Monday, June 16, 2008

Education Sector: Research and Reports: Graduation Rate Watch

Education Sector: Research and Reports: Graduation Rate Watch: ...By reaching out to low-income and first-generation students as early as the sixth grade and providing a steady stream of advice and support through their high school and college careers, FSU has managed to defy the prevailing wisdom that low minority college graduation rates are regrettable but unavoidable. FSU is not alone. In the last six years, a significant number of colleges and universities have achieved small or nonexistent graduation rate gaps between white and black students.

But for every Florida State, there are many other, similar universities where students of color are far less likely to succeed. Those institutions are not failing because they don’t realize they have a problem, or because FSU has discovered a secret formula that others have yet to learn. They fail because at many institutions the success of undergraduates, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds, is not the priority it should be.

Read the full report: Graduation Rate Watch: Making Minority Student Success a Priority (pdf file).