March 9th, 2010
We talk a lot about recruiting students into engineering! We talk even more about helping students be successful. What are the successful patterns for helping a student become excited about an engineering career and to be prepared as a freshman at a leading engineering college?
I will discuss this topic at the next ASQ Ann Arbor Section meeting on April 5th at Cleary University, on Plymouth Rd, Ann Arbor (Plymouth and Green Rds) from 6pm to 7:30 pm. Refreshments will be served at 5:30pm. http://www.asq1010.org/apr10events.html
Much of the discussion will be based on my research and knowledge gained from being involved with the ASQ Education Division and ASEE and recent research conducted by the National Academy of Engineering.
This interactive presentation is intended for quality professionals and educators, and parents who would like their children to consider an engineering career. Based on an ASQ survey, I will discuss the important role that parents can have in helping their children consider an engineering career. I will also discuss leading extracurricular activities related to engineering and science. (check out my K12 links page http://www.veenstraconsulting.com/links.php) Only about 10% of the high school graduates in Michigan are prepared to take Calculus in college, one of the 1st semester courses in engineering. What can parents do to turn this around in general and help their children to be academically prepared for engineering college? Suggestions will be made with time for discussion.
Hope to see you there!
Posted in College Quality, Engineering Student Success, Gender issues | No Comments »
March 7th, 2010
With the U.S. Department of Education’s focus on improved K12 student performance through the Race to the Top state competition for DoE funds, there is increased interest in identifying practices that work. Some of the current focus in the press is on charter schools and teacher competency.
What about the Baldrige framework?
I recently wrote an invited guest blog for the Michigan Engineering Forum on the importance of the Baldrige framework.
http://forum.engin.umich.edu/2010/02/engineering-education-outreach-are-we.html
Baldrige has a proven track record. The school system decides what its own goals are. It is successful because it involves everyone including the students in continuous improvement and working towards the learning goals. The framework encourages the alignment of ALL relevant education processes.
The ASQ Education Division online library has a presentation on a case study of K12 Baldrige from the Grand Blanc Community school system from 5 years ago. (Creating and Sustaining the Capacity for Change by Brenda Barnes and James Van Wormer) http://www.asq.org/edu/performance-excellence-criteria-in-the-classroom.pdf
The slides show improvement in academic performance. One of the slides shows that the school system was able to reduce its K12 dropout rate from 14% to 1% in five years. Dropout is a serious problem, especially among urban school systems and nationally is about 25%. In this age where it is recognized that to get a job will require MORE than a high school education, this is a very serious concern for our school systems. When we talk about needing more college graduates, a high K12 drop-out rate is also an issue for higher education leaders to be concerned about. So a success story showing a significant decline in the dropout rate is worth highlighting and understanding how they did it. The techniques used are typical of the Baldrige framework.
In my research, I have noted that being an “independent learner” is important for success in college. The processes used within the practice of the Baldrige framework encourages students to become independent learners. This is a strength of Baldrige that is often overlooked.
In the guest blog I also highlight a report from the leadership summit for school systems leaders “In Their Own Words: Feedback from the Leadership Summit”. Yearly, ASQ holds a summit of education leaders who are interested in discussing and sharing ideas about leadership; ideas that worked for their school system. Four school system leaders answered questions on “systemic improvement, challenges their districts faced, best practices”. The discussion is at
http://www.asq.org/edu/2009/07/continuous-improvement/in-their-own-words-feedback-from-the-leadership-summit.pdf
It is worth reading to understand how school districts can move forward to improve student success.
These two papers are worth taking the time to read. We need to consider all options that can help school systems — and that includes the Baldrige framework.
Best
Cindy
Posted in Baldrige, Data Driven Approach, K-12 Outreach | No Comments »
March 3rd, 2010
I can hardly wait to hear which states are finalists for the Race to the Top to share the $4+ Billion to improve their state’s K12 school system. The announcement will be made tomorrow. It will be interesting to see which proposals were the most successful.
