Carroll Community College is committed to ongoing assessment and evaluation of its programs and services, and to public documentation of institutional effectiveness to provide accountability to its stakeholders. Among the more recent additions to this assessment-accountability process is implementation of the “Maryland Model of Community College Student Degree Progress.” The Maryland Model was developed by the Maryland Community College Accountability Work Team in 2005, and outcomes of the model are now incorporated in the state-mandated accountability reports submitted to the Maryland Higher Education Commission each June.

The model reports the graduation, transfer, and persistence rates of students four years after entering the college in the fall as first-time college students.

The narrative below describes outcomes for the most recent cohort studied, students starting college at Carroll in fall 2002. Data for the 2002 cohort are reported in the table at the bottom of the page.

What is the college’s graduation rate?

Four years after entering Carroll as first-time college students in fall 2002, nearly 30 percent of the students attempting at least 18 hours in their first two years at Carroll had graduated with a degree or certificate from Carroll. (The 18-hour threshold is used to exclude students not evidencing pursuit of a degree.) This rate includes students attending part-time; graduation rates go up as time passes and students progressing more slowly complete their programs.

What proportion of the college’s students transfer to another college?

Four years after entering Carroll as first-time college students in fall 2002, nearly half of the students had transferred to another college or university. Half of the transfers had continued their studies at a public four-year college in Maryland. Nearly a fifth of the transfers enrolled in an out-of-state institution. Thirteen percent enrolled at a private four-year college in Maryland; with the remainder continuing their education at a Maryland two-year community or technical college.

What proportion graduate or transfer?

Since many students are pursuing the baccalaureate, they often leave before completion of the Associates degree. So a traditional outcomes measure for community colleges is the proportion graduating and/or transferring. This “graduation-transfer rate” for the fall 2002 cohort at Carroll was 57.5 percent after four years. This rate reflects degree progress four years after students started college; the rates will go up as more time passes and more students in these cohorts graduate or transfer.

What proportion of the first-time students make a successful transition to college?

Adding to the total graduating or transferring those students earning at least 30 credits from Carroll with a 2.0 or above grade point average finds seven in ten making a successful transition to college.

What proportion are successful or
persisting after four years?

Nearly three-fourths of the students entering in fall 2002 had graduated, transferred, completed 30 credits in good standing, or were still enrolled after four years.

Does the need for developmental education
influence degree progress?

Students who place into developmental courses, enroll in all recommended developmental courses, and successfully pass all recommended developmental courses, have degree progress rates similar to college-ready students. Among the fall 2002 cohort, the graduation-transfer rate for students who needed and completed all developmental requirements was 68.5 percent, higher than the graduation-transfer rate of students who entered college-ready and not placing into any developmental classes (67.6 percent). In contrast, students placing into developmental courses and not completing all developmental requirements within the four-year study period had a graduation-transfer rate of 21.4 percent.

Degree Progress of Fall 2002 Entrants Four Years After Initial Enrollment

Note: Study cohort of 485 represents fall 2002 first-time-any-college students who attempted at least 18 hours over next two years.

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