Texas. Complete. Is Texas utilizing game changer strategies to boost college completion? Not fully.

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1 Complete Texas College Is Texas utilizig game chager strategies to boost college completio? Not fully. Performace Fudig Corequisite Remediatio Time ad Itesity Block Schedulig Guided Pathways to Success

2 texas Gets It While some states wait, Texas commits to chage. To iterpret the fidigs of this report as critical of higher educatio i Texas would be simplistic ad require igorig this fudametal truth: Ulike some states, Texas is deeply committed to boostig college completio ad closig critical attaimet gaps. Proof is clearly evidet across the Loe Star state. Closig the Gaps was a groudbreakig call to actio to lift the higher educatio achievemet of all Texas or accept the cosequeces of a shrikig state ecoomy. This uiquely perceptive aalysis established Texas more tha a decade ago as a state that could see the future more clearly tha others. It is ot a exaggeratio to say that Texas was oe of the first to uderstad the imperative of higher skills ad kowledge amid seismic demographic shifts. While some may quibble with the speed of progress sice the, there s o questio that Texas has persistetly moved forward. Iitiatives to boost college completio ca be foud o early every campus. The Texas Legislature has cosistetly sigaled its iterest i icreasig the umber of Texas with quality certificates ad degrees. Ad key busiess leaders i Texas have stregtheed ad uified their calls for reform, establishig their sustaied advocacy as a atioal model for others to follow. Three years ago, Goveror Rick Perry pledged Texas to fulfill the commitmets required for membership i the Complete College America Alliace of States becomig oe of the first chief executives i America to do so. These requiremets are ot for the fait of heart. The goveror is committed to applyig tough, ew measures of studet progress ad success ad movig statewide policies ad legislatio to trasform remediatio ad shorte time to degree. But let s be hoest. The work of college completio is challegig requirig a o-holds-barred aalysis of every facet of higher educatio structure ad delivery. More importat, success demads the sober recogitio that at the most basic level, what we are itedig to accomplish is a reivetio of ceturies-old istitutios that ow must chage to help esure the success of studets who have rarely succeeded i the past. Oly the most committed accept this vital challege. Oly the most serious request a pull-o-puches review of progress to date. Ad oly the most costructive will leverage these coclusios toward positive chage. Complete College America is pleased to provide the eclosed fidigs ad recommedatios because we recogize that whe it comes to college completio, Texas gets it. Copyright 2013 Complete College America. All rights reserved. April 2013

3 CONTENTS The Game Chagers 2 Itroductio 3 Performace Fudig 4 Corequisite Remediatio 8 Time ad Itesity 12 Block Schedulig 16 Guided Pathways to Success 20 DO THIS! 24 Is Texas utilizig game chager strategies to boost college completio? Not fully. 1

4 the game chagers Performace Fudig Pay for performace, ot just erollmet. Use the Complete College America ad Natioal Goverors Associatio metrics to tie state fudig to studet progressio through programs ad completio of degrees ad certificates. Iclude fiacial icetives to ecourage the success of low-icome studets ad the productio of graduates i high-demad fields. Remediatio as a Corequisite, Not a Prerequisite Eroll most uprepared studets i college-level gateway courses with madatory, just-i-time istructioal support. Combie readig ad writig istructio. Alig mathematics to programs of study, matchig the curriculum to real-world career eeds. For the most uprepared studets, provide remedial help parallel to highly structured coursework, elimiatig remediatio as a barrier to etry ito college-level study. Time ad Itesity Cap degree credit requiremets (120 for bachelor s ad 60 for associate) to esure degrees ca be completed o time. Esure college credits ca be trasferred. Icetivize studets to atted full-time ad esure that full-time meas 15 credits per semester. Block Schedulig Help workig studets balace jobs ad school by utilizig block schedulig of classes to add predictability to their busy lives doig so eables may more studets to atted college full-time, shorteig their time to completio. guided Pathways to Success Eabled by techology, eroll all studets i highly structured degree plas, ot idividual courses. Map out every semester of study for the etire program, ad guaratee courses will be available whe eeded. Use built-i early warig systems to alert advisors whe studets fall behid to esure efficiet itervetio. 2 Complete College Texas

5 For more college graduates, it s time for game chagers. Texas kows a thig or two about game chagers those pivotal momets that shake up the status quo ad sigificatly deflect a state s trajectory. Texas history is rich with decisive battles ad dramatic discoveries that i sigle, critical strokes chaged everythig. Game chagers do t spotaeously happe: They are caused by people who act boldly ad decisively i aswer to crucial tests. This, too, is the history of Texas. The challeges facig Texas today are equal to ay it has faced i its extraordiary past. Its future will be determied ot by the stregth of its fortificatios or the expasiveess of its atural resources, but istead by the fully realized itellect of its diverse, hard-workig people. The mids of Texas will secure the future of Texas. Closig the Gaps, the historic predictio of Texas higher educatio eeds, wared that oly by sharply reversig Texas decliig erollmet ad graduatio rates ca the state compete successfully with other states ad atios. That groudbreakig call to actio i 2000 challeged Texas to close college attaimet gaps by Sice the, icremetal steps have bee take ad some progress has bee made. As the Chairma of the Texas House Higher Educatio Committee, Represetative Da Brach, has ofte said, Texas is gettig better just ot fast eough. Texas, like may states, eeds a breakthrough i higher educatio. The times demad game chager strategies that will permaetly bed college completio rates upward ad fially close the gaps strategies that will produce positive results double or triple ordiary outcomes. There s much reaso for optimism: Evidece ca be foud from the State House to campuses across the state that proves Texas are ready to move boldly to boost college completio. Pilot programs ad localized reforms are uder way from border to border. But strategies ca oly be game chagers if they are deployed at scale: Every college campus ad classroom must experiece their impact. All of the higher educatio reform efforts sice Closig the Gaps have prepared Texas for this momet, ad ow it s time to make the big moves. A Texas-sized problem. 14.5% 30.2% Complete a degree/certificate at a 2-year college withi 3 years* Complete a degree at a 4-year uiversity withi 4 years This aalysis commissioed by the College for All Texas Foudatio asks a sigle vital questio: Is Texas utilizig the key game chager strategies to boost college completio? The aswer i short: Not fully. The game chager strategies ecessary for success are prove. The way forward to closig the gaps i Texas is clear. All that remais is a questio of will. * Texas does ot record graduatio rates for o-time completio at two-year colleges. Is Texas utilizig game chager strategies to boost college completio? Not fully. 3