Update: The finalists are Colorado, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Tennessee. Congratulations and good luck in the next stage of the competition!
At the same time, there was a lot of action today in higher education. 17 states pledged to increase their state’s college graduation rate. (Source: Chronicle of Higher Education, 3/3) The states’ success at improving the graduation rate and academic performance of K12 students has a strong potential for increasing each state’s college graduation rate!
Cindy
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March 1st, 2010
The ASQ Education Division has just published its augural issue of Quality Approaches in Higher Education (QAHE), an online supplement to the ASQ Journal for Quality and Participation. The new journal is peer-reviewed and the first ASQ peer-reviewed publication on issues related to quality in higher education. The inaugural issue is available at http://tinyurl.com/ylfo62g
A link is also available at the Education Division website, www.asq.org/edu/ Look for the image on the right hand side.
Quality Approaches in Higher Education is designed to engage the higher education community and the ASQ Education Division membership in a discussion on topics related to improving quality in higher education and identifying best practices in higher education and to expand the literature specific to quality in higher education topics. The Call for articles and Author Guidelines are available in this issue.
As an associate editor, I am excited about this effort, that has been about 6 months in the making. I hope it generates discussions on the blending of the quality tools, disciplines and quality management ideas with the issues of improving higher education.
Higher Education is at a cross-road. Will it improve and will we be able to meet Lumina’s Big Goal (see issue) of 60% of 18 to 25 year-olds earning a high quality college degree? Or will fewer students complete college? I hope it is the first choice! Many jobs today require a college degree.
A college degree = a better job, and a higher standard of living
Yet for many students, it is difficult getting through college. We can make the processes easier using many of the quality tools. But we need to understand better how students learn (thus the importance of Centers of Teaching and Learning). We need to identify best practices for student success. We need to understand better how and which technology helps engage students with other students and the professor in the college classroom and how to teach better . We need to get to identifying student learning goals and metrics and being data-driven for continuous improvement. We need to recognize the role of six sigma and Baldrige type approaches in the cost-effective operation of our colleges and universities (and reduce tuition). We need to enable students to grow as a whole person, be academically successful, graduate on time and become satisfied alumni, who later contribute again to the university. We hope to have articles on these topics in future issues.
I hope you will read this issue and share in our excitement about the Education Division’s new journal! Let me know your suggestions.
Best
Cindy
Posted in College Quality, Data Driven Approach, Scholarship of Teaching, Uncategorized | No Comments »
January 3rd, 2010
How complete is your mentoring program? The fall semester is completed. Students have received their grades and some are doing poorly. They now recognize that college may be tougher than they thought it would be. Mentoring programs implemented at the beginning of the second semester have been found to be very successful. A successful mentoring program can bring together students who have not performed well in the first semster and help them identify the problem area, whether it is not enough time studying, a need for tutoring, or learning better study habits. Regular meetings, student-oriented goals and strategies for student succees have been found to help students show significant improvement in their academic progress. Contact us (cindy@veenstraconsulting.com ) if you would like more information on mentoring programs.
Cindy
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December 4th, 2009
The challenges that higher education is facing are overwhelming–budget problems, society’s need for more graduates, especially in the STEM disciplines; preparation of students for the knowledge industry in a global environment, external pressures for quality assurance and accountability, inadequate financial aid for students leading to less access, inadequate K12 preparation of many students and the need for more higher education research.
