BSU Retention, 6-Year Grad Rates Soar

It’s a big ship to turn, but Boise State personnel are making significant progress in retention and graduation rate among their undergraduate students. BSU’s retention rate from freshman to sophomore year has improved by 13 percent in the past decade, from 62% for the class of 2003 to 75% for the class of 2013. The First-time Full-time 6-year graduation rate, as reported to the National Council for Education Statistics and featured on the College Navigator site, increased by 9% from the class of 2006 to the class of 2008, and is up 15% over the last 9 graduating classes.

In fact, the graduation rate improvement is among the best in the nation among 4-year schools. If you think about a 9% gain in terms of an entering class of 5000 at BSU, that’s 450 more 6-year graduates in 2014 than in 2012. Exciting news for Treasure Valley students and parents.

When comparing to peer institutions in the west, BSU’s grad rate growth outpaced Portland State University (+4%), and Fresno State University (0%), and was higher than every peer institution to which BSU compares itself.

Other Idaho universities made growth as well, as you can see in the chart below:

Boise State Vice President Dr. Sharon McGuire illuminated some of the process improvements made at BSU which have likely affected retention and graduation rates, many of which came from the recommendations of a Student Success Task Force in 2005. Here are a few of the actions taken:

• Hiring a person to oversee the undergraduate experience at BSU
• Increasing course capacity to support progress toward degrees
• Developing waitlists for students wanting to take courses that were full
• Requiring advising sessions for all first year students
• Promoting a “Finish in Four” program to encourage students to complete their degrees in four years. 
• Adding additional advisor positions to support general and college-based advising
• Expanding the new student summer orientation to a two-day overnight experience to build community and focus on academics
• Increasing opportunities for first-year seminars, leaning communities, and residential colleges
• Developing early warning systems in a number of first-year courses to identify and support students who are struggling
• Restructuring early math courses to increase student time with instructors, increase instructor preparation and training, and better assess current student knowledge.
• Prompting students to review their Academic Advisement Report at 30, 60, and 90 credits to keep students on-track for graduation. 
• Enhanced academic support in traditionally difficult courses by offering peer facilitated session 
• Contacting students who are eligible to enroll but have not to inquire about barriers which might be impacting their registration.
• Offering faculty development activities through the Center for Teaching and Learning and college-based initiatives to help foster student learning and persistence.

Clearly, the folks at BSU would say that more improvement is needed. But what they’ve put in place is working, and benefitting students. Congrats, Boise State!

Century Scholars - From Here They Can (and DO) Go Everywhere

For the past nine years, the Boise District has honored top students at Boise high schools with the Century Scholars award. These students, who have the highest weighted grade point averages (gpa) at their respective high schools, receive a medal and a certificate and are asked to choose teachers who have had a significant impact on their lives. These “distinguished educators” are honored along with the students. The ceremony typically takes place in April of each year and is sponsored by the Rotary Clubs of Boise.

It’s interesting to look at the characteristics of these top students in the Boise District. What follows is an analysis of the 2012-13 class of Century Scholars. This post focuses on the students from the four traditional Boise high schools.

Grades and Advanced Coursework

The eighty-four (84) students (representing the top 5% of the class of 2013) sported an average weighted gpa of 4.27. The Boise District gives credit for Advanced Placement coursework on a 5-point scale, while credit for all other classes is on a 4-point scale. The Scholars took an average of 10 Advanced Placement courses. Two students took 18 AP classes, 1 took 17, and 3 took 16. 40 of the students took Calculus AB and BC, and another 32 took Calculus AB as their capstone math course.

College Entrance Examinations and Activities

The average ACT composite score from this group was 31 (the ACT is scored on a 36 point scale) which was at the 97th percentile on the ACT scoring scale. There were three perfect ACT scores from this group, and 22 Scholars scored 33 or higher, at the 99th percentile nationwide.

On the SAT Critical Reading subtest, the average score was 645, or about the 90thpercentile nationwide. There were 5 perfect Critical Reading scores from the Scholars. In math, the average of 687 is at about the 92nd percentile, and there were 6 perfect math scores. The writing average was at 639, at the 89thpercentile. The average composite score for Century Scholars was 1971, or about the 92nd percentile. The maximum composite score on the SAT is 2400. Twelve scholars scored above 2220, at the 99th percentile.

Century Scholars participated in all sorts of school activities and classes outside of Advanced Placement – from leadership to varsity athletics, chamber and jazz orchestra to ceramics, from debate to journalism, taking full advantage of the offerings of an elite public school system.

College Destinations

In terms of post-secondary choices, Class of 2013 Century Scholars enrolled in college in 21 states and the District of Columbia. Some stayed close to home – 17 (20%) stayed in Idaho; 7 at BSU, 3 each at the University of Idaho, the College of Idaho, and Idaho State University, and one at BYU-Idaho .

