least a two-year degree, the study finds.

The study also finds that, in the postindustrial economy, CTE jobs have shifted from blue-collar jobs to white-collar office jobs and healthcare (one-third of CTE jobs are blue collar, half are white-collar office jobs and another 15 percent are in healthcare). Despite this fact, men still hold 18 out of the 29 million middle-class jobs. For both men and women, the best jobs are in sub-baccalaureate STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and healthcare, where over 80 percent of jobs pay middle-class wages.

“Compared to other advanced economies, the United States underinvests in sub-baccalaureate, career and technical education,” said Anthony P. Carnevale, the Center’s Director and the report’s lead author.

While the U.S. ranks second internationally in the share of workers with a Bachelor’s degree, it ranks 16th in subbaccalaureate attainment. In addition, the U.S. hasn’t increased its sub-baccalaureate attainment since the Baby Boom

Measurement of Literacy Growth in Save the Children's Rural Literacy Programs

At the request of Save the Children, U.S. Programs, POLICY STUDIES ASSOCIATES, INC. is evaluating the participation and literacy achievement of targeted children in the organization's literacy programs, which Save the Children implements in rural communities across the country. POLICY STUDIES ASSOCIATES, INC. has collected and reported on participation and outcome data in each of the first eight years of program operation.

The evaluation found that the literacy programs served a population of children whose average reading skills were significantly below grade level and that those served received Save the Children literacy services on a frequent, consistent basis. It also found that participants improved their literacy skills significantly over the course of the program period, moving closer to grade-level performance and to a greater extent than did similar students in the same schools who did not participate in the program.

The report of the evaluation of programs in the 2010-11 school year is now available here.

Evaluation of the Sponsors for Educational Opportunity Scholars Program

Sponsors for Educational Opportunity (SEO) is a nonprofit organization based in New York City that administers the Scholars Program. The SEO Scholars Program is an academic after-school counseling service that aims to help low-income public high school students gain admission to and graduate from competitive colleges.

In the first evaluation of the program, POLICY STUDIES ASSOCIATES, INC. compared the high school academic outcomes and college enrollment of SEO Scholars to the corresponding high school academic outcomes and college enrollment of a group of similar students. The evaluation found that SEO Scholars outperformed matched comparison students by statistically significant margins on most outcome measures used in the evaluation, including students’ grade-point average, type of high school diploma earned, SAT scores, and the selectivity of the colleges they attended. You'll find the report here.

State and District Receipt of Recovery Act K-12 Education Funds

This report uses Department of Education and publicly-available data sources to examine the distribution of Recovery Act K-12 education funds. In particular, data from Recovery.gov (a new cross-agency website developed to gather and make public reporting on the receipt and use of Recovery Act funds) made it possible to examine both grant and sub-grant award amounts and to track funds at the state and district levels.

Specifically, the report examines (1) how much states and districts received from the Recovery Act and its different programs and (2) whether and how the distribution of funds varied by key characteristics (e.g., child poverty rates) of the recipient states and districts. Findings lay the groundwork for ED's multi-year evaluation "Charting the Progress of Education Reform: An Evaluation of the Recovery Act's Role", which examines the implementation of Recovery Act promoted K-12 education reforms.

Findings reveal:

1. The Recovery Act K–12 education funding provided an average of $1,396 per pupil to individual states, with amounts ranging from $1,063 to $3,632 per pupil.

2. On average, 81 percent of Recovery Act K–12 funding was awarded to local education agencies (LEAs), either through sub-grants from states or through direct grants from ED. In total, 93% of all districts in the nation received Recovery Act funds from at least one program.

3. When states were grouped according to key characteristics, some variations in funding amounts were found. In particular, states with the largest budget shortfalls and states with the highest student achievement received more per pupil ($143 and $159 respectively) than did states with the smallest budget shortfalls and lowest student achievement, even though neither funding formulas nor award criteria emphasized these variables. In contrast, there was less variation when states were grouped by child poverty rates or the percentage of students in persistently lowest-achieving (PLA) schools.

4. Districts with the highest child poverty rates received, on average, twice as much per pupil ($1,369) as did districts with the lowest child poverty rates ($684). Similarly, districts with the highest percent of PLA schools received considerably more ($867) than did districts with no PLA schools ($867).

