1. December 6, 2006 Council of Graduate Schools www.cgsnet.org 1 Managing Graduate Attrition and Completion 46 th CGS Annual Meeting Pre-Meeting Workshop December 6, 2006 Daniel Denecke, Director, Ph.D. Completion Project Helen Frasier, Program Manager, CGS Best Practices Kenneth Redd, Director, Research and Policy Analysis

2. December 6, 2006 Council of Graduate Schools www.cgsnet.org 2 Workshop Materials Completion & Attrition Worksheet Data Templates CD of Project Templates: Data Templates Data Template Instructions Exit Surveys

3. December 6, 2006 Council of Graduate Schools www.cgsnet.org 3 Ph.D. Completion Project Data Templates Completion Data Attrition Data Aggregate Completion Data Factor Assessments Exit Survey Templates Standard Short-form Online

4. December 6, 2006 Council of Graduate Schools www.cgsnet.org 4 Completion Templates (10-year and 7-year cohorts)

5. December 6, 2006 Council of Graduate Schools www.cgsnet.org 5 Completion & Attrition Data - Data Verification

6. December 6, 2006 Council of Graduate Schools www.cgsnet.org 6 Attrition Template

7. December 6, 2006 Council of Graduate Schools www.cgsnet.org 7 Completion & Attrition Data - Data Readiness Data Readiness Challenges of the Completion and Attrition Templates Student Degree Objective Mastering out With vs. Without Candidacy Transfers and Stop-outs

8. December 6, 2006 Council of Graduate Schools www.cgsnet.org 8 Attrition and Completion Management Data Examples

9. December 6, 2006 Council of Graduate Schools www.cgsnet.org 9 Baseline Data: Summary of Cases Data submitted by: 21 Research Partners, 8 Project Partners 316 Doctoral Programs represented in analysis Cohorts entering 1992-93 through 2003-04 academic years Program-level data for more than 47,000 graduate students Institution-level demographic data for 52,975 graduate students

10. December 6, 2006 Council of Graduate Schools www.cgsnet.org 10 Definitions of Discrete Cohorts 10-Year Cohorts Students enrolling in 1992-93; 1993-94; 1994-95 828 cohorts (11,846 students) 7-Year Cohorts Students enrolling in 1995-96; 1996-97; 1997-98 897 cohorts (11,334 students) 4-Year Cohorts Students enrolling in 1998-99; 1999-2000; 2000-01 908 cohorts (11,795 students)

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16. December 6, 2006 Council of Graduate Schools www.cgsnet.org 16 Demographic Completion Data Forthcoming changes in Demographic Data Collection

17. December 6, 2006 Council of Graduate Schools www.cgsnet.org 17 Student Exit Surveys - Descriptive Statistics Engineering13.8% Life Sciences19.4% Math & Physical Sciences 19.1% Social Sciences24.3% Humanities21.8% Did not specify1.6%

18. December 6, 2006 Council of Graduate Schools www.cgsnet.org 18 Student Exit Surveys - Descriptive Statistics Spouse/Partner60.0% No Spouse38.2% Did not answer1.8% Dependents27.0% No Dependents70.3% Did not answer2.7%

19. December 6, 2006 Council of Graduate Schools www.cgsnet.org 19 Student Exit Surveys - Identifying Key Completion Factors Among COMPLETERS: Financial Support79.5% Mentoring63.0% Family Support59.8% Program Quality41.6% Social Environment 38.9% Other Factors30.1% Professional Guidance 29.6% Among NON-COMPLETERS: Other Factors62.2% Mentoring40.5% Financial Support37.8% Professional Guidance35.1% Program Quality29.7% Social Environment29.7% Family Support27.0% Program Requirements18.9%

20. December 6, 2006 Council of Graduate Schools www.cgsnet.org 20 Student Exit Surveys - The Value & Role of Mentors What were the most valuable things or tools you received from your mentor(s)? Among Completers 86% - Research Guidance 62% - Career Guidance 46% - Teaching 14% - Other

21. December 6, 2006 Council of Graduate Schools www.cgsnet.org 21 Student Exit Surveys - The Value & Role of Mentors Did you receive regular feedback from your advisor and/or program about your academic progress? The Chi-2 test result suggests there is no statistically significant difference between broad fields Did you have access to someone in your doctoral program that you consider a mentor, e.g. someone who advised you on academic and professional matters beyond your immediate research project(s)? The Chi-2 test result suggests there is statistically significant (at 1% level) difference between broad fields

22. December 6, 2006 Council of Graduate Schools www.cgsnet.org 22 CGS Online Exit Surveys: Sample Survey Links Standard length survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=183051439540 Short-form survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=76911383556

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24. December 6, 2006 Council of Graduate Schools www.cgsnet.org 24 www.phdcompletion.org phdcompletion@cgs.nche.edu Daniel Denecke ddenecke@cgs.nche.edu Helen Frasier hfrasier@cgs.nche.edu Kenneth Redd kredd@cgs.nche.edu