6 GAME CHANGER Performace Fudig $0.00 Today, ot oe dime from Texas taxpayers creates icetives for studet progress ad success. This must chage. Like i most states i the past, Texas taxpayers have supported higher educatio based o oe headcout: the umber of studets erolled o campus o the 12th day of the semester. That s ot etirely uusual, but what is uique is that Texas has take that erollmet sapshot oly oce every two years! To suggest that Texas colleges ad uiversities o loger care about studet attedace durig the other 729 days would t be fair. But it s certaily reasoable to charge that there were few fiacial icetives to do so. As oe higher educatio leader, from aother state, publicly admitted, All we really cared about is whether our studets showed up o day 10. His state like more tha a doze others is implemetig performace-based fudig for higher educatio. Ad so must Texas. Payig for desired outcomes is t a ew cocept ad it s exactly what Texas has always doe. But Texas have oly paid for oe result: erollmet. To achieve the highly educated populatio Texas eeds to esure a strog ecoomy, more is eeded tha studet posteriors i seats. It has bee said that doig so meas focusig o the wrog ed of the studet! Texas studets must make steady progress through college ad must graduate i a reasoable amout of time. Ad these additioal desired results must be tied to higher educatio fudig i Texas. As soo as practicable, istitutios should receive state fudig built ito their base budgets based o factors such as credit accumulatio ad degree completio. But colleges ad uiversities must also be rewarded for maitaiig a commitmet to studet erollmet esurig that the mutually importat objectives of access, progress, ad success are equally valued. Performace-based fudig o its ow will ot guaratee more college graduates. But it is a essetial game chager strategy to esure the ecessary coditios exist for other reforms to succeed. Simply put, moey focuses mids. The cost of dropouts: Taxpayers lose more tha half a billio dollars at 4-year uiversities. $441 millio i state appropriatios ad studet grats $66 millio i federal studet grats Source: America Istitutes of Research, Fiishig the First Lap: The Cost of First Year Attritio i America s Four-Year Colleges ad Uiversities, October Numbers are cumulative cost of first-year dropouts over five years. 4 Complete College Texas

7 Taxpayers lose almost as much at 2-year colleges dropouts cost more tha $350 millio. $302 millio i state appropriatios ad studet grats $59 millio i federal studet grats Source: America Istitutes of Research, The Hidde Costs of Commuity Colleges, October Numbers are cumulative cost of first-year dropouts over five years. Texas is just startig to move o performace fudig. Performace fudig i place Trasitioig to performace fudig Formal discussios o performace fudig No formal activity Source: Natioal Coferece of State Legislatures, Performace-Based Fudig for Higher Educatio, State Activity Details, Is Texas utilizig game chager strategies to boost college completio? Not fully. 5

8 DO THIS: Performace Fudig! STATUS The 83rd Texas Legislature is curretly cosiderig performace fudig for its public colleges ad uiversities. It is vitally importat that this game chager strategy be immediately implemeted to sigal the high priority the state places o achievig icreased studet progress ad success ad to create icetives for the statewide deploymet of other strategies to boost college completio. recommedatios To esure that payig for performace is sustaied over time, desired outcome metrics must be built ito the istitutios base fudig formulas. Whe oly so-called ew moey is used for performace fudig, fiacial accoutability for studet progress ad success disappears i tough ecoomic times. No more ew moey meas o more performace fudig. Make payig for performace the way busiess is doe ot a fleetig momet i time. PROOF POINT Te states have performace fudig programs i place. Six states are trasitioig to performace fudig. Ad 17 states, icludig Texas, are havig formal discussios about adoptig performace fudig. Represetatives from state uiversities ad commuity colleges uder legislative directive have collaborated to create a outcomesbased fudig model that the Texas Legislature is curretly reviewig. The model, if adopted, calls for 10 percet of udergraduate istitutioal fudig to be allocated based o a rollig threeyear average of postsecodary completios ad other measureable studet outcome metrics. Texas uiversities agreed to be fuded o the followig outcomes: 1. Total bachelor s degrees awarded at the istitutio 2. Time to degree: Bachelor s degrees awarded times the istitutio s six-year graduatio rate 3. Bachelor s degrees awarded i fields idetified as critical workforce eeds 4. Bachelor s degrees awarded per 100 fulltime studet equivalets (accouts for part-time ad trasfer studets) 5. Studets who complete their 30th, 60th, or 90th credit hour at the istitutio (addresses studet persistece) 6. Bachelor s degrees awarded adjusted for istructioal costs (accouts for studets graduatig i high-cost degree programs) 7. Bachelor s degrees awarded to studets who meet federal criteria for beig at high risk of droppig out (accouts for graduatig studets requirig additioal support to complete) Texas commuity colleges agreed to these studet success metrics: 1. Completio of developmetal educatio i math ad Eglish 2. Completio of first college-level math or Eglish course 3. Completio of first 15 college credits ad first 30 college credits 4. Completio of a associate degree, certificate, or bachelor s degree (where offered) 5. Trasfer to a geeral academic istitutio after havig completed 15 hours of coursework 6 Complete College Texas

