Information on Western graduates of a given year: grades, retention, GEI, athletes, time-to-degree issues, demographics, college, degree, transfer facts, and predictors of academic success (regression analysis)

Andrieu-Parker, Jacqueline M.

Frye, Richard

McKinney, Gary (Gary Russell)

Trimble, Joseph E.

English

Western Washington University

Western Washington UniversityWestern CEDAROffice of Survey Research Institutes, Centers, and Offices10-1-1997A Profile of the 1996 Western WashingtonUniversity Graduating ClassGary (Gary Russell) McKinneyWestern Washington UniversityJoseph E. TrimbleWestern Washington UniversityRichard FryeWestern Washington UniversityJacqueline M. Andrieu-ParkerWestern Washington UniversityFollow this and additional works at: https://cedar.wwu.edu/surveyresearch_docsPart of the Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research CommonsThis Report is brought to you for free and open access by the Institutes, Centers, and Offices at Western CEDAR. It has been accepted for inclusion inOffice of Survey Research by an authorized administrator of Western CEDAR. For more information, please contact westerncedar@wwu.edu.Recommended CitationMcKinney, Gary (Gary Russell); Trimble, Joseph E.; Frye, Richard; and Andrieu-Parker, Jacqueline M., "A Profile of the 1996 WesternWashington University Graduating Class" (1997). Office of Survey Research. 407.https://cedar.wwu.edu/surveyresearch_docs/407A Profile of the 1996 Western WashingtonUniversity Graduating ClassPrepared by Gary McKinney, Joseph E. Trimble, Richard Frye, and Jacquie M. Andrieu-ParkerVolume 2, Issue 7 October, 1997INTRODUCTION & OVERVIEWInformation for this report was obtained from theStudent Tracking System, jointly maintained bythe Registrar’s Office and the Office of Institu-tional Assessment and Testing. The report presentsinformation intended to provide insight into thevarious characteristics of 1996 Western Washing-ton University graduates (academic year: FallQuarter, 1995, through Summer quarter, 1996).Western graduated 2461 students in 1996, its larg-est graduating class on record, though demo-graphically the class remained relatively un-changed from other recent classes. There was es-sentially the same ratio of males and females-42%males vs. 58% females-as well as transfers andnatives (students who entered Western as first-timefreshmen)-54% transfers vs. 44% natives-as therehas been in recent years. The overall averageWestern gpa was nearly identical to last year’s(3.15 in 1996 vs. 3.14 in 1995), though in the lastthree years the average gpa has been higher by atleast a full half-point than any average gpa onrecord going back to 1981.The 1996 graduating class profile introduces arelatively new time-to-degree measure, the Gradu-ation Efficiency Index (GEI). The GEI measuresdegree attainment efficiency with a formula thatconsiders the number of overall credits earned, thenumber of credits needed for matriculation in agiven major, and the number of transfer creditsearned. The measure does not factor in chrono-logical time needed for a degree. The thinkingbehind the GEI is that if at the time of graduationa student has earned only the number of creditsnecessary for a degree and no more, their effi-ciency is 100%; in other words, they took up nomore class space than they had to, whether it tookthem three years to earn their degree, or thirty.Last year’s increase into double digits of ethnic-minority students earning degrees remained indouble digits, though the increase over the 1995percentage was small (10.8% in 1996 vs. 10.1%).OFFICE OF INSTITUTIONALASSESSMENT AND TESTINGPAGE 2WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: 1996 GRADUATESFemales58%Males42%Transfers54%Natives44%Other2%Admit status “Other”includes such casesas graduates initiallyenrolled throughcontinuing educationprograms and trans-fers taking seconddegrees.The youngest 1996 graduatewas 20 years old (there were3); the oldest 1996 graduate was69 years old. Most graduates werebetween the ages of 22 to 24 yearsold (59.0%). Fewer were between25-29 years old (24.0%), 30-39years old (10.4%), and 40 yearsold or older (6.0%).The gender ratio for1996 graduates wasthe same as it wasfor 1995 graduates,as well as nearlyidentical to thegender ratio for thefreshmen classes of1991 and 1992.Western had 2461 graduates