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I have reported in the recent past about some of the successes of Glen Oaks Community College in serving our region’s students and communities. Here I will provide greater detail concerning the breadth and depth of the good work being carried out.
The previous reports outlined the significant numbers of dual enrollment and early middle students the college is serving. The data reported here will expand in outlining the amazing student success these programs have fostered.
The data related to the dual enrollment and career technical education has shown significant increases over the past several years. During the past year (2016-17 Fall and Winter enrollments), 1,091 of GOCC’s 2,366 non-duplicated students were in high school. They were either enrolled in classes held at the college, online or on the high school campuses. These data reveal Glen Oaks is directly impacting the educational attainment level of the greater St. Joseph County region.
In an earlier piece, I reported that 81percent of the high school seniors the college dual enrolled in years 2012-16 (n=1,006). Of these, 225 have attended GOCC at some point since high school graduation. The data I will present here shows what these students have achieved compared to a similar group of regional students who did not enroll with GOCC as high school students.
On all measurement categories the students who had dual enrolled with Glen Oaks have performed at higher levels than those who had not. Examples include higher grade point averages 2.97 vs 2.20; greater number of credits earned, 39 vs 23; more students graduating, 28 percent versus 10 percent; more students transferring to four-year institution, 17 percent versus 11 percent; and more students meeting at least one success criteria, 75 percent versus 56 percent.
As one can see, there appears to be a direct link between Glen Oaks student success and high school dual enrollment. While these data are exciting, they only apply to 22 percent of the 1,006 seniors who were dual enrolled years 2012-16. It is difficult to ascertain the success of the 590 students who attended other higher education institutions after being dual enrolled at GOCC.
We are working with some of our partner four-year institutions to establish the performance of these students on their campuses. We do have some preliminary data from the University of Michigan and Trine University. They both report that our students have been academically successful. Over time, we plan to collect as much data as possible concerning the success of all the region high school’s Dual Enrollment and Early/Middle College students as possible.
In closing, it is very rewarding to report all the “good work” the college is doing to add value to our students’ lives and communities’ futures. The end result is – Glen Oaks is helping to raise the educational attainment and economic levels of our citizens.
David H. Devier
President, Glen Oaks Community College
