Tracking Students’ Progress of Three Impacted Programs - PowerPoint Presentation

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Tracking Students’ Progress of Three Impacted Programs

Matthew Basinger, Research Analyst

Nancy Hardy, Academic

Planning

Database

Coordinator

Jing Wang-Dahlback, Director

Office of Institutional Research

Sacramento State Slide2

California State University, Sacramento

Founded

1947

Designated a Tree Campus USA300 acres with 3,500 treesSeven academic colleges58 undergraduate majorsMore than 30,500 students enrolled for the fall 2016 semester

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What is Impaction?

According to the university policy, major impaction means that the number of applications from fully eligible students to a designated major during the initial filing period far exceeds the number of spaces available in that major.

Students can still be admitted in an alternate major, or they may eventually be admitted to the oversubscribed major if they meet the supplementary admission criteria.

Generated in 2013, Expressed Interest is a category for undergraduate student’s intent on pursuing an impacted major.2Slide4

Major-Specific vs. Campus-Specific

Major-Specific Impaction

Applications exceed spaces available

Supplementary criteriaStill be admitted to an alternate majorCampus-Wide ImpactionCampus receives more eligible applicants that exceed the spaces availableExhausts instructional resources and physical capacityMust restrict enrollment to campus

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What causes Impaction?

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Policies for Impaction

Initiated at department

level

Review that addresses the effect of impaction as it relates to demand on the program, resource capacity, effects on other programs and maintaining diversityProgram impaction lasts for one yearContinuing impaction entails yearly review and approval (campus and CSU system approval)Must re-apply after four years5Slide7

Why Study Impaction?

Impaction is found not only on our CSU campuses, but many campuses throughout California

Profound influence on the students we serve

Need to know what happens to students in impacted programs6Slide8

Objectives & Samples

Starting with students in fall 2013, we tracked students in three high demand impacted programs

Criminal Justice, Psychology, Health Science

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Expressed Interest:

Criminal Justice (N=657)

Psychology (N=569)

Health Science (N=173)

Major:

Criminal Justice (N=887)

Psychology (N=972)

Health Science (N=318)Slide9

Methodology

Policy Analysis

Compared those in Expressed Interest (tracking group) to those who were already accepted in Criminal Justice, Psychology or Health Science (comparison group)

Disaggregated by class level to make two groups comparableFollowed their progress and retention from fall 2013 to fall 2015Set up tracking databases and flow charts (major status and retention) for each program Two types of attrition trackedLeft university after two yearsLeft program after two yearsUtilized T-Test and Chi-Square to examine the two groups for statistically significant differences

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Criminal Justice

Our Criminal Justice program here at Sac State is the second largest on the West Coast.  Our program also boast as being one of the few colleges that actually houses its own crime scene lab on campus.

Criminal Justice has become increasingly popular due to the increase in the fields of police, law, CSI, forensics all working together. It’s also popular because students who graduate from this program can work from the Federal, state and local levels. Criminal Justice is also a gateway major for Psychology, Social Work, Fire Science, Chemistry and Biology to name a few.  

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CRJ Sample: Background

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Comparison of Background (Fall 2013)

CRJ Major

Expressed Interest

Gap

Statistical Significance

Count

%

Count

%

Ethnicity

URM

348

39.2%

307

46.7%

-7.5%

Yes

Non-URM

539

60.8%

350

53.3%

7.5%

Gender

Female

437

49.3%

321

48.9%

0.4%

No

Male

450

50.7%

336

51.1%

-0.4%

Low Income

Yes

400

45.1%

162

24.7%

20.4%

Yes

No

487

54.9%

495

75.3%

-20.4%

First Generation of College Student

Yes

341

38.4%

282

42.9%

-4.5%

No

No

546

61.6%

375

57.1%

4.5%

* Chi-Square Test, p<.001, higher value is highlighted in yellow: p<.01, higher value is highlighted in green.Slide12

CRJ: The Tracking Groups

Class level differences reflect a small number of CRJ Majors that were either Freshmen or Sophomores.

Sophomores and Juniors more comparable

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CRJ: Compare Students’ Progress

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CRJ: Attrition Rate (Sophomores)

Attrition rate significantly higher for those in the Expressed Interest group

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CRJ: Attrition Rate (Juniors)

Similar to Sophomore Attrition Rates

Attrition rate significantly higher for those in the Expressed Interest group

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CRJ Expressed Interest: Majors after 2 Years

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Health Science

Many

professionals acquire

a Bachelor’s Degree in Health Science to obtain a management or administration position in the fast-growing healthcare sector. Graduates have employment opportunities in hospitals, public health agencies, insurance companies, community organizations, research laboratories, the pharmaceutical industry, and more. Impaction was influenced by a general increase in student enrollment in the three HLSC concentrations based on student interest in the fields of Community Health, Healthcare Administration, and Occupational Health & Safety.

