Where can you find indicators for each state on student preparation for postsecondary education? Student participation in postsecondary education? Workforce and employment?
About this Tool
NPEC is providing support to the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS) for the development of a web-based tool that presents state, and, in some instances, county indicators focusing on the student and the economy. The student-related indicators are now accessible on the web at the NCHEMS’ National Information Center for Higher Education Policymaking and Analysis site free of charge. The Ford Foundation provided initial resources to support the NCHEMS Center, which has indicators in the areas of postsecondary education preparation, participation, affordability, completion and benefits. The information is downloadable and easy-to-use. For example, you can access or download state and county maps and graphs that show the percentage of 18 to 24 year olds with a high school diploma or equivalent. NPEC is continuing its collaboration with NCHEMS by supporting the development of indicators in other key data areas, including indicators of rate of return on educational investments, for both individuals and the public.
Analysts, policy-makers, and anyone interested in state-level postsecondary education data analysis will find this tool available on the web, free-of-charge, at http://www.higheredinfo.org.
What information is available to current and potential students, parents, and guidance counselors to help them make informed decisions about where students will pursue their postsecondary education? What information do these various groups indicate they need and what sources are they using? What information is needed for particular groups of students (traditional, older students, underserved students)? What is the fit between the information that is available and what is needed? What is the process used by students to choose a postsecondary institution? What data are used and needed at each stage of the process?
About this project
This project will help identify the information used and needed by current and prospective postsecondary students; parents, and guidance counselors to help them make informed decisions about postsecondary education institutions.
The project has three primary activities:
- A review of the current literature and research that will: (1) provide information on the theoretical underpinnings of the student college choice decision-making process; (2) examine the research that exists on information and data students and parents use in the college choice decision making process; and (3) determine those areas where there is insufficient information and data for informed college choice decision making;
- A series of focus groups comprised of underserved and nontraditional students; parents, and guidance counselors to identify the information they have used in the college search and selection process, and the information they felt was needed but was unavailable; and
- An analysis of state postsecondary education websites to examine to what consumer information is currently available to students regarding postsecondary education.
Findings from this project will provide input into a related NPEC project, the "State Postsecondary Education Consumer Information Website Pilot Project".
The audience for the project includes postsecondary, state, federal, and institutional policy makers, educators, and school and community counselors.
The National Postsecondary Education Cooperative (NPEC) and the Association for Institutional Research (AIR) recently announced the fifth year of their joint focused grant program. This program is designed to increase understanding and knowledge of a specific issue area identified by the NPEC Executive Committee as critically important to the postsecondary education community. NPEC and AIR plan to award five to ten one-year grants for up to $20,000 for dissertation fellowships and up to $40,000 for other proposals, focused on the theme of underserved and or/understudied students in postsecondary education.
Consistent with the mission of NPEC to promote the quality, comparability, and utility of postsecondary data and information that support policy development at the federal, state, and institutional levels, the NPEC/AIR 2008 Focused Grant Program is designed to achieve the project goal of supporting innovative proposals from the postsecondary education research community that will lead to better data and information at the federal, state, and institution levels about the preparation, access, retention, and success of underserved and or/understudied students in postsecondary education. For the purposes of the focused grant proposals, underserved and or/understudied students are broadly defined and could include either part-time or full-time underserved/understudied students such as inner city students, low income, first generation, rural students, and students of color; adults returning to school; children of immigrants who are foreign-born, students whose dominant language is not English; and students enrolled in for-profit institutions. The authors of the proposals are expected to define the underserved/ and or understudied student population they plan to study and the data they will use to identify and study the student population.
NPEC is interested in studies that focus on such questions as the following:
Unlike the NCES/AIR grant program that supports only research using national databases, this program does not require the use of NCES or NSF databases. The grants can support a variety of research activities focused on underserved/understudied students in postsecondary education, including—
Grant proposals will be due in January 2008 and grants will be awarded in March 2008. Grant recipients will be expected to begin work in June 2008 and 2 copies of a final paper will be due to AIR and NCES (one copy to AIR and one copy to NCES) in June 2009. As a condition of the grant, awardees would be expected to present their paper both at an annual AIR forum and, possibly, at an NPEC activity such as a symposium or data policy forum. Travel to the AIR forum and any NPEC activity would be paid for by NPEC. Recipients will not be expected to pay for travel to the AIR forum or NPEC activity from their grant funds.
Download copies of the final papers from previous years of the NPEC/AIR Focused grant program and the NCES/NSF/AIR grant program (grant year 2005) and (grant year 2006).
Get more information about the AIR Grant Programs and apply for a 2008 AIR Grant.