The majority of Scholars chose the northwest and the western United States for their pursuits – 5 attended in Oregon, 5 in Washington, 5 in Montana, 2 in Colorado, 11 in California, 6 in Utah, and 4 in Arizona. Others traveled across the country – 2 to the District of Columbia, 4 to Massachusetts, 2 to Maine, 4 to New York, and 2 to Pennsylvania, while two left the mainland for Hawaii.

A number of students are attending the most elite schools in the country. Georgetown, the University of Chicago, Brown, Harvard, MIT, Tufts, Duke, Columbia, Penn, Cornell, Carnegie Mellon, Santa Clara, and Stanford are among the destinations of 2013 Century Scholars.

Other Scholars are enrolled at some of the most prestigious liberal arts colleges in the U.S. – Grinnell (IA), Bowdoin and Colby (ME), Carleton (MN), Oberlin (OH), Lewis and Clark, Reed and Pacific (OR), and Whitman (WA) are included.

In 2013, two Scholars received appointments at military academies, one to The United States Military Academy at West Point, and the other at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.

Wherever our Century Scholars choose to enroll, they bring an excellent academic record and a well-rounded background to their college and university experiences. They are truly an impressive group.

Classes of 2007 and 2008 - Degrees Obtained

We now have data further illustrating the degrees obtained and major areas for members of the high school graduating classes of 2007 and 2008. Instead of just “first-time full-time” grads, these data are for all students in those classes who have obtained certificates, Associate degrees, and Baccalaureate degrees.

For the class of 2007, we have data for 6 ½ years after high school graduation. 43 students have obtained Associate’s Degrees, 25 have Certificates, and 471 have four-year degrees. For the class of 2008, (5 ½ years out from high school graduation), 40 have Associate degrees, 31 have Certificates, and 498 have four-year degrees.

Of the 56 certificates reported by colleges for the classes of 2007 and 2008, 39 came from Carrington College of Boise (College of Western Idaho came into existence after these classes began their college journey). 36 of 56 certificates were in areas of medicine (Medical Assisting and Dental Assisting were the most popular certificates).

Of the 83 Associate’s Degrees earned by the classes of 2007 and 2008, 24 came from Boise State University and the College of Western Idaho; the remainder were from colleges scattered around the region and the country.

969 four-year degrees have been earned by the classes of 2007 ad 2008. Here is the distribution of four-year degree major areas for those graduates:



Of the BSD 4-year college grads, 284 (29%) graduated from Boise State University. Here is the distribution of majors among the BSU grads:



167 (17%) of the BSD grads matriculated from the University of Idaho. Here's a chart showing the major areas for those students:



In November, we'll have 5 years of data from the high school class of 2009, and additional information about 2007 and 2008. We'll add those data into the mix, in order to continue tracking college destinations and majors.

Update
To date, 32.3% of the Class of 2007 have received a 2 or 4 year degree or a certificate from a college or university. For the class of 2008, the figure is 29%. College matriculation rates for every state are available at the National Council for Higher Education Management Systems site. These graduation rates are about three times those claimed in the Idaho Business for Education Field Guide to Education in Idaho on the Don't Fail Idaho website.

Boise District Students' College Destinations

With the help of National Student Clearinghouse data, we have been able to track Boise District hs graduates' college progress much more accurately, beginning with the high school graduating class of 2007. We know that we have made consistent progress in increasing the college-going rate of our grads.



Boise District "Direct to College" rates have increased from 53% to 60% since 2007. Latest data from the Higher Ed Information website show that between 2008 and 2010, the college-going rate for Idaho actually dropped from 49% to 45%.

Sixty-seven (67%) of Class of 2013 students who went directly to college the fall after high school graduation went to in-state colleges; 33% went out of state. The most popular destinations for the class of 2013 were BSU (29%), CWI (16%), and the University of Idaho (12%).



Class of 2013 students enrolled in colleges in 35 states and the District of Columbia. The most popular out-of-state colleges were the University of Utah (25), Brigham Young University and Utah State University (16), and Montana State University (13).

Just to give you an idea of the far-and-away travels of our students, here are some colleges attended by class of 2013 grads: Tufts (MA), 2, Cal-Berkeley, 2, Oberlin (OH), 3, Penn, 2, Baylor, 2, Santa Clara, 3, Brown (RI), 1, Duke, (NC), 1, Harvard (MA), 1, MIT, 1, Georgetown (DC), 1, Stanford, 2, Puget Sound, WA, 2, Nebraska, 2, Furman, (SC), 2, NYU, 3, Colorado, 3, Washington, 3, Alaska-Fairbanks, 1, and BYU-Hawaii, 4. Aloha!