9 STRATEGIES IN ACTION performace fudig at work Te states curretly icorporate performace-based fudig i their higher educatio systems. These are some of the best approaches: Teessee has implemeted the most aggressive performace-based fudig model with 100 percet of state higher educatio fudig allocatio. The state itroduced performace fudig with the Complete College Teessee Act of Performace measures iclude studet retetio, degree attaimet, ad completio of remedial courses. Teessee weights adults older tha 25 ad low-icome studets more heavily, ad fudig formulas are adjusted to address differeces betwee commuity colleges ad uiversities. Ohio has utilized performace fudig sice 2008, ad this year it is highly likely to implemet chages to stregthe it. Goveror Joh Kasich ad the Ohio Higher Educatio Fudig Commissio have outlied plas to tie 100 percet of state appropriatios to studet progress ad success by 2015, thus edig all allocatios based o erollmet. Uder the proposal for four-year istitutios, fudig will be equally portioed betwee course ad degree completios with special weightig for the progress ad success of at-risk ad sciece, techology, egieerig, ad math (STEM) studets. Startig i 2015, commuity colleges will o loger receive state support based o studet headcouts ad will shift all fudig to a mixture of course completios, degree ad certificate attaimet, ad idetified success poits, oe of them beig the successful trasfer of studets to uiversities. Commuity colleges will also be studyig at-risk studet factors, which will also receive additioal weightig i the formula as a icetive for their success. So-called stop-loss protectios agaist fudig cuts for iadequate istitutioal performace will be removed for uiversities ad brach campuses i 2015 ad for commuity colleges the same year, thereby esurig that high-performig uiversities ad commuity colleges reap the full fiacial beefits of their successful reforms. Idiaa s performace-fudig formula has evolved sice 2003 to prioritize overall degree completio, o-time completio, the success of at-risk studets, ad the productio of credetials that support Idiaa s ecoomy. The curret performace metrics fall ito three mai categories: completio, progress, ad productivity. (1) The completio metrics iclude overall degree completio, degrees eared by low-icome studets, ad high-impact degrees i STEM-related fields that are aliged to state eeds. (2) The progress metrics iclude remediatio success ad persistece icetives as studets successfully pass key gateway college-level courses ad reach set credit completio milestoes. (3) The productivity metrics reward icreases i o-time graduatio rates ad improvemets o a metric defied by each college. Idiaa allocated 5 percet (about $61 millio aually) of overall state support for istitutios to performace fudig i the bieial budget. It is aticipated that Idiaa will icrease the percetage of performace dollars to 6 percet ad 7 percet i 2014 ad Sources: Ceter for America Progress, Performace-Based Fudig of Higher Educatio: A Detailed Look at Best Practices i Six States, 2012; Natioal Coferece of State Legislatures, Performace-Based Fudig for Higher Educatio, State Activity Details, Is Texas utilizig game chager strategies to boost college completio? Not fully. 7

10 GAME CHANGER Corequisite Remediatio 62% drop out For more tha half of Texas commuity college studets, college begis ad far too ofte eds i remediatio. Sixty-two percet drop out. These dismal results have bee the orm for decades. That s a usustaiable level of costly ad persistet failure. Ad the 77,000 Texas studets each year codemed to this broke system are t the oly oes harmed: I 2012 aloe, Texas taxpayers spet more tha $72 millio o remedial courses. If ever there was a eed for a game chagig strategy i higher educatio, trasformig remediatio is surely it. Straight-faced defeses of the status quo should be dismissed out of had. Clearly, more Texas eed to come to college prepared to do the work ad high school college prep graduatio stadards must alig with the skills required for college-level courses. But it s simplistic to place all the blame o high schools or to hope for the day whe higher high school graduatio stadards esure all studets are college ready. Coordiated statewide actio is required ow. Too may are beig lost each year i traditioal remediatio approaches that simply do ot work. But, to be crystal clear, improvig remediatio outcomes caot come at the expese of access to higher educatio. To attai the umbers of college graduates Texas eeds to compete, the doors of its colleges ad uiversities must remai ope to all. Uiversal access to the opportuity to build a better life is ot oly a societal value; it s a ecoomic imperative. Fudametal to the success of ay remediatio reform is this: Just as colleges ad uiversities gladly accept tuitio from studets ad the taxpayer support that subsidizes them they must equally accept a obligatio to help studets succeed i college. For too may years, higher educatio has cosidered its job fiished whe ew studets are erolled. After all, it professed, college studets are adults who should be capable of fidig their way to graduatio day. It is that attitude that allowed ucoscioable failure rates to persist for remedial studets ad a blid eye to be tured to the idisputable fact that most studets who start i remediatio ever graduate. Thakfully, ot all adopted this midset, ad as a result, a game chager strategy has emerged that has produced remarkable, prove beefits. Eve better, key architects of this trasformative strategy are Texas ad they are hard at work deployig this chage across the state ad atio. Now is the time to double dow o this game chager i Texas. We call it corequisite remediatio. 8 Complete College Texas

