completion-rates-board

5 ways governing boards can help boost completion rates


New brief offers guidelines and practical suggestions for presidents, chancellors, and board members in using governance to increase completion rates at their institutions.

A new brief released today by the Association of Governing Boards (AGB) of college and universities reveals that though the majority of boards in higher education agree that completion is among their top priorities, they also say they do not spend enough time on the topic to make a real difference.

This finding is part of a recent AGB survey part of a Lumina Foundation-funded project to enhance boards’ ability to help improve college completion rates. The survey and subsequent report on board members’ assessments of this knowledge and engagement in college completion efforts aims to help institutions across the country accomplish a core institutional mission to educate and graduate students; specifically, to boost enrollment and completion.

“Accomplishing higher education’s core mission—educating students and graduating them with high-quality degrees or credentials—requires board leadership, advocacy, and accountability,” said AGB President Richard D. Legon in a statement. “Graduation and student success should be the central priorities of our colleges and universities and as such, these should be a high priority for our governing boards.”

The statement, an outgrowth of the AGB research study, found that a vast majority of board members agree that they should play a more significant role in college completion:

  • 64 percent of independent and 72 percent of public board members agreed or strongly agreed that their board should devote more time to completion;
  • 73 percent of board members at public institutions or systems and 51 percent of those at independent institutions reported that college completion is a major priority for the board;
  • 86 percent of board members at public institutions or systems reported that their institutions have strategic goals in place to improve college completion, compared to 70 percent at independent institutions; and
  • Only 60 percent of board members at both independent and public institutions or systems reported that their institutions benchmark college completion data.

Along with highlighting findings from the survey, the AGB statement offers guidelines and actionable suggestions for presidents, chancellors, and board members in using governance as a tool to increase the rate of college completion at their institutions.

(Next page: Guidelines for boards aiming to improve completion rates)

Core Principles

The statement includes five core principles to guide board members in advancing completion efforts, as well as potential strategies boards can encourage to support student completion, such as:

1.Boards should declare college completion among their priorities, regularly reviewing metrics about student enrollment, retention, and completion, and using these data for related decision-making.

2.Boards should hold the president and senior administrators accountable for progress toward mutually agreed-upon goals for college completion. They should also acknowledge the role of faculty and staff in advancing the completion agenda.

3.Boards should ensure that their institutions’ mission is clear and that efforts to support college completion are aligned with mission.

4.Boards should ensure that institutional resources are aligned with affordability, retention, and education quality as they relate to completion.

5.Because college readiness and the application of transfer credits affect college completion, boards should ensure that institutional policies reflect a commitment to collaborations with community partners such as K-12 leaders, high school counselors, and other colleges from or to which students transfer.

[For a much more detailed breakdown of each principle, including specific examples of how each principle can be met, read the full statement here.]

Recommendations

The statement also lists a summary of recommendations moving forward for specific leadership. A sample of the recommendations for presidents and chancellors to boost completion rates includes:

  • Engaging the board in discussions of the mission and values of the institution, the student body the institution serves, and the institution’s commitment to completion
  • Collaborating with the senior staff and board to establish clear goals for college completion efforts that serve as benchmarks for the institution, and as targets for performance assessments and accountability
  • Ensure that orientation programs for new board members highlight the board’s responsibility for the oversight of educational quality and college completion among the full set of responsibilities.

A sample of recommendations for board members:

  • Ensure that completion goals are set in the context of institutional mission. Monitor progress toward goals regularly. Boards should not manage the processes for implementation of goals, but they should evaluate the results.
  • Ask questions about the institution’s strategies to help ensure that students complete their degrees or credentials in a timely fashion. Ask whether institutional resources—people and funding—are being appropriately deployed to support completion goals.
  • Include progress on completion goals in the president’s or chancellor’s annual assessment. Hold the president and senior administrators accountable for established goals related to completion and for implementation of effective policies and practices to enhance completion efforts.

AGB will conduct a follow-up survey in 18 to 24 months to measure any progress on this issue.

For more recommendations and more information on the core principles, go to AGB’s website or read the full statement here.

 

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