in 1996(fall quarter, 1995, through summerquarter, 1996), up from 2251 in 1995,making it Western’s largest graduatingclass to date. A majority of Western’s 1996graduates (81.8%) began attending classesin a fall quarter, most during the fall quar-ters of 1991 and 1992. Yet less than half(49.3%) matriculated in the spring. Ma-triculation was spread rather evenly acrossthe other three graduation ceremonies: fall(19.5%), winter (19.5%), and summer(11.8%).OFFICE OF INSTITUTIONALASSESSMENT AND TESTINGPAGE 3WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: 1996 GRADUATESSnohomish/King/Pierce55%Rest of WA State28%Whatcom/Skagit17%Nearly all 1996graduates(97.1%) wereWashingtonresidents.County break-downs are asshown.There were 207 graduates(8.4%) who listed a parentas a Western alumni. There were89 graduates indicating veteransstatus (3.6%), as well as 47graduates (1.9%) listing variousdisabilities, including learning,ambulatory, visual, hearing, andmiscellaneous.African Am. (1.2)Native Am. (2.1)White (87.9)Hispanic (1.9)Asian (5.6)Some graduateschose not to listtheir ethnicity (4.6%).These students werenot included whenfiguring ethnicityfindings for thisreport. There were 30graduates from for-eign countries.OFFICE OF INSTITUTIONALASSESSMENT AND TESTINGPAGE 4WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: 1996 GRADUATESHS gpa of 3.00+82%HS gpa under 3.0018%When noting the high school gradepoint averages (HS gpa’s) ofWestern graduates, it should be kept inmind that most cases are for nativestudents (82.1%).  The same is true forpre-college test scores like the SAT(83.2%).  Transfer students with AAdegrees do not need to include eithertheir pre-college tests scores or theirHS gpa’s in their admissions packages.The average HS gpa for 1995 Westerngraduates was 3.35.  The average SAT-composite score was 1080.  The averageAdmissions Index (a formula that com-bines HS gpa and pre-college testsscores) was 56.AA Degree81%No AA Degree19%The average trans-fer gpa overall was3.11.  The transfergpa for females was3.17, and for maleswas 3.03.The average HSgpa for femaleswas 3.42, and formales 3.25.  Forgraduates withtransfer admitstatus whoincluded HS gpain their files, theaverage was3.16.  For gradu-ates with nativeadmit status, theaverage HS gpawas 3.39.For graduates withtransfer credits,those aged 23-24transferred, onaverage, 62 credits;aged 25-29 trans-ferred 86 credits;aged 30-39 trans-ferred 95 credits;and aged 40 andolder 101 credits.OFFICE OF INSTITUTIONALASSESSMENT AND TESTINGPAGE 5WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: 1996 GRADUATESWestern gpa3.00 or better63%Western gpaless than 3.00The average Western gpaearned by males was3.06; the average Westerngpa earned by females was3.22. Honors were earnedby 8.5% of Western’s 1996graduates: 115 earned CumLaude; 95 earned MagnaCum Laude. Most (86.2%)but not all grads were re-quired to pass the JuniorWriting Exam (JWE)--priorto the fall of 1991 studentsonly had to take the JWE.Yet 96.5% passed the essaysection and 97.4% passed theobjective section.The averageWestern gpaearned by 1996graduates was3.15, compared to3.14 earned by1995 graduates.Nearly half (47.5%)of first-time, in-coming freshmen (na-tives) earned creditstowards graduation fromschools other than West-ern. In other words, thechances were only about50/50 that a first-time,in-coming freshmenwould actually earn alltheir academic credits atWestern.56%9%9%26%1-45 transfercredits46-89 transfercredits90-110 transfercredits111+ transfercreditsOFFICE OF INSTITUTIONALASSESSMENT AND TESTINGPAGE 6WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: 1996 GRADUATESThe collegeof matricu-lation for most1996 graduateswas Arts &Sciences(59.2%), fol-lowed by Busi-ness & Econom-ics (12.8%),Woodring(11.6%), Huxley(7.1%), Fine andPerforming Arts(5.4%), andFairhaven(4.0%).56.344.437.910.556.743.542.043.755.662.189.543.356.558.00 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90OverallArts & ScienceBusiness &EconomicsWoodringFine &Performing ArtsFairhavenHuxleyFemalesMales44.348.548.419.647.738.442.553.649.150.078.751.557.655.70 20 40 60 80 100OverallArts & ScienceBusiness &EconomicsWoodringFine &Performing ArtsFairhavenHuxleyTransfersNativesCompared to1995, in 1996slight increaseswere seen in thepercentages ofgraduates fromWoodring (up1.5%), and Arts &Sciences (up1.1%).  