11 Remediatio rates i Texas are troublig at commuity colleges. Percetage of studets erollig at a public 2-year college who require remediatio White Africa America Hispaic 43% 72% 57% Too few Texas remedial studets make it through college-level gateway courses at 2-year colleges. 69% do t complete their gateway writig course (2-year colleges) 87% do t complete their gateway math course (2-year colleges) Texas remedial studets graduate at about half the rate of their college-ready peers rates that are already far too low. Degree/certificate completio i 3 years (2-year colleges) Degree completio i 6 years (4-year uiversities) 18.1% 9.6% College ready Requirig remediatio 65.8% 32.1% College ready Requirig remediatio Is Texas utilizig game chager strategies to boost college completio? Not fully. 9

12 DO THIS: Rremediatio as a Corequisite, Not a Prerequisite Fortuately for Texas, efforts are uder way to sigificatly icrease the success of studets who have traditioally bee cosidered uprepared for college. I 2011, Texas was oe of 10 states to wi Complete College America s Completio Iovatio Challege, which provided a $1 millio implemetatio grat to deploy iovative remediatio reforms. Ad i 2012, the Daa Ceter at the Uiversity of Texas at Austi joied Complete College America, Jobs for the Future, ad the Educatio Commissio of the States to joitly call for the immediate adoptio of the followig prove remediatio game chagers. It s time these approaches become required practices o every campus i Texas.! STATUS recommedatios Erollmet i college-level courses should be the default. Research has show that may, may more studets ca succeed i college-level gateway courses tha are curretly placed ito them. By makig college-level courses the default placemet, traditioal remediatio is tured o its head. Colleges are left to determie why studets should t start i college-level courses istead of why they should be blocked from them. Use multiple measures to determie placemet of studets. High-stakes placemet exams for which studets have ot prepared have bee prove to be poor predictors of college readiess. I a swift stroke based o a sigle test score, thousads of studets i Texas each year are uecessarily set to remedial classes ofte multiple-layer sequeces that bur precious time ad moey ad provide o college credit. Istead, multiple measures should be used to provide a complete uderstadig of studet ability ad fully hoor hard work i high school. These measures ca iclude high school grade poit averages i key skill areas such as Eglish ad math, class rakig, ad ocogitive measures like studet goals ad motivatio. Studets should also be give the opportuity to prepare for placemet exams with practice tests ad test-prep sessios. Itegrate eeded support i collegelevel gateway courses. Start college studets i college courses, ot more high school. Deliver ay eeded remediatio as a corequisite alogside full-credit, collegelevel courses, ot as a prerequisite to them. Depedig o the eeds of studets, three methods are most effective: Sigle-semester corequisite approaches deliver remediatio to studets erolled i traditioal siglesemester, college-level gateway courses. Needed academic help ca be provided by madatory attedace i tutorig sessios or computer labs or by simply addig more time o task by extedig ordiary three-hour gateway classes to four or five hours istead. PROOF POINT Studets i sigle-semester corequisite gateway courses succeed at two to three times the rate of studets i traditioal remedial sequeces. Oe-course pathways stretch commo sigle-semester gateway courses over two semesters istead, beefittig studets i eed of more academic help while esurig them full credit that couts toward degrees. Remedial help is delivered i a just-i-time maer throughout the year. 10 Complete College Texas

13 PROOF POINT Year-log math course pathways have eabled two to four times the umber of studets to succeed i gateway courses compared with those who started i traditioal remediatio oe or two levels below college level. Parallel remediatio is effective for studets erolled i career techical or applied degree programs. Ay academic shortcomigs are addressed i coectio to the program of study, so eeded Eglish ad math remediatio do ot become obstacles to begiig coursework. This approach is prove to work for those with the greatest remedial eeds. PROOF POINT The very successful Teessee Techology Ceters which regularly produce graduatio rates of 75 percet or more utilize ACT WorkKeys to pipoit studets academic shortcomigs. Madatory computer labs ru parallel with the highly structured curriculum to remediate studets to meet the foudatioal skills eeds of their programs of study. I this way, eve uprepared studets graduate o time. STRATEGIES IN ACTION Iovatig Remediatio I 2008, Texas State Uiversity (TSU) Sa Marcos math departmet bega pilotig a statefuded math bridge program kow as Fudametals of Coceptual Uderstadig ad Success (FOCUS). The approach is straightforward: Studets who eed extra help i math are erolled i cocurret remedial- ad college-level algebra courses that require additioal weekly tutorig. Already, FOCUS is becomig a atioal model for scrappig traditioal prerequisite remediatio ad replacig it with the corequisite approach. Durig 2012, early 500 remedial commuity college studets participated i the pilot ad they actually performed better tha studets cosidered college ready. Sixty-oe percet of FOCUS studets completed algebra with a C or better versus 52 percet of college-ready studets. Now, with a $1 millio grat from Complete College America, FOCUS is beig expaded to seve commuity colleges ad six uiversities across the state. The New Mathways Project, a joit iitiative of the Charles A. Daa Ceter at the Uiversity of Texas at Austi ad the Texas Associatio of Commuity Colleges (TACC), is a statewide approach to improvig studet success ad completio by reformig developmetal educatio. The iitiative icludes the developmet ad implemetatio of a set of accelerated mathematics courses matchig the appropriate kid of math to moder programs of study. Built-i support systems help studets more quickly ear college-level credits i rigorous mathematics i compariso to traditioal remediatio approaches. The 10-year partership betwee the Daa Ceter ad TACC offers the opportuity to work directly with the state s 50 commuity colleges, which have agreed to provide seed moey to develop the iitiative, ad it eables collaboratio o articulatio, placemet, ad accreditatio policies. Is Texas utilizig game chager strategies to boost college completio? Not fully. 11

