Founded in 2009 with a single focus on working with states to:
A SINGLE MISSION
 Work with states to
significantly increase the
number of college graduates
and close attainment gaps
Founded in 2009 with a single focus on working with states to:
Philanthropic Partners
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Lumina Foundation for Education
Carnegie Corporation of New York
Helmsley Charitable Trust
Kresge Foundation
USA Funds


















Arkansas
Colorado
Connecticut
District of
Columbia
Florida
Georgia
Hawaii
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Kentucky
Louisiana
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Montana
Minnesota
Mississippi
34 Members
Alliance Member






DC










Missouri
Nevada
New Mexico
Ohio
Oklahoma
Oregon
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
West Virginia
Wisconsin
Wyoming
College Access
Record Breaking Enrollment
Most Representative Freshman
Class Ever
Over Six Decades of Access
Too few graduate.
12.6% 44.7% 67.8%
2-year college within 3 years
4-year university within 6 years
(non-flagship)
4-year flagship within 6 years
Estimated Bachelor's Degree Attainment
by Income Quartile by Age 24
Bachelor's Attainment
79.1
33.9
10.7
Bottom
15
Second
Third
Top
GAME CHANGERS





Metrics and Performance
Funding
Corequisite Remediation
Full-time is 15
Guided Pathways to Success
(GPS)
Block Scheduling
METRICS AND
PERFORMANCE
FUNDING
Purpose of CCA/NGA Common
College Completion Metrics
• Inform, Analyze, Measure Progress, Hold
Accountable
• Drive Policy Change
Metrics
• Outcomes – degrees, graduation rates, transfer
rates, credits and time to degree
• Progress – retention, remediation, gateway class
success, courses completed, credits accumulated
• Disaggregations – gender, race/ethnicity, Pell,
age, full or part time, degree
•
Not collected by IPEDS
Performance Funding Essentials
 Values outcomes – not just
enrollment
 Creates “conditions for
change”
Performance funding is sweeping America.
COREQUISITE
REMEDIATION
Too many freshmen need remediation.
56%
of those entering a 2-year college
enrolled in remediation
30%
of those entering a 4-year college
enrolled in remediation
Very few complete their gateway courses.
20%
Pass associated gateway course
at 2-year colleges
34%
Pass associated gateway course
at 4-year colleges (non-flagship)
Most remedial students never graduate.
2-yar Associate
14%
2-year colleges
28%
4-year (non-flagship)
Student attrition
is at the heart of
the matter.
Few Ever Get to Gateway
70% of students placed
into remediation fail to enroll
in a gateway course in
two academic years
Guiding Objective
Students complete gateway
courses and enter programs of
study in their first academic year
College mathematics
must be aligned
with programs of study.
College Algebra’s Only Purpose:
Preparation for Calculus
College
Algebra
Calculus
S M
T
E
University System of Georgia
Mathematics Task Force:
“College Algebra was designed
explicitly to meet the needs of
students who are preparing to
take Precalculus and Calculus.”
Align Mathematics to Meta-Majors and Majors.
Provide Academic Support
as a Corequisite,
Not a Prerequisite
One Semester Redesigned Gateway
Extra Time
Gateway
• 45 minutes
after class
• Additional
class periods
Mandatory • Paired
proctored
Tutoring
labs
• 5 weeks prep
Sequenced plus 10 weeks
gateway
content
One Semester Corequisite Results
Institution
Comm. College
of Baltimore
County
Subject
Traditional Corequisite
Model
Model
English
33%
74%
Austin Peay State English
University
49%
70%
11%
78%
8%
65%
Accelerated Learning Model
Quantitative
Reasoning
Structured Assistance
Statistics
One-Year Corequisite
Semester 1
Gateway Content
Academic Support
Gateway
College Success
Skills
Semester 2
Quantitative
Reasoning
Statistics
STEM
One-Year Corequisite Results
Carnegie Statway
Success in gateway math within
one academic year
51.0%
5.9%
Traditional Model
Statway
Aligned and Parallel Support in
Technical Certificate Programs
Technical
Program
Math and
Language
Skills
• Work Keys/Keytrain
• Required, Proctored Lab
• Competency-based,
Self-paced
Traditional Placement
Practices are FAILING
Students
Percent of Students
Current Model Enrolls
Most Students into Remediation
Remediation
70%
Gateway
30%
Student Placement Data
Percent of Students
New Model Enrolls Most in College
Test Prep
or
Technical
Certificate
Gateway Course
with Corequisite
Support
10%
60%
Gateway
30%
Student Placement Data
FULL-TIME
IS 15
TIME IS THE ENEMY.
The longer it takes…the more life gets in the way.
Most students DON’T take the credit hours
necessary to graduate on time.
“Full-time” Students Taking
15+ Credits Per Semester
At 2-year
At 4-year
The Power of 15 Credits:
More students graduate when they complete 30+ credits in their first year.
Associate degree
0–11.9 credits
12–23.9 credits
24–29.9 credits
30+ credits
10%
Bachelor’s degree
0–11.9 credits
27%
12–23.9 credits
43%
24–29.9 credits
62%
30+ credits
21%
37%
69%
79%
Too Much Time to Degree
Of students who graduate…
Full-time
3.6 years
5.2 years
2-year Associate
4.9 years
Part-time
Part-time students take
6.3 years
4-year Bachelor’s
Part-Time Students Rarely Graduate
2-year
4-year
Associate
Bachelor’s
(Non-Flagship)
4%
12%
150% of time
15 to Finish
1. Policies and practices that incent full-time
enrollment (banded tuition, 15 credits cost
same as 12).
2. Communications campaign to push 15 as
full-time and on-time.
3. Education of faculty and advisors
regarding how students actually do better
taking more credits not less.
41
GUIDED
PATHWAYS TO
SUCCESS
Why
GPS?
Students are …
Taking too much time
Taking too many credits
Spending too much money
Not graduating
Too few graduate on time.
4%
2-year college within 2 years
19%
4-year within 4 years
(non-flagship)
36%
4-year flagship within 4 years
Too few graduate.
12.6% 44.7% 67.8%
2-year college within 3 years
4-year university within 6 years
(non-flagship)
4-year flagship within 6 years
Students are taking too many credits.
81 CREDITS
135 CREDITS
133 CREDITS
ACCUMULATED
ACCUMULATED
ACCUMULATED
Associate
Bachelor’s FS
Bachelor’s NFS
60 CREDITS
120 CREDITS
120 CREDITS
46
Behavioral Economics: Choice
Too much choice —
especially uninformed
choice — leads to
indecision or poor
decisions.
Behavioral Economics: Choice
Overwhelmed by Choice
2 Plans Offered
75% Participation
59 Plans Offered
60% Participation
Behavioral Economics: Default
Organ Donation Rates
Austria (OPTOUT)
Germany (OPTIN)
99%
12%
Why
GPS?
1 counselor : 400 students
Behavioral Economics: Default
A substantial number of
people accept — even
welcome — a default
choice designed by
informed professionals.
GPS: Choice Architecture
A design that leads people
to make more informed,
deliberate decisions.
Provides “default choices”
that are in the person’s best
interest given his or her
educational goals
DO
THIS
GPS: Essential Components
1. Default pathways
2. Informed Choice
3. Meta-Majors
4. Academic Maps
5. Milestone courses
6. Intrusive advising
1. Structured, Default Pathways
Built for On-Time Graduation
 Students don’t “discover” the
right path; the academic map is
the default schedule.
2. Informed Choice
 Uses high school performance
and other measures to
recommend broad academic
pathways — “meta-majors”
3. Meta-Majors
 Students must choose a metamajor — broad clusters of majors
STEM
Health Sciences
Social Sciences
Liberal Arts
Education
Business
 No student is “undeclared”
Meta-Major to Majors
 Help students make the big choices
 Once in a meta-major, help students
narrow their study to a major
4. Academic Maps
5. Milestone Courses
 Prerequisite courses are
designated for each semester –
in sequence
 These courses in the sequence
and terms designed in the
academic maps
6. Intrusive/Proactive Advising
 Students must see an advisor if they:
– do not complete the milestone
course on schedule
– fall 2 or more courses behind on
their academic map
– have a 2.0 GPA or less for the
semester
Additional Considerations
 Remediation is embedded or corequisite
 15 credit hours is the default load
 Degree requirements:
Bachelor’s: 120 credits max.
Associate: 60 credits max.
Results
Higher graduation rates
More on-time graduates
Closing the achievement gap
Fewer lost credits — saving time
and money
GPS
SUCCESS
Georgia State University
 Degree maps and intrusive advising
 Graduation rates up 20% in past 10 years
 Graduation rates higher for:
– Pell students, at 52.5%
– African American students, at 57.4%
– Hispanic students students, at 66.4%
 More bachelor’s degrees to AfricanAmericans than any other U.S. university
GPS
SUCCESS
Florida State University
 Since starting degree maps, FSU has cut
the number of students graduating with
excess credits in half
 Graduation rate increased to 74%
– African Americans to 77%
– First-generation Pell students to 72%
– Hispanic students to more than 70%
GPS
SUCCESS
Arizona State University
 eAdvisor system boosting retention and
success
 First-time, full-time freshman retention
rates climbed to 84%
 91% of all students deemed “on track,”
up from 22% three years before
STRUCTURED
SCHEDULES
An Exhausting Balancing Act
 WORK – at least part-time
60% more than 20 hours a week
25% more than 35 hours a week
 FIRST GENERATION STUDENTS
 COMMUTE TO CAMPUS
Study of Structured Programs
Provide a “package deal plan” for attaining
a specific educational goal in a clear
timeframe
 Help students make the “big choices” and
then make all of the small choices for them
 Inform students up front about costs,
workplace outcomes, and time
(Rosenbaum, et.al, 2006)
Essentials of Block Schedules