In the Quality disciplines, we talk about the need to be data-driven, to practice Deming/Skewhart’s PDSA (Plan, Do, Study, Act), to provide feedback to the system and continuously improve. The only sure-fire way to address these complex issues of higher education is to develop strategies based on proven assessment techniques. In October, the National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment released a report on a significant survey involving over 1500 higher education institutions, titled “More Than You Think, Less Than We Need: Learning Outcomes Assessment in American Higher Education“ authored by George Kuh and Stanley Ikenberry. The information in this blog is based on the abridged version of the report. (www.learningoutcomesassessment.org)
The survey results tell a story. Accreditation requirements strongly influence the amount of assessment. In a list of uses for assessment, higher education institutions gave the most priority to “Institutional self-study for accreditation”. Measures of a continuous improvement culture such as ”Improving instructional performance” and “modifying academic support services” were in the middle of this list. In identifying the importance of assessment, the survey looked at the number of staff members that were charged with assessment responsibilities. It was reported that “almost half (47%) of doctoral institutions reported having one or more staff, while only one-fifth (19%) of community colleges and other associate-degree-granting schools had at least one person focused on outcomes assessment.” Less than 10% of the institutions reported 5 or more staff in this role. Obviously, part of the story is the lack of priority being given to staff resources to conduct assessments. Of course, faculty are responsible for learning outcome assessment in their classrooms; at the same time, it seems that staff resources need to be dedicated to assessment and continuous improvement.
If we are to use assessment and other research to improve the learning processes of students, a culture of using assessments, both institutional and in the classroom must be adopted. This report recommends that
- College and University Presidents and other academic leaders “must make quality assurance an instititional priority”
- Governing board members ”must ensure their institution has a system of academic quality control”
- Faculty need to be involved with the collection of data about student learning.
- Institutional research personnel can contribute to this effort by focusing on areas of assessment that are important to the educational institution and provide reports that “determine whether changes in teaching and learning approaches have had the desired effects”
- Student affairs staff can use assessment to help “inform student affairs practice” and be an active participant in the discussions on campus assessment and subsequent institutional actions.
- Finally, prospective students and parents “should ask to see learning outcomes information”
All these recommendations are appropriate. If we are to adequately address the current challenges of higher education, we must consider a more focused effort for a continuous improvement and quality-oriented culture. This includes using more assessment and education research to inform the practices of teaching, learning and student support. In addition, a completed feed back loop to determine if the changes in the teaching/learning process provide the expected improvement are needed. Higher Education does not need to reinvent the processes of continuous improvement. Many are already out there, in use and very successful. What is needed is a more integrated institutional dialogue and commitment to a continuous improvement culture and assessment as in being suggested in the recommendations of this report. Such an effort will help lead to more effective institutional strategies for addressing the current higher education challenges.
Cindy
Posted in College Quality, Data Driven Approach | No Comments »
December 1st, 2009
Today’s ASEE First Bell reported on the joint project of WGBH and NAE to produce a website that changes the image of engineering careers to that of being an exciting and fulfilling career for women. Recent research has shown that women students in engineering are graduating with an engineering degree at about the same rate as men. The problem is that women have not been entering the freshman classes and there are few transfers into engineering. Only about 20% of the new freshmen in engineering are women. With a shortage of engineers expected in the workforce, attracting high school girls to engineering college has been an issue of high prioirty in engineering education.
A 21st century image of engineering colleges and engineering careers is needed that is inclusive of women and minorities. Many engineering companies have been inclusive for a number of years and have complained about the lack of women and minority engineering graduates. The problem as currently identified is that K12 students were not seeing engineering as an attractive career. For girls, this included a lack of role models for engineering. With the new WGBH and NAE supported website for high school girls, Engineer Your Life (http://www.engineeryourlife.org/) the image of engineering that is inclusive of successful women engineers is more evident than ever. In addition, the website for middle-school girls includes profiles of successful women engineers. (http://www.engineergirl.org)
Encourage your daughters, nieces and friends to look at these websites.