14 GAME CHANGER Time ad Itesity < 30% graduate o time For every 100 Texas uiversity studets, less tha 30 graduate o time. At commuity colleges, almost o oe graduates o time. The cosequeces are clear whe so few studets fiish college o schedule. For starters, the loger it takes to graduate, the more it costs studets ad the taxpayers who subsidize them. I Texas, a extra semester of college costs the typical uiversity studet $3,500 ad a studet at a two-year college $1,100 which is ofte tacked o top of studet loas. Wastig moey is t the oly cosequece of ruig the clock. The loger it takes to graduate, the more life gets i the way. As the caledar turs, studets fid their lives icreasigly take over by jobs, relatioships, marriages, childre, ad mortgages. These happy circumstaces icremetally rob more ad more time ad attetio from studyig ad progress toward academic goals. So, the more life gets i the way, the less likely graduatio becomes. For too may Texas, the ed results are a few years of courses, o degree, ad ofte crushig debts: It is estimated that college dropouts i Texas today carry somewhere betwee $6,500 ad $12,000 i studet loas, depedig o whether they atteded a two- or four-year istitutio. The lastig fiacial burdes of their failure become suffocatig obstacles to success as dropouts discover they caot qualify for good wages ad rewardig careers. For Texas, the corrosive effects of legthy time to degree cascade across the ecoomy: Fewer Texas ear the icomes ecessary to buy homes, cars, ad other ecessities or eve cover the basic costs of educatig their childre or providig their health care. Critical skill gaps wide, employers resist creatig ew jobs or relocate altogether ad Texas falls behid. Time is the eemy of college completio i Texas. The state simply caot attai the college graduates it eeds to be competitive without adoptig polices to sigificatly cut time to degree ad icrease full-time erollmet at a miimum of 15 credits per semester. Cosider these soberig facts: Texas are takig too much time to ear a degree. Associate Should take 2 years Full-time studets take 4.7 years Bachelor s Should take 4 years Full-time studets take 5.3 years Part-time studets take 5.2 years Part-time studets take 6.0 years 12 Complete College Texas

15 Eve whe give twice as much time or more, too few Texas graduate. Full-time Part-time 2-year college completio rates 14.5% 31.1% 7.9% 24.4% withi 3 years withi 6 years withi 3 years withi 6 years 4-year uiversity completio rates Full-time Part-time 58.7% 65.6% withi 6 years withi 10 years 32.2% 43.1% withi 6 years withi 10 years Most Hispaic ad Africa America Texas start at 2-year colleges, ad few graduate eve whe give three times loger. Africa America Hispaic 9.5% degree/ certificate withi 3 years 20.0% degree/ certificate withi 6 years 14.7% degree/ certificate 28.3% degree/ certificate withi 3 years withi 6 years Is Texas utilizig game chager strategies to boost college completio? Not fully. 13

16 DO THIS: Reduce Time to Degree, Icrease Itesity Texas is t ew to this issue. Back i the mid-1990s, the Texas Higher Educatio Coordiatig Board (THECB) published a groudbreakig report flaggig the problem ad itemizig practical strategies for shorteig time to degree. Headig ito the 83rd Texas Legislature, THECB is callig attetio to the fact that the excess hours eared by the uiversity graduates of the 2011 class aloe cost Texas taxpayers a estimated $15 millio. Over time, policymakers have listeed ad chage is happeig. Texas is workig to accelerate time to degree ad reduce excess credit hours through a shared resposibility model betwee the state, istitutios, ad studets. To reduce the likelihood of uecessary credits, uiversities lose their state subsidy whe studets exceed 30 credit hours beyod their credit requiremets. Additioally, studets ca be charged out-of-state tuitio if they take classes with cotet similar or idetical to oes they already have completed or attempted. However, there s still plety of room to do more ad lawmakers ca play a key role. Cosider the followig policies for improvig studet success ad holdig dow costs for taxpayers:! STATUS recommedatios Limit the amout of credits required to ear a associate degree. Texas has already capped bachelor s degree programs at 120 credits, except whe accreditatio or licesure requiremets demad more. That s ot the case with two-year degrees ad the early 100 credits beig eared o average by associate degree graduates proves the eed for a cap. I early all istaces, quality associate degrees ca be accomplished i a maximum of 60 hours ad that reasoable limit should be implemeted i Texas this year. PROOF POINT 20 states ow have credit caps for associate ad bachelor s degrees, ad three states are i the process of addig them. Cut taxpayer subsidy i half for excess credits. Texas taxpayers ow subsidize up to 30 extra credits beyod bachelor s degree program requiremets. That s a whole additioal year o campus uderwritte by taxpayers! It s o woder that bachelor s degree graduates are leavig college with early 150 credits o average whe 120 is almost always eough. Legislators should cut this support i half, sigalig to studets that excess time o campus will be at their ow expese. The same should be doe for associate degree programs. Create icetives for Texas to take 15 to Fiish. The math is pretty obvious: There s o chace of graduatig o time without accomplishig at least 15 credits each semester, or 30 over each academic year. Yet federal fiacial aid policies oly require that studets be erolled i 12 credits each semester to be cosidered eligible for assistace. Most damagig, this stadard has become kow as full-time attedace. Sadly, the situatio i Texas is actually worse: The premier state fiacial aid program, Texas Grats, oly requires 9 credits each semester for eligibility. To shorte time to degree, fiacial aid policies must create icetives for o-time completio. Full-time should mea 15 to Fiish. PROOF POINT I the first year of its 15 to Fiish iitiative, studet erollmet i 15 credits or more icreased by oe-third o Hawai i s four-year campuses. 14 Complete College Texas