Big Gaps in Earnings for College Grads

Study Shows Wage Disparities Between Degree Programs and Schools

A new study of the first-year earning power of students graduating from public colleges and universities in Tennessee finds that the school you attend and the major you select can make a big difference in what you earn. In some cases, an associate's degree pays more than a four-year diploma.

The report is the result of a partnership involving the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC), the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development, and College Measures, a nonpartisan organization that provides data and analysis on higher education. College Measures is a joint venture of the American Institutes for Research (AIR) and the Matrix Knowledge Group. The study was funded by the Lumina Foundation.

The findings, which draw upon data not previously available to the public, examine the average first-year earnings of recent graduates from two-year and four-year institutions across Tennessee. The study also compares earnings for graduates from individual degree programs at individual colleges. The report is available on the AIR website. Tools to examine the data can be found on the College Measures and THEC websites.

“This partnership between the Higher Education Commission, the Department of Labor, and College Measures represents a national model of collaboration to provide real-time data that benefits students and their families,” said Richard Rhoda, Executive Director of THEC.

“Students who use the dashboard will be in a stronger position to make an informed decision about their program of study, regardless of their area of interest. In the current economy, this kind of information is a necessity, not a luxury,” Rhoda said.

Mark Schneider, a vice president at AIR and president of College Measures, said, “The goal of this report is to provide information that helps everyone involved in higher education – students and their parents, those who run the institutions, and the policymakers serving the citizens of the state.”

The report found that for all nine Tennessee four-year public campuses, the average wage for graduates with a bachelor’s degree is $37,567. For graduates of the 13 community colleges, the average wage is $38,948, more than $1,300 higher than graduates at four-year institutions. There is a wide range between the highest and lowest incomes of those earning bachelors, associates, and certificates.

Colleges and Universities

Among four-year institutions:

* University of Memphis graduates earned the most, $40,401, while University of Tennessee at Chattanooga grads earned the least, $35,650.
* The average earnings vary widely among the degree programs. Health profession majors were paid an average of $51,000; psychology majors, just under $30,000.
* The bachelor’s degree programs with the highest first-year earnings were health professions from the University of Memphis (almost $60,000) and from UT-Martin (about $59,000). Graduates of these programs earned $5,000 to $10,000 more than graduates with the same degree at other Tennessee campuses. The state’s lowest earning health profession graduates came from Tennessee State University ($46,000).
* The lowest paying degrees were philosophy and religious studies at Austin Peay State University, with a first-year wage of $20,500, and foreign languages at East Tennessee State University, which paid $25,000. Earnings for graduates with the same philosophy and religious studies degree at UT-Martin earned almost $7,000 more than those from Austin Peay State University.

Community Colleges

* Wide disparities in earnings were found among graduates in Tennessee’s community colleges, depending upon the degree and certificate programs taken.
* The average first-year earnings of a graduate with an associate’s degree from Jackson State Community College, almost $43,000, is more than $10,000 higher than the average earnings of a graduate of Pellissippi State Community College.
* There are sharp differences – ranging from $5,000 to $21,000 – between graduates with different degrees. Career and technically oriented associate’s degrees offer higher starting salaries. Tennessee community college graduates with a degree in health professions earned nearly $47,000, while those with education degrees made less than $26,000.
* Depending on the program and school, some certificate-program graduates enjoy initial earnings of more than $40,000. Graduates with a certificate in construction trades from Nashville State Community College earned more than $66,000 during their first year in the workforce, and certificate holders who studied health professions at Columbia State Community College earned more than $50,000.

The study links student records with unemployment insurance data and focuses on the first-year earnings of students who graduated from a Tennessee institution from 2006-2010. The study addresses only graduates employed in Tennessee and their initial wages, which may not indicate long-term earning potential. However, as the authors note, “a state can see which campuses and programs are contributing the most toward building the state’s economy.”

Similar data showing how recent graduates of Arkansas colleges and universities have fared in the labor market are now publicly available on the website collegemeasures.org, a joint venture of the American Institutes for Research (AIR) and the Matrix Knowledge Group. The data includes detailed information on the average first year earnings of graduates, broken down by the institution attended and the degree or certificate earned.

About AIR
Established in 1946, with headquarters in Washington, D.C., the American Institutes for Research (AIR) is a nonpartisan, not-for-profit organization that conducts behavioral and social science research and delivers technical assistance both domestically and internationally in the areas of health, education, and workforce productivity. For more information, visit www.air.org.