Measuring the Education Level of California Community College Students’ Parents: Current Status...

Measuring the Education Level of California Community College Students’ Parents: Current Status and Preliminary Findings

Tom Leigh, Ph.D.Atsuko Nonoyama, Ph.D

Research, Analysis, and AccountabilityTechnology, Research & Information Systems

California Community Colleges Chancellor’s Office

• Parent Education Data Element• Data Completeness• First-Generation • Definition• Characteristics• Educational Outcomes

TOPICS

Parent Education Data Element

Data Entered by Students at CCCApply

Student Profile Section

Parental Education Defined in CCCApply

Instruction:

“Regardless of your age, please indicate the education levels of the parents and/or guardians who raised you.”

Data Entered by Students at CCCApply

Student Profile Section

Parental Education Defined in CCCApply

Supplementary Instruction:

“For the two parents, other family members, and/or guardians who in your belief played the largest roles in raising you, please indicate the highest level of education that you believe each attained.”

Coding Meaning1 Grade 9 or less2 Grade 10, 11, or 12 but did not graduate3 High school graduate4 Some college but no degree5 AA/AS degree6 BA/BS degree7 Graduate or professional degree beyond a BA/BSY Not applicable, no first (or second) parent/guardianX Unknown / Unreported

Position 1 – Parent/Guardian 1Position 2 – Parent/Guardian 2

Values Available for Parental Education Field (SG09)

* Handout

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 X Y1 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 1X 1Y2 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 2X 2Y3 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 3X 3Y4 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 4X 4Y5 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 5X 5Y6 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 6X 6Y7 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 7X 7YX X1 X2 X3 X4 X5 X6 X7 XX XYY Y1 Y2 Y3 Y4 Y5 Y6 Y7 YX YY

81 Possible Combinations

Parent/ Guardian

#1

Parent/Guardian #2

Highest Educational Level of the Parents:

Simplify!

• Grade 9 or less • Grades 10, 11, or 12 but did not graduate• High school graduate• Some college but no degree• Associate degree• Baccalaureate degree• Graduate or professional degree beyond a BA/BS • Unknown/Unreported/Not Applicable

* Handout w/ SAS coding

Data Completeness

Where are we now?

1) Students enrolled first time in higher education between Summer 2012 & Spring 2013 (n=251,828), in all CCCs

2) Both credit and non-credit students

3) Counting ‘Y’ (not applicable) as valid while ‘X’ (Unknown/Unreported) as missing

4) Including only students who attended at least one course

Data Examined for Completeness

Results

College-level

- The college with most complete data reported 94% with valid data- 52 colleges (=about half) reported no valid

data

- The median was 0.4%, mean was 19%

Not Ready For Prime Time!

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 1000

20

40

60

80 74

6 7 6 3 62 5 7

2

% of Students with Parental Ed Data

Num

ber o

f Col

lege

s College N=118

Distribution of Colleges Based on Percent of Students w/ Valid Parental Ed Data

* Handout

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 1000

20

40

60

8082

3

76

8

Fall 2012Spring 2013

% of Students with Parental Ed Data

Num

ber o

f Col

lege

sTrend: Students Enrolled in Fall 2012 vs

Spring 2013

Student-level- 22.4% (=56,530/251,828) had valid parental

education data reported

- 10 colleges with largest # of valid data accounted for 64% of the reported data

- Non-credit students are much less likely to have parental education data reported

More on Completeness of Data

Credit vs. Non-credit Students

Credit Non-credit0

20

40

60

80

100

74.793.5

25.36.5

W/ dataMissing

Perc

ent o

f Stu

dent

sStudent N= 251,828

Data for Continuing Students?

After the first term

After 1 year0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

76.4 74.3

23.6 25.7

W/ DataMissing

Perc

ent o

f Stu

dent

s 2%

Fall 2012 first-time students are followed for 1 year…

Of the students whose parental education data are available,

what do data look like?

