Developing a Persistence Index IUPUI Edition

1. Developing a Persistence IndexIUPUI Edition University Planning, Institutional Research, and Accountability April 19, 2007

2. Why A Persistence Index? • Traditional One-Year Retention and Six-Year Graduation Rates reflect progress of a small proportion of students

3. Why A Persistence Index? • Campuses differ as to the “persistence disposition” of students according to service mission

4. Why A Persistence Index? • Traditional measures not directly relevant to faculty and administrators within schools and programs • Few fall semester, full-time FTIC students enter directly into majors • Students enter at varying points in time • Many students change majors

5. How The Persistence Index Works • Arrays ALL undergraduate, degree-seeking students according to factors related to persistence that reflect student input differences • Credit Load • Class Level • Prior Academic Performance • Calculates persistence rate “within cell” • Weights campus cells by university-wide proportions

6. The Control Factors • Prior analysis (CHAID) used to devise categories that maximize persistence rate differences • Prior academic performance • FTIC: SAT or ACT Equiv – 900 or less; 910 to 1130; 1140+ • Transfers: GPA of transfer courses – 2.87 or less; 2.88 to 3.66; 3.67 or higher

7. The Persistence Index Matrix – University-Wide Persistence Rates

8. The Persistence Index Matrix – Common Weights Total N = 69,205

9. The IUPUI Persistence Index Matrix

10. The Persistence Index

11. Persistence Matrix Comparisons 19 Cells White 16 Cells Red 1 Cell Green 4 Cells White 11 Cells Red 13 Cells Green 8 Cells Blank

12. IUPUI School Comparisons

13. IUPUI School Comparisons

14. IUPUI School Comparisons (cont.)

15. IUPUI School Comparisons (cont.)

16. IUPUI School Comparisons (cont.)

17. Detailed Comparisons – Appendix D & E • Appendix D – Proportions of Students

18. Detailed Comparisons – Appendix D & E • Appendix E – Within Cell Persistence Rates

19. Limitations • Control factors not perfect • Validity and reliability issues • Other important input difference factors not accommodated (e.g., campus residence status) • Small cell problems • Imputation fills cells based on overall school rate relative to overall campus rate • Can not drill down too far • School level may be as far as possible, unless multiple years used for big departments

20. Uses • Finding pockets and patterns • Filling in the void between first year retention and six year graduation points • Stimulating dialogue at the all levels (campus, school and possibly programs)

21. Questions?