Slightdecreases wereseen at Huxley(down 1.2%),Business & Eco-nomics (down0.6%), Fine &Performing Arts(down 0.5%), andFairhaven (down0.3%).OFFICE OF INSTITUTIONALASSESSMENT AND TESTINGPAGE 7WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: 1996 GRADUATESOthers3%Natives w/BS46%Transfers w/BS51%Others2%Natives w/BA's44%Transfers w/BA's54%Femalesw/BA’s59%Malesw/BA’s41%Malesw/BS’s63%Femalesw/BS’s37%Most 1996 graduates earnedBA degrees (69.7%), followedby BS degrees (16.5%), andBA/Ed. degrees (13.3%).  Fivegraduates (0.2%) earned aBFA degree.  Seven gradu-ates (0.3%) earned a BMUSdegree.Although transfers were morelikely than natives to haveearned BA/Ed. degrees--56.6%of all BA/Ed. degrees wereawarded to transfers--in allother degree areas, percent-ages were relatively equal.OFFICE OF INSTITUTIONALASSESSMENT AND TESTINGPAGE 8WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: 1996 GRADUATESAverage Overall GEI for Graduating Classes 1992-199688.687.487.688.187.650607080901001992 1993 1994 1995 1996percentThe overall GEIfor 1996 gradu-ates was87.9%. For1996 nativesthe GEI was87.4%, fortransfers,88.2%. Formales the GEIwas 86.6%, forfemales 88.6%.SummerStart is thefreshman summerorientation programbegan in 1986. Mostnative graudatesattend SummerStart.Transitions is thesummer orientationprogram for transferstudents, begun in1994. Most 1996graduates with transferstatus started at West-ern before Transitionswas instituted.Previous graduate reports have highlighted issues of time-to-degree effi-ciency. Included in this year’s report are familiar measures, plus a new one,the Graduation Efficiency Index (GEI), a formula that does not measure lineartime to graduation, but instead tracks student credit efficiency. The GEI for-mula utilizes transfer credits (if any), the number of credits a student hasearned, and the number of credits needed to earn a degree—180 being the usualstandard, though some degrees, notably in Education, require more. Using theGEI formula, a student who earns no more than the necessary number ofcredits for graduation has achieved 100% efficiency. (A copy of this formulacan be requested from the OIAT.)Yes82%No18%Native Graduates AttendingSummerStartOFFICE OF INSTITUTIONALASSESSMENT AND TESTINGPAGE 9WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: 1996 GRADUATESHas SummerStart participation affected graduation efficiency? It is difficult tosay with certainty. A great many factors influence a student’s academic career;singling out one effect is extremely difficult. For such large numbers of studentseven when there is statistical significance, variance analysis results are almostroutinely low. Nevertheless, findings do indicate that the influence of SummerStarton efficiency (as measured by the GEI and the average number of quarters attended)is a relatively positive one.Quarters to Graduation: Transfers w/AA Degrees10 or more29%6 or less15%7 to 956%SummerStart Participation: Effect on Two Measures of Time-to-degree EfficiencyGraduation Efficiency Index (GEI) Number of QuartersSummerStart SummerStartyear graduatedyear entered yes nostatistically significant yes nostatistically significant1991 1986-87 88.9 80.1 yes (.000) 13.7 15.5 yes (.000)1992 1987-88 86.8 80.5 yes (.000) 14.2 15.0 yes (.000)1993 1988-89 85.6 81.7 yes (.000) 14.4 14.9 yes (.019)1994 1989-90 85.6 81.4 yes (.000) 14.4 14.9 yes (.033)1995 1990-91 85.8 83.4 yes (.000) 14.5 14.6 no (.483)1996 1990-91 85.6 90.8 no (.152) 13.9 14.4 no (.148)Quarters to Graduation:"Pure" Natives12 or less16%16 or more28%13 to 1556%Traditionally, atransfer with an AAdegree might be ex-pected to graduatewithin six quarters,while a “pure” native (agraduate who earnedWestern credits only, nooutside credits--fromcommunity colleges, forinstance) might beexpected to graduatewithin twelve quarters.OFFICE OF INSTITUTIONALASSESSMENT AND TESTINGPAGE 10WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: 1996 GRADUATES1996 GraduateRepeated at LeastOne CourseYes14%No86%1996 GraduateDropped at LeastOne CourseNo57%Yes 43%1996 GraduateMissed at LeastOne QuarterNo80%Yes20%At 20%,1996 graduates wereslightly less likely to havemissed a quarter than were1995 graduates (22%).At 43%, 1996 graduates wereless likely to have dropped atleast one course than 1995graduates (47%).At 14%, 1996 graduates wereequally likely to have repeatedat least one course as were1995 graduates (14%).OFFICE OF INSTITUTIONALASSESSMENT AND TESTINGPAGE 11WESTERN WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: 1996 GRADUATESVarsityathleteNatives67%VarsityathleteTransfers33%1996 Varsity Athlete GraduatesSport N %Football 36 25.5%Crew 26 18.4%Track 23 16.3%Soccer 17 12.1%Cross-Country 14 9.9%Tennis/Racket 9 6.4%Basketball 6 4.3%Fast Pitch 6 4.3%Golf 3 2.1%Volleyball 1 0.7%1 4 1 1 0 0 . 