17 STRATEGIES IN ACTION accelerated, Affordable degrees The Texas Affordable Baccalaureate Project a ew collaboratio amog the Texas Higher Educatio Coordiatig Board, South Texas College, ad Texas A&M Uiversity Commerce is steppig up to Goveror Rick Perry s challege to offer a low-cost, high-quality degree program. The two istitutios with support from a $1 millio Next Geeratio Learig Challeges grat from EDUCAUSE are bledig cuttig-edge techology with a iovative competecy-based model to create a ew bachelor s degree i orgaizatioal leadership. Lauchig i fall 2013, the program will boost college access ad completio by improvig time-to-degree ad reducig costs. The program focuses o leadership skills applicable i busiess, govermet, oprofit, or educatioal settigs. The degree s first 90 credit hours will be available through olie modules. The fial 30 hours will cosist of upper-divisio, problem-based coursework offered i both face-to-face ad olie formats. Most importat, the program turs the seat-boud, semester-based higher educatio model o its head by allowig studets to demostrate course competecy as soo as they are ready, acceleratig time to degree ad reducig costs. The curriculum will examie fiace, team buildig, coflict resolutio, ad other maagemet skills. South Texas College ad Texas A&M Commerce are amog 10 istitutios respodig to Goveror Perry s call for more affordable degree alteratives. Imagie the potetial impact o affordability ad graduatio rates, ad the umber of skilled workers it would sed ito our ecoomy, Perry said whe aoucig the iitiative i Eve skeptics ackowledge the push for more affordable bachelor s degrees is causig colleges ad uiversities to rethik their approach. The idea has spurred cotiued iovatio, I would say, more i terms of program delivery... rather tha how ca we simply cut costs at every corer, Daiel Hurley, director of state relatios ad policy aalysis at the America Associatio of State Colleges ad Uiversities, recetly told The Atlatic magazie. Is Texas utilizig game chager strategies to boost college completio? Not fully. 15

18 GAME CHANGER Block Schedulig 50% part-time Half of Texas studets atted college part-time to work the jobs they eed to have the educatio they desire. Most will ever graduate. We thik we re doig them a favor. Ad we cogratulate ourselves for allowig studets to take as log as they wat to fiish a certificate or degree. But the data prove the opposite is true: Our good itetios have eabled their failure ad the misery that follows. Most part-time studets will ever graduate. It does t have to be this way. Most studets begi college goig full-time. They re eager to start, ad they imagie the joy they will kow i their caps ad gows. But quickly the cold realities hit them. Broke remediatio classes block their etrace ito college-level work. The courses ecessary to stay o track are t available whe they re eeded or whe everyday life demads will allow. May become wor dow by exhaustig efforts semester after semester to balace the jobs they must work to afford the college they desire. Full-time becomes part-time as courses are shaved off schedules little by little to work more hours to pay the bills. Fiftee credit hours get cut to 12 the to ie ad the to six. Fially, the hours o campus get cut to zero. After years of efforts, most part-time studets drop out. They will suffer the worst of all worlds: high school graduates burdeed with college debts but o degree. Deyig studets part-time erollmet is NOT the aswer. There will always be those who will isist o goig to college part-time. Istead, we must help more studets go fulltime, ad we ca. Begi by acceptig that may studets will eed to work to help pay for college. I fact, data show that they re workig more hours today tha ever before. That s ot a surprise give the high costs of higher educatio. The greatest help we ca provide is straightforward: predictability. Block schedules for example, goig to school every day from 8:00 a.m. to oo or from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. provide the daily certaity that allows easier job schedulig. Goe are the every semester egotiatios with employers ad child care providers. For may studets, goig full-time ow becomes maageable. Ad full-time attedace ca mea that graduatio is twice as likely or more. Wherever block schedulig has bee implemeted, it has bee extraordiarily successful for studets. I Teessee, it has regularly produced graduatio rates of 75 percet or higher for career certificates. I New York, block schedulig has eabled associate degree studets to graduate at double the rate of their peers trapped i traditioal schedules. Simply put, block schedulig is a game chager. Texas should leverage the good itetios that led istitutios to accept limitless parttime erollmet ad redirect that geerosity to make the chages ecessary to deploy block schedulig across the state. 16 Complete College Texas

19 Half of Texas college studets struggle uder exhaustig demads. 50% of studets are part-time, ofte jugglig families, jobs, ad school. 50% of studets atted full-time. Graduatio rates for part-time studets i Texas are tragic. 2-year college completio rate 4-year uiversity completio rate* studets All studets 13.6% 24.4% 30.4% 43.1% Africa America 11.0% 17.3% 21.3% 29.1% Hispaic 11.9% 18.4% 17.8% 31.9% withi 4 years withi 6 years withi 6 years withi 10 years *Fall 2002 cohort, through FY Is Texas utilizig game chager strategies to boost college completio? Not fully. 17

