Post-Secondary Education Readiness Research Report
Abstract
Through Wyoming’s collaborative Statewide Longitudinal Education Data System (SLEDS) initiative, Participating Entities utilize data to assess impacts on education and workforce outcomes. One of the preliminary research questions from the SLEDS Executive Governance Board relates to understanding the success of students taking developmental courses.
Every year post-secondary education stakeholders in Wyoming express a desire to understand the impacts of developmental coursework programs on a student’s success. Data on developmental coursework is available at all school levels throughout the country. Yet, the SLEDS project team members only found a relatively small amount of research on impacts of developmental coursework across multiple institutions.
Researchers from Wyoming’s community colleges, the Wyoming Community College Commission, and the University of Wyoming conducted research to better understand the success of students taking developmental courses. The researchers collected and analyzed developmental coursework from each Wyoming public post-secondary institution, focusing on all degree-seeking students who first enrolled at any Wyoming post-secondary college from Fall 2009 through Fall 2020. Researchers found that 45.8% of the degree seeking students were enrolled in developmental coursework. Furthermore, we determined that these students were less likely to successfully complete degree programs and coursework and more
likely to drop out.
CARES ACT Research Report
Abstract
Participating Entities utilized data to assess the statewide impacts of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic(COVID-19) on Wyoming students in postsecondary education. The SLEDS research team analyzed data on high school graduation, enrollment in postsecondary education, and persistence in postsecondary education from 2016 through 2023.
Number of Wyoming high school graduates increased over the study period while the number of students enrolling in Wyoming postsecondary institutions immediately after high school declined. Persistence in postsecondary education statewide remained generally consistent across the study period years, but the lowest observed persistence rates were observed after Fall 2020.
The team also assessed the relationship between receiving Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and EconomicSecurity Act funding from the state of Wyoming (CARES Funding) and persistence in post-secondary education following Fall 2020 and found that CARES funding was associated with an increase in persistence of approximately seven percentage points for students who graduated from a Wyoming high school and enrolled in a Wyoming postsecondary institution immediately after high school graduation.