Distribution of Parental Education (*Highest)

Parent Education Level Count PercentGrade 9 or less 6,123 10.8Grades 10,11,or 12 but did not graduate 4,814 8.5High school graduate 12,505 22.1Some college but no degree 9,844 17.4Associate degree 5,172 9.1Baccalaureate degree 10,015 17.7Graduate or professional degree 7,267 12.9Not applicable, no parent/guardian 790 1.4

All 56,530 100.0

'

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

10.8 8.5 22.1 17.4 9.1 17.7 12.9 1.4

Grade 9 or lessGrade 10, 11, or 12 but did not graduateHigh school graduateSome college but no degreeAA/AS degreeBA/BS degreeGraduate or professional degree beyond a BA/BSNot applicable, no second parent/guardian

AA/AS or HigherLess than AA/AS

Using The Parent Education Data Element:First-Generation College Students

“Uncertain Climbers”(Richard and Skinner, 1992)

• Female (Nomi, 2005)• Older (Engle, et. al, 2006 )• Rely on financial aid (Nunez & Cuccaro-Alamin,

1998)• Less academically prepared for college (U.S.

Department of Education 2008). • Under-represented minority.

Selected First-Generation Characteristics:

• Less likely to persist into the second year (Chen & Carroll, 2005)

• Complete fewer academic credits (Pascarella, • et. al., 2003) • Less likely to successfully complete coursework

(Davis, 2010)

Selected First-Generation Characteristics (cont’d):

• less than a bachelor degree• less than an associate degree• no postsecondary education

Variable Definitions of First-Generation

Options Grade Nine Or Less

Grades 10,11,or 12 But Did Not

Graduate

High School Graduate

Some College No

Degree

Associate Degree

Baccalaureate Degree

Graduate or Professional

Degree

Option 1 First Generation

First Generation

First Generation

First Generation

First Generation College College


First Generation

First Generation

First Generation College College College


First Generation

First Generation College College College College

Options Grade Nine Or Less

Grades 10,11,or 12 But Did Not

Graduate


Some College No

Degree

Associate Degree


Graduate or Professional

Degree


First Generation

First Generation

First Generation College College College

First-Generation Student Definition:• less than an associate degree

First-Generation Counts and Percentages*Status Count Percent

First-Generation 19,256 60.7Non-First-Generation 12,458 39.3All 31,714 100.0* Fall 2012 first-time student with valid parent education value.

Caveat: Although these findings are helpful in assessing the construct validity of the Parent Education data element they are not generalizable to the CCC system due to missing data.

All (N=31,474)

First-Generation (N=19,118)

Non-First-Generation (N=12,356)

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

50.6 48.7 53.7

49.4 51.3 46.3

First-Generation Status by GenderFirst-Time Students Fall 2012

FemaleMale

All (N=27,455)



0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

3.5 3.3 3.93.8 3.5 4.44.3 4.3 4.44.1 4.3 3.8

11.7 12.4 10.6

72.4 72.1 72.9

First-Generation Status by Age Group First-time Students Fall 2012

18-1920-2425-2930-3940-4950-70

All

(N=31,425)

First-G

eneration

(N=19,099)

Non-First-G

eneration (

N= 12,326)0%

10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100%

31.0 21.046.4

0.40.5

0.34.9

3.7

6.844.2 57.3

23.8

11.6 9.2 15.40.3 0.3 0.47.5 7.9 6.8

First-Generation Status by Race-EthnicityFirst-Time Students Fall 2012

African AmericanAmerican IndianAsianHispanicMulti-RacePacific IslanderWhite

Graduate or Professional Degree


Associate Degree

Some College No Degree


Grades 10,11,or 12 But Did Not Graduate

Grade Nine Or Less

All

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

20.5

19.6

35.4

41.6

48.7

74.2

87.4

44.2

53.5

47.2

37.0

31.9

25.5

8.8

3.5

31.0

Parent Education Level by Race-Ethnicity N = 31,425

African AmericanAmerican IndianAsianHispanicMulti-RacePacific IslanderWhite

All (N=31,662)