20 DO THIS: Block Schedulig To its credit, the Texas State Techical College (TSTC) system is movig to implemet block schedulig o a limited basis i fall Twety-plus years of data at the Teessee Techology Ceters where graduatio rates soared to 75 percet ad higher i similar career certificate programs strogly suggest that the TSTC should quickly scale block schedulig across all its campuses. Commuity colleges i Texas should do the same ad block schedulig ca also help studets at four-year schools with large umbers of workig ad parttime studets. To be successful, block schedulig utilizes these key elemets:! STATUS recommedatios Full-time erollmet should be emphasized. Full-time studets are much more likely to graduate. Use block schedules to eable more studets to go full-time by desigig five-day-a-week structures i morig or afteroo blocks for example, 8:00 a.m. to oo or 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. This level of predictability makes life easier to maage for workig studets ad studets with childre. Combie block schedulig with whole program choices. Block schedulig is easiest to accomplish whe it is utilized i whole programs of study. Studets should make oe choice of their program of study for example, computer etworkig ad the colleges should make all the other decisios about the ecessary sequece of courses. I this way, studets choose majors, ot idividual courses. The colleges the block the required course sequeces i coheret, coected schedules. This approach has the added beefit of elimiatig commo course choosig errors by studets. Ad istitutios beefit whe they ca predict with ear certaity ofte semesters or eve years i advace the timig ad capacity of required courses eeded to complete chose programs o schedule. Accurately forecastig future faculty ad classroom space demads boosts istitutioal productivity ad esures a more cost effective use of resources. 15 credit blocks are best. To fiish o time, full-time erollmet should mea 15 credits per semester. Block schedules withi programs of study should be costructed to cotai at least 15 credits. The five-day structure of well-desiged block schedules makes accomplishig this much more possible. Studet cohorts boost success. A atural ad very beeficial cosequece of block schedulig is the formatio of studet cohorts. Whe studets i the same program of study move from course to course o the same schedule five days a week, workig groups ad learig commuities of studets commoly form. These iformal alliaces provide vital studet-to-studet support ad a strog sese of coectedess to faculty ad istitutios. Studies have prove that studets are more likely to succeed whe they do t feel aloe. 18 Complete College Texas

21 STRATEGIES IN ACTION block schedulig at Texas state techical college Texas State Techical College (TSTC) will implemet a form of block schedulig at two locatios begiig i the fall 2013 semester. The TSTC approach is iteded to reduce fragmetatio, allowig for more collaboratio ad teamwork to boost skill attaimet ad cotet mastery. I this coected learig approach, studets still atted the same umber of semester credit hours but i larger, less iterrupted segmets. Skills are sequeced i a logical order based o real-world applicatios, likig work ad learig with direct iput from busiess ad idustry. This allows studets greater opportuity to collaborate i authetic, projectbased experieces that emphasize teamwork, critical thikig, problem-solvig, ad commuicatio skills i additio to learig essetial techical kowledge, skills, ad abilities all vital to sustaied employability. As oe employer stated, We hire for hard skills. We fire for soft skills. Addig the cohort model develops a strog sese of commuity, ecouragig studets to support each other ad to iteract regularly with faculty ad staff. These are the skills busiess ad idustry wat ad studets eed to succeed i the classroom, i a career, ad i life. Is Texas utilizig game chager strategies to boost college completio? Not fully. 19

22 GAME CHANGER Guided Pathways to Success 30+ excess credits Texas graduate with a full year or more of uecessary credits. Taxpayers waste millios. So do studets. Nearly 100 credits are eared o average for a associate degree whe oly 60 is the stadard. Bachelor s degree graduates are leavig campus with early 150 credits istead of the customary 120. Ad these astroomical excess credit couts do t eve iclude the time Texas spet i remediatio. If awards were give for time ad moey wasted o uecessary college credits, Texas would truly be the loe star. Accordig to data collected by Complete College America, o other state matches the magitude of Texas excess college credit problem. Excess credits are those eared beyod what is ecessary to complete a chose program of study. They are ofte the result of poor choices made whe studets mistakely eroll i courses that do t cout toward chose majors. Broke trasfer policies ca also force studets to retake previously eared credits o ew campuses. Excessive credit requiremets for degrees ca cause credit couts to creep skyward as faculty pile o more ad more compulsory courses without removig others. Ad excess credits ca also be the remats of extraeous courses take whe studets ca t get madatory courses eeded for majors. To maitai fiacial aid, these studets ofte egage i a expesive swirlig i place as they bur time ad moey o campus waitig for eeded courses to appear agai. Of course, exorbitat credits ca also represet directioless waderig of the course catalog i aimless odysseys of self-discovery. There s othig wrog with fidig oe s future o a college campus, but it would be difficult to choose a more expesive method or veue. Regardless of the causes, there s o disputig that Texas has a Texas-sized excess credit problem. Thakfully, the state eed look o farther tha Arizoa, Florida, or Teessee to fid a game chager solutio: guided pathways to success. By buildig highly structured degree plas as default pathways to o-time graduatio, Texas ca place every college studet o roads to success. No loger will studets be cosidered uclassified or udeclared. All will kow the way forward to graduatio day ad semester by semester plas will be laid out before every studet. As importat, studets have o choice but to remai o their chose degree pathway: They must ask permissio to deviate from it. Cosider this game chager a mutual guaratee betwee studets ad colleges. Studets pledge to stick to their degree plas, maitai at least 15 credits every semester to fiish o time, ad accomplish all milestoe courses alog the way. Colleges promise to watch studet progress closely, usig techology-eabled alert systems to target itrusive advisig whe it s most eeded ad guaratee that studets will always have access to essetial courses wheever they are eeded alog the studets chose degree plas. Colleges ad uiversities i Arizoa, Florida, Georgia, New York, ad Teessee have demostrated the effectiveess of this game chager: Graduatio rates have soared ad attaimet gaps have virtually disappeared. Texas ca be amog the first states to reap the beefits of scalig guided pathways to success. 20 Complete College Texas