Additionally, the University implemented a policy of placing an enrollment hold on undeclared students, resulting in large numbers of expressed interest nursing students declaring a Health Science Major.

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HLSC Sample: Background

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Comparison of Background (Fall 2013)

CRJ Major

Expressed Interest

Gap

Statistical Significance

Count

%

Count

%

Ethnicity

URM

93

29.2%

48

27.7%

1.5%

No

Non-URM

225

70.8%

125

72.3%

-1.5%

Gender

Female

249

78.3%

117

67.6%

10.7%

Yes

Male

69

21.7%

56

32.4%

-10.7%

Low Income

Yes

179

56.3%

30

17.3%

38.9%

Yes

Non-URM

139

43.7%

143

82.7%

-38.9%

First Generation of College Student

Yes

131

41.2%

76

43.9%

-2.7%

No

No

187

58.8%

97

56.1%

2.7%

*Chi-Square Test, p<.001, higher value is highlighted in yellow: p<.05, higher value is highlighted in blue.Slide19

HLSC: The Tracking Groups

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HLSC: Compare Students’ ProgressSlide21

Attrition rate higher for the Expressed Interest groupSpring 2015 to Fall 2015 reveals significant differences compared to the other semesters

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HLSC :

Compare Attrition Rate (Sophomores)Slide22

HLSC: Compare Attrition Rate (Juniors)

Attrition rate still higher for Expressed Interest

Expressed Interest fluctuations by semester not as great compared to sophomores

More stable21Slide23

HLSC Expressed Interest: Majors after 2 Years

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Psychology

Psychology is one of our impacted program here at Sac State, demand for the major is believed to stem from the popularity as a gateway field within the major and outside the major.

Getting

your BA in Psychology can get you employed in many areas. Student can branch into Law, Business, Training and Development, Social or Community Service Management, Human Resources, Counseling, Corrections Treatment and family and marriage.

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PSYC Sample: Background

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PSYC: The Tracking Groups

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PSYC: Compare Students’ Progress

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PSYC : Compare Attrition Rate (

Sophomores)

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PSYC: Compare Attrition Rate (Juniors)

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PSYC Expressed Interest: Majors after 2 Years

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The Top Choices of New Majors (Fall 2015)

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Overview of Significant Findings (I)

Equity

: The following differences were statistically significant between the group of Majors and of Expressed Interest:

Both CRJ and PSYC Expressed Interest consisted of higher proportions of URM students than their peers within the two majors. Additionally, both majors consisted of higher proportions of low income students than their peers with Expressed Interest.

HLSC majors consisted of higher percentages of female and low income students compared to their peers with Expressed Interest.

From Expressed Interest to Major

: Approximately 25% of students were accepted by one of the Major programs after two years:

Criminal Justice: 26%

Health Science: 13%

Psychology: 27%  

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Overview of Significant Findings (II

)

Change Majors

: Students within Expressed Interest were more likely to change majors than those already accepted to one of the three impacted majors. The differences were statistically significant:

CRJ and CRJ

Exp

: 0.3% vs. 19% changed majors

HLSC and HLSC

Exp

: 2% vs. 27% changed majors

PSYC and PSYC

Exp

: 4% vs. 25% changed majors

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Overview of Significant Findings (III)

Attrition

: The attrition rates doubled or tripled if students were placed in Expressed Interest compared to their peers who had been accepted in majors (All class levels). The gap widened between the two groups when comparing the attrition rate within each program.

CRJ and CRJ Expressed Interest: 8% vs. 25%

(withdrew from the university); 9% vs. 46% (withdrew from the program)HLSC and HLSC Expressed Interest: 12% vs. 25% (withdrew from the university); 15% vs. 55% (withdrew from the program)

PSYC and PSYC Expressed Interest: 12% vs. 21% (withdrew from the university); 18% vs. 49% (withdrew from the program)

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Overview of Findings (IV)

The

key point to take away from this research is that we found program impaction to have a negative impact on retention both within these programs and university-wide.

Currently, all three of these programs (Criminal Justice, Psychology, Health Science) are still under impaction

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Matthew Basinger, Research Analystmatthew.basinger@csus.edu

Nancy Hardy, Academic Planning Database Coordinator

nhardy@csus.edu

Jing Wang-Dahlback, Directorjwang@csus.edu Questions?

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