Research Questions
What data are available at the federal, state, institutional and local school levels that describe postsecondary academic preparation, and how are these data being used by policy makers, practitioners and students and their families to support effective academic postsecondary preparation? What data are needed, but unavailable? What data/information should local education agencies and schools provide to postsecondary institutions? What data/information should postsecondary institutions provide to local education agencies and schools? What data should the states collect and provide to local education agencies and schools and postsecondary institutions? What data should the federal government collect and provide to states and secondary and postsecondary institutions? How can collecting these data be justified in terms of supporting better postsecondary academic preparation? And, what are the measurement and evaluation issues involved in determining the most effective and reliable data necessary for effective postsecondary academic preparation?
About This Project
This project will develop a research-supported, data-driven inventory of the major ways in which academic preparation is defined, measured, and benchmarked, and how these benchmarks are used by secondary and postsecondary practitioners to determine whether students are prepared to make a successful transition from secondary to postsecondary education. The study will explore ways in which these inventoried benchmarks can support and be related to usefully descriptive and understandable levels of academic preparation (e.g., unprepared for postsecondary education, basic postsecondary preparation, advanced postsecondary preparation) within an academic preparation matrix.
Project activities include: 1) Discussions with national K-12 and higher education policy, practice, and research thought leaders to obtain the range of current thinking regarding the dimensions and stages of preparedness for higher education, and the responsibilities for such preparedness; 2) A literature and research review on academic preparation for postsecondary education. The literature review will include both K-12 and postsecondary education perspectives; and 3) A series of focused interviews with selected policymakers and practitioners who are involved with the identification and support of postsecondary preparation. A final report will frame the major preparation issues using the information gleaned from discussions with the thought leaders, information gathered from the literature and research reviews, and the series of focused interviews. The audiences for this study will be K-12 and higher education policymakers, leaders, practitioners, and researchers at local, state, and national levels; as well as parents, students, and the general public.
How can currently available state data be used to provide better information for students and families to help them make decisions about choosing postsecondary institutions? Can these websites be designed to fit and fulfill the needs of diverse populations? How can these systems be marketed so that consumers use them, particularly underserved populations, high school counselors, parents, and individuals outside the educational system, such as adults who might be considering postsecondary education?
About this project
The purpose of this pilot project is to support three states (Florida, Kentucky, and Minnesota) in providing better and more easily accessible information for prospective students and their families, particularly for adults and other underserved populations. The information shall be useful for making decisions about undergraduate postsecondary education, and will recognize the variety of consumer needs and the diversity of institutions within the state. The approach will use currently available state and national data to produce consumer information and develop user-friendly websites that permit customizable searches. The pilot project will determine the feasibility of providing better and more easily accessible information for prospective students and families.
Project outcomes will include a new or upgraded user-friendly website for each state. Each state’s effort will address how underserved populations who need this type of information, but who do not have access to computers, might be served. A pre-launch assessment/evaluation by potential users of the websites in terms of their utility, navigability, ease of use, relevancy of information, and ability to address student and parent questions and/or state-specific specific concerns will also be conducted. The web sites will be designed so that states can evaluate how information is being accessed by individuals, such as, which data elements do they choose first and most often.
This pilot project complements and parallels the NPEC Improving Information for Student Decisions About Postsecondary Education project and will use the results from that study, including focus group findings and other analyses, to provide useful input into the development of the state consumer information websites.
The audience for this project is students, parents, high school counselors, educators, institutions, other states, and other professionals interested in advancing the information provided to postsecondary education consumers.
How do postsecondary institutions code their programs of study? What new fields of instruction have emerged since 2000? How often does CIP need to be updated? What capabilities should a CIP website have?
About this project
Working in conjunction with the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), NPEC has embarked on an update of the Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP). The CIP is a taxonomic coding scheme of instructional programs that is intended to facilitate the organization, collection, and reporting of program completions data using classifications that capture the majority of reportable program completion activity. The CIP was first established in 1980 and was updated in 1985, 1990 and 2000. Since 2000, many new instructional programs have emerged, prompting the need for an update.
NPEC has established a working group consisting of members representing postsecondary institutions, federal and state agencies, and a workforce development agency to advise NCES on adopting new CIP codes, procedures for updating the CIP on a biennial basis, and developing a web site for searching and using CIP codes. The outcomes of this project will include a process for updating the CIP on a biennial basis, an updated electronic version of the CIP, and a website that enables users to search for current and past CIP codes; identify instructional programs that have been added, deleted or moved since the 2000 edition of the CIP; and cross walk 2000 CIP Codes with 2009 CIP codes.
The audience for this project includes postsecondary institutions, state and federal agencies, and federal data users. The 2000 CIP can be can accessed at http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2002165.