23 Texas are takig too may credits, ad these overages do t eve iclude remediatio courses. 98 credits attempted 147 credits attempted 60 credits stadard 120 credits stadard Associate Bachelor s Every year, Texas waste millios of dollars ad thousads of hours o uecessary courses. $57 millio spet o excess credits* $42 millio for 2-year colleges $15 millio for 4-year uiversities *The cost to taxpayers of excess credits for 2011 graduates aloe. Is Texas utilizig game chager strategies to boost college completio? Not fully. 21

24 DO THIS: Guided Pathways to Success (GPS) recommedatios Implemetig a successful GPS strategy requires a all i commitmet to several essetial compoets. Whole programs of study. Studets choose coheret academic majors or programs, ot radom, idividual courses. I this way, a clear path to o-time completio is prepared for studets, semester by semester, all the way to graduatio day. Iformed choice ad meta majors. Colleges utilize a rage of iformatio such as past performace i high school to provide recommedatios to studets about programs of study that match their skills ad iterests. With this iformatio, studets ca make more iformed choices amog a set of iitial broad academic pathways that ultimately lead to academic programs. For example, first year studets would choose a meta major i a broad area such as sciece, techology, egieerig, ad mathematics (STEM); health care; busiess; liberal arts; educatio; or social sciece. As studets progress, the pathways arrow ito more specific majors such as chemistry, accoutig, psychology, ad ursig. PROOF POINT Sice startig degree maps, Florida State Uiversity has cut i half the umber of studets graduatig with excess credits. Ad the graduatio rates for Africa America, Hispaic, ad Pell studets ow exceed 70 percet. Default pathways. Studets remai o their chose path uless give approval to chage by a advisor. Studets ca chage their pathway or major but ot without permissio. Exploratio outside oe s major is still allowed ad eabled as itetioal ivestigatio, replacig aimless waderig. Studets stay o track for graduatio ad fully uderstad the time ad moey cosequeces of makig a chage. PROOF POINT At Arizoa State Uiversity, 91 percet of studets are ow cosidered o track i their programs, up from just 22 percet three years before. Milestoe courses. Degree pathways cotai critical milestoe courses that must be completed each semester to certify studets are o track. Not oly do these courses provide realistic assessmets of studet progress; milestoes give studets early sigals about their prospects for success i a give field of study. This elimiates the problem of studets puttig off challegig courses util the cosequeces of chagig majors become too damagig ad costly. PROOF POINT At the City Uiversity of New York, structured degree plas have produced graduatio rates three times higher tha the atioal average for urba commuity colleges. 22 Complete College Texas

25 Itrusive, just-i-time advisig. Iovatios i techology ow allow studet support to be targeted ad customized to meet the eeds of idividual studets as colleges ca more effectively moitor studet progress. Early warig systems make it easy for istitutios to track studet performace i required courses ad target itervetios whe they are most eeded. Academic advisors ca focus attetio almost exclusively o studets most i eed of services istead of spreadig themselves thily over burdesome caseloads. PROOF POINT Pell, Africa America, ad Hispaic studets ow graduate at higher rates tha the overall studet body at Georgia State Uiversity. STRATEGIES IN ACTION iovatig Guided Pathways Accelerate TEXAS a fast-track iitiative spearheaded by the Texas Higher Educatio Coordiatig Board has helped more tha 2,500 adult basic educatio studets ear certificates i high-demad sectors, icludig health care, maufacturig, costructio, ad trasportatio. The goal: Get ahead of ecoomic ad workforce-developmet projectios, which idicate at least 60 percet of Texas jobs will require a certificate or college degree by This highly structured program targets adult learers who lack the readig or math skills, ad ofte a GED or high school diploma, ecessary to eroll i a typical career ad techical educatio (CTE) program. It offers studets a oe-ad-a-half- or two-year optio for completio, ad studets kow from day oe what courses they will be takig ad whe. The program co-erolls studets i basic skills support classes ad/or GED (if eeded) with the CTE course, brigig studets ito CTE courses faster ad givig them the ecessary academic, career, ad case maagemet advisig support to get them through the program ad ito jobs faster. So far, 19 commuity colleges across Texas are participatig i Accelerate TEXAS. To address the acute physicia shortage i the Rio Grade Valley, i fall 2012 the Uiversity of Texas (UT) at Browsville lauched a ew biomedical degree. The degree is part of the Uiversity of Texas System s Trasformatio I Medical Educatio program, which eables studets to complete the first three years of their udergraduate degree at UT Browsville ad the last three years of the program at medical schools i the UT system. This iovative program elimiates traditioal lecture courses; is modular ad competecy-based; features itesive metorig ad problem-based learig; ad compresses studets time to graduatio from the traditioal four years to three, propellig them rapidly toward medical ad professioal schools. Eterig freshme are assiged to a five-studet learig commuity cohort, which is supported by a faculty metor throughout the program. Although oly i its secod semester, UT Browsville s iovative degree shows promise as a model for icreasig studet achievemet. Studets i the program are earig higher grade poit averages (2.61) tha the geeral UT Browsville freshma populatio (2.12), have higher course completio rates (83 vs. 74 percet), ad are erolled i more hours per semester (15.9 vs. 11.7). Is Texas utilizig game chager strategies to boost college completio? Not fully. 23