0 %Varsity athlete graduatesearned an overall West-ern gpa of 3.03. Maleathletes earned a 2.96gpa; female athletesearned a 3.13 gpa. Na-tive athletes earned a3.06 gpa; transfersearned a 2.97 gpa.There were 141 graduates from the class of 1996 who had partici-pated in varsity athletics, up from 94 graduates from the class of1995. Graduating varsity athletes were predominately White (88.6%),followed by African-American (5.7%), Hispanic (2.9%), Asian (2.1%),and Native-American (0.7%).Graduating varsity athletes earned degrees in 29 of Western’s 45departments, including 13.5% in Physical Education, 9.2% inSociology, and 7.1% in both Environment Studies and Psychology.10% of graduating varisty athletes earned honors, slightly higherthan the 8.6% of graduates earning honors overall.VarsityathleteFemale41%VarsityathleteMale59%PREDICTORS OF ACADEMIC SUCCESSSeveral analyses yielded interesting findings. Analysis by statistical correlation indicated that thevariable with the strongest positive correlation with Western gpa was the Academic Index (r =.591, p = .000). The Academic Index (AI) is a mathematical formula that combines high school gpaand pre-college test scores (for example, the SAT and ACT) into one figure. It is utilized statewideand has a scale of 0-100.  The average AI for 1996 Western graduates was 55.6. The strong positivecorrelation between the AI and Western gpa indicates that the AI is a reliable predictor of academicsuccess at Western, using Western gpa as the criterion of that success.However, because a relatively few transfers include the AI, high school gpa, or pre-college testscores as part of their records, transfer gpa was also included in the test of statistical correla-tion. Though not as strong a predictor as the AI, transfer gpa indicated a modest to strong correlationwith Western gpa (r = .440, p = .000).Multiple regression analyses on selected variables also were performed. This statistic helps toindicate which of a number of variables can predict what the score on a dependent variable (inthis case Western gpa) might be. This test was performed on so-called “pure natives,” those studentswho had entered Western as freshmen and not taken any transfer credits. Statistically, this cohortoffered the most in-depth analysis (all their credits were taken at Western, and the Academic Index,high school gpa’s and pre-college test scores were included in their records). For “pure natives,”regression analyses indicated that R2 = .326 for the Academic Index as an independent variableaffecting the dependent variable “Western gpa.” In other words, 32.6% of the variance in Westerngpa could be explained by knowing the Academic Index of the “pure native” cohort.If a variable was needed that might help predict how well an in-coming freshman might perform atWestern, using Western gpa as the criterion for academic success, the best one available currentlywould be the Academic Index.  In the case of transfer students, for whom the AI is not always avail-able, transfer gpa might serve as a decent alternative.published by:Office of Institutional Assessment and TestingDr. Joseph E. Trimble, DirectorFor copies of Office of Institutional Assessment and Testing (OIAT) technical reports, Focus Re-search Summaries, or InfoFacts, please contact Gary McKinney, Western Washington University,MS: 9010, Bellingham, WA 98225.  Or call, FAX, or e-mail at: telephone (360) 650-3409; FAX(360) 650-6893; email garyr@Nessie.cc.wwu.edu.  Expanded executive summaries of OIAT reportscan be found on our World Wide Web page.  To access our page use the following address:http://www.wwu.edu/~assess.html

A Profile of the 1996 Western Washington University Graduating Class

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A Profile of the 1996 Western Washington University Graduating Class

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