0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

43.931.8

65.6

56.168.2

37.4

First-Generation Status by Financial Aid ReceiptFirst-Time Students Fall 2012

YesNo

Educational Attainment:• Developmental Course Enrollment• Persistence Fall-to-Fall• Course Retention• Course Success• Units Earned

All

(

N=22,683)

First-

Genera

tion

(N=1

4,019)

Non-First

-Gen

eration (N

=8,664)

0%20%40%60%80%

100%

32.8 24.945.6

67.2 75.154.4

First-Generation Status by Developmental Course Enrollment*First-Time Students Fall 2012

Terms Fall 2012 through Fall 2013

YesNo

*Developmental course defined with 2014 Scorecard cohort criteria.

All

(N

=30,542)

First-

Genera

tion

(N

=18,823)

Non-First

-Gen

eration (

N=11,719)

0%20%40%60%80%

100%

36.8 38.5 34.3

63.2 61.6 65.7

First-Generation Status by Fall-to-Fall Persistence First-Time Students Fall 2012

YesNo

All (N=254,788)

First Generation (N=152,258)

Non-First Generation (N=102,530)

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

12.55 13.49 11.15

87.45 86.51 88.85

First-Generation Status by Course RetentionFirst-Time Students Fall 2012


YesNo

All (N=254,788)



0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

31.9 35.027.2

68.1 65.072.8

First-Generation Status by Course Success First-Time Students Fall 2012


Yes

No

All (N=78,952)



0.0

1.0

2.0

3.0

4.0

5.0

6.0

7.0

8.0

9.0

7.5 7.27.9

Average Units Earned Per Student Per SemesterFirst-Time Students Fall 2012

Major Terms Fall 2012 through Fall 2013

Summary of FindingsNo Effect• Age• Course Retention

Small-to-Moderate Confirming Effects• Gender• Persistence Fall-to-Fall• Course Success• Average Units Earned Per Semester

Large Confirming Effects• Race-Ethnicity• Financial Aid Receipt• Developmental Course Enrollment

Future Directions• Continue to improve the completeness and

quality of the Parent Education Level data element.

• Include the First-Generation subgroup in routine reporting of student demographics and educational outcomes.

• Analyze subgroups within the Parent Education data elements.

Thank You.

Questions or Comments?

ReferencesChen, X. & Carroll, C. D. (2005). First-generation students in postsecondary education: A look at their college transcripts. Washington, DC: U. S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Davis, J. (2010). The first-generation student experience: Implications for campus practice, and strategies for improving persistence and success. College Student Education International. Sterling, VA. Nomi, Takako. (2005). Faces of the future: A portrait of first-generation community college students. American Association of Community Colleges. Washington, DC

Nunez, Anne-Marie, Stephanie Cuccaro-Alamin. ( 1998). First generation students: Undergraduates whose parents never enrolled in postsecondary education. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).

References cont’dPascarella, E., Wolniak, G.C., Pierson, C.T., & Terenzini, P.T. (2003). Experiences and outcomes of first-generation students in community colleges. Journal of College Student Development, 44, 420-429. Engle, J., Bermeo, A., & O'Brien, C. (2006). Straight from the Source: What works for first-generation college students. The Pell Institute For The Study of Opportunity In Higher Education . Washington, DC

Richardson, R.C., & Skinner, E.F. (1992). Helping first-generation minoritystudents achieve degrees. In L.S. Zwerling & H.B. London (Eds.), First-generation students: Confronting the cultural issues (New Directionsfor Community Colleges Series, No. 80, pp. 29-43). San Francisco, CA:Jossey-Bass.

U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2008). National Postsecondary Student Aid Study. NPSAS: 08. Data Analysis System.

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