Cindy
Posted in College Quality, Gender issues, K-12 Outreach | No Comments »
November 16th, 2009
In the current Time Magazine, President Gee of Ohio State University is being recognized for his leadership. (”The Big Man on Campus”, p. 44, Nov. 23, 2009)
In the article, Pres. Gee is reported as recognizing that “change is the whole ball game”; that “higher education has become too expensive”; and that ”Departments fail to colloborate”. And most important, that ” The tenure system too often rewards useless publication over real-world impact. ‘We crush the enthusiasm out of our young faculty, says Gee’ ”
When the recession hit this past year, many colleges and universities continued to raise tuition as if it was “business as usual”. It is not, and many families are being challenged by the high cost of college. Pres. Gee has managed to hold tuition at the same rate –this is a major accomplishment. In addition he recognizes the strength of community colleges and is calling for a partnership with them to enable students to transfer to OSU from a community college and earn their Bachelors degree. In many states, this transfer is more difficult than it should be and discourages students from enrolling. With more families being challenged by the high cost of higher education, the community colleges’ enrollment has skyrocketed. In the next year, the higher education community will need to put more thought and resources into helping community college students successfully transition to the research universities.
Pres. Gee’s effort at streamlining the College of Arts and Sciences is an example of an effort by a university to change its organization, and as a result have a leaner process that promotes both more collaboration and student success. This change may even have the consequence of leading to a higher rate of student retention.
Pres. Gee has talked in recent months and in this article about the criteria for tenure and how it needs to change. Of course, the criteria for tenure includes the three categories of accomplishment: research, teaching and service . It is well-recognzed that in large research universities like OSU, these three categories are not equal; that the faculty tenure committee tends to place much higher weight on research, and much less on teaching and service. At all research universities, teaching and service to the community DO NEED more emphasis if there is to be increased student engagement and retention and outreach to the community. In interpreting Pres. Gee’s comments, it seems that he is advocating for more emphasis on quality of research (and less emphasis on the number of research papers as a measurable quantity) and communicating the impact of this research to industry and the community. He has also talked about connecting with the community and the real need for universities to help their local region improve their economy. This is all very refreshing to hear!
Cindy
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September 27th, 2009
We have added a new page that lists our favorite links on K12 engineering outreach. Check out the “link” page. Let us know if you have favorites. Colleges and companies can do more to help the K12 school systems interest students in the STEM careers and engineering. We are particularly looking for websites that show hands-on demonstatons or experiments that scientists or engineers can conduct with middle school and high school students, either in a classroom presentation or career/science day presentation on “STEM-ing”.
Thanks,
Cindy
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September 12th, 2009
The Sept. 8th issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education leads with an article on Crossing the Finish Line: Completing College at America’s Public Universities by William G. Bowen, Matthew M. Chingo and Michael S. McPherson. It is an exciting and worthwhile book to read. It shows that for 21 public flagship universities, the 4-year graduation rate was only 49% with a much higher six-year graduation rate of 77%. The authors present the discussion that family income matters, that for low-income families a little increase in tuition can lead to a higher drop-out rate. As we have read in the news, even in this past year in the current economic recession, faculty have received raises and the tuition has increased, placing more financial pressure on families to keep their son or daughter in college. Colleges need to assume a greater level of accountability on containing tuition and the cost of college.
In their analysis, the authors found that the high school GPA was much more predictive of the six year graduation rate than the SAT or ACT scores for the universities they studied.
Based on my research, I would like to suggest that the results may be different for engineering colleges. Several studies of engineering studies have shown a significant relationship between the ACT or SAT Math score and upper class retention or graduation rates of engineering students. Each college should conduct their own study and make an evidence-based decision on whether the high school GPA or SAT/ACT scores (or both) are significant predictors for student retention.
As the book suggests, more focus on timely completion of degrees is needed. More focus on higher four-year graduation rates and systemic interventions that help student success are needed. We can have higher 4-year graduation rates!
Cindy
Sources:
“For Certain Types of Students , an Ever-Receding Finish” by D. Glenn, Chronicle of Higher Education, September 8, 2009; Crossing the Finish Line:Completing college at America’s Public Universities by W.G. Bowen, M.M. Chingos and M.S. McPerson, Princeton University Press,2009.
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