To accomplish its mission, the Technical College of the Lowcountry (TCL) has Institutional goals and outcomes for Student Achievement and regularly assesses progress toward the achievement of those goals. Progress toward the goals is reported annually to College administration, faculty, and stakeholders. These goals align with The South Carolina Technical College System established Academic Success and Performance Benchmarks and include four (4) measures:
- Graduate Placement Rates
- Licensure Exam Pass Rates
- Fall-to-Spring Persistence Rates
- Progression Rates
Student Success
Graduate Placement Rate target of 85% was met and exceeded by a rate of 93%.
Licensure Exam Pass Rate target of 80% or 2% improvement from the previous year was met and exceeded by a rate of 92%.
Fall-to-Spring Persistence Rate target of 71% or 1% improvement from previous year was met with a current rate of 69%, which was 2% greater than the previous year.
Progression Rate target of 67% or 1.0 percentage point increase from the previous year was met by a rate of 67%.
Definitions
Graduate Placement Rates
Graduate placement rates reflect the success of graduates with respect to employment or continued education. Graduates who are deceased, disabled, and not actively seeking employment (e.g., active military) are excluded from the placement rate.
Licensure First-time Pass Rates
The Commission on Higher Education (CHE) has the responsibility for making available to the General Assembly “student scores on professional examinations with detailed information on state and national means, passing scores, and pass rates, as available, and with information on such scores over time, and the number of students taking each exam. Colleges report the number of examinees, the number of first-time examinees, the number of first-time examinees who pass, and the percentage of first-time examinees who pass for the list of licensure exams identified by CHE. The reporting guidelines specify that colleges report those who took exams between April 1 and the following March 31st.
Persistence Rates
Persistence rates (retention rates) are a commonly used student progress measure for both two-year and four-year institutions. The definitions for these rates typically use a fall term cohort (often the first-time freshman cohort). The most frequently used rates are fall-to-spring persistence and fall-to-fall persistence. The data below is based on the National Community College Benchmark Project (NCCBP) definition of fall-to-spring persistence. The definition used as a means to calculate credit student next-term persistence rate is Spring Term: Students from the denominator who enrolled in the subsequent spring at the end of term divided by the number of fall term total credit students at the end of fall term
PROGRESSION RATE
Description
The Progression Rate represents a culmination of positive student outcomes for all degree-seeking students enrolled in an academic year. It attempts to account for various student goals for enrolling in one of the 16 technical colleges.
Numerator
Students from the denominator who are still enrolled at the same college, completed a credential at the same college, transferred, or enrolled in a continuing education (CE) program as of the following academic year (August 1st – July 31st)
Denominator
All degree-seeking, non-dual enrollment students enrolled in the academic year (Fall, Spring, Summer)
Benchmark
67% OR 1.0 percentage point increase from the previous year
The priority order is as follows with each category being mutually exclusive:
- Received Award – Students who received an award at any point from September 1st of the respective reference academic year and August 31st at the end of the following academic year at the same college. In total this period constitutes a two-year period.
- Still Enrolled – Students who are still enrolled at the same college during the Fall, Spring, or Summer semesters in the academic year following the reference year.
- Enrolled Continuing Education (CE) – Students who enrolled in any CE coursework at the same college in any semester after the credit enrollment semester that established them in the cohort. Programs unrelated to workforce skills or credentials are excluded.
- Enrolled CE at Another SCTCS College – Students who enrolled in any CE coursework at a different SCTCS college in any semester after the credit enrollment semester that established them in the cohort. Programs unrelated to workforce skills or credentials are excluded.
- Transferred – Students are coded as transferred if they are enrolled at another higher education institution any point in the academic year following the reference year (August 1st – July 31st) as found in the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) database. Note, this category considers enrollment at the new institution; it does not account for the student’s status at the transfer institution (e.g., withdrawals).