By TARA HETTINGER
newsroom@newsandtribune.com
>>SOUTHERN INDIANA — A new tool will help Indiana high schools track the performance of their graduates in college, including figuring out which ones needed extra help in courses and which ones didn’t.
The new report, from the Indiana Commission for Higher Education, is being provided to every Indiana high school. That report will tell the school how many students are at each public college campus, what degree programs they are enrolled in and more.
“Improving the flow of information between our colleges and high schools is an essential step toward raising Indiana’s college completion rates,” said Teresa Lubbers, Indiana Commissioner for Higher Education. “Communities need to know where their graduates are attending college and how these students are performing, so they can make informed decisions about their local preparation efforts.”
State data shows that more than a quarter of all recent Indiana high graduates are required to take at least one remedial course because they lacked the preparation for college-level coursework, according to the Commission. The group also said that data further shows that about two-thirds of community college students require remediation. Less than 10 percent of Hoosier college students who are placed in remedial courses graduate within six years at a four-year college and within three years at a two-year college, the Commission stated.
“This is not about pointing fingers or assigning blame between our K-12 and higher education communities,” Lubbers added. “This is an opportunity to acknowledge the extent of the challenge in each community and to begin taking steps together to address it.”
The initial high school feedback reports focus on students who graduated from Indiana high schools in 2007 and attended a public two- or four-year campus sometime during the 2007-08 academic year. Two versions of the feedback reports were provided to each high school: One for public distribution and the other contains additional detail for internal use by the high school.
Information included in the reports comes from data the Indiana Commission for Higher Education collects annually from the state’s public colleges and universities. Though comparable feedback from Indiana’s independent colleges is not available for the initial reports, the Commission said it hopes to provide that information in future versions.