Full-time, Morning or Afternoon blocks,
 Predictable schedule
 Whole programs choice, not individual
courses
 Student cohorts
 Mandatory attendance
Students want structure…
“That (block scheduling) would be
fabulous – if you knew you could
schedule your courses every semester at
the same time, wouldn’t that be a dream
come true?”
-- Student
Guided Pathways to Success
Perspectives from Indiana College Students and Advisors
Students want structure…
“I actually like that approach because I’ve had
the days where I go to class for an hour, and
then I have two hours off. Well, I really don’t
want to drive home just to drive all the way
back. …I could go into a job and say, “…I can
come in at one thirty or two o’clock and work
with you guys.” I think employers would
appreciate that more.”
-- Student
Guided Pathways to Success
Perspectives from Indiana College Students and Advisors
Where there is structure, there are significant results.
TENNESSEE COLLEGES OF APPLIED TECHNOLOGY
75%
avg. on-time
graduate rate
TENNESSEE COMMUNITY COLLEGES
14%
avg. on-time
graduate rate
Where there is structure, there are significant results.
ASAP PROGRAM
CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK
55%
3-year graduation
rate for associate
degrees
•
Doubled graduation rates using structured
scheduling, whole programs
•
3X higher graduation rate than national
avg. for urban community colleges
Game Changers
Metrics and Performance Funding
Corequisite Remediation
Full-time is 15
Guided Pathways to Success (GPS)
Block Scheduling
www.completecollege.org
Twitter: @CompleteCollege