Document Type

Report

Publication Date

4-1-1992

Keywords

Characteristics, Decade, 1981-1991, 1981 to 1991, June Graduating Classes

Abstract

the June graduating class for the years 1990 and 1991. These reports led to the production of the present report, which looks back over WWU's June graduates from the years 1981 through 1991. Information for this report was obtained from the Registrar's Office, through the Student Tracking System, maintained by the Registrar's Office and supplemented by the OIAT. Data was analyzed using fundamental descriptive statistics. Unlike the OIAT reports on graduates in 1990 and 1991, this report mainly consists of an array of tables. Interpretation of the tabular data is left to the discretion of the reader. A good deal of data was prepared, but for a variety of reasons some was left out. For anyone wishing to conduct a more detailed and thorough analysis, the complete data file is available. In some respects, it may have been more fruitful to have profiled June graduates in three- or five-year increments; however, since the OIAT's statistical analyses must necessarily be done through the media of computer and software packages, only the data entered into the Student Tracking System could be accessed, with 1981 being the back cut-off date for such information. In truth, as the project progressed, even some of early 1980's data proved to be unreliable, or nonexistent. The data tables have been organized into four sections: 1) general demographics; 2) academic preparation, university performance, degree granted, and college of graduation; 3) total college credits earned, and quarters attended at WWU; and 4) an ethnicity report. Section One is straight forward, profiling general university demographics--how many males and females, transfers and natives, etc.--graduated from WWU during the springs of the years 1981 to 1991. Section Two delineates such concerns as high school GPA and pre-college test scores, transfer GPA, WWU GPA, JWE scores, honors granted, degree granted, college of graduation, and other concerns. This data is analyzed by four subcategories: gender, admit status, age category, and veteran status. Section Three is concerned with the issue of length of time needed by WWU graduates to obtain their degrees. Two data sets—total college credits earned and quarters attended at WWU—were analyzed, with focused attention paid to the following cohorts: graduates with native admit status and no transfer credits, and graduates with transfer admit status and AA degrees. These particular groups provide the highest degree of statistical accuracy when analyzing length of time needed to graduate. Section Four is the ethnicity report, and comes with an important caveat: the numbers of American, non-Caucasian WWU graduates over the past eleven years has never been more than 56. Even if international students were included into the picture (and they should properly not be, since the designation "international" or "foreign" does not accurately reflect ethnicity--Canadians, for instance, could be, and probably are, of as many ethnic backgrounds as Americans), the highest number of non-Caucasians graduating in any one year from WWU is 73. (See table below.) Number of American, non-Caucasian WWU graduates, 1981 to 1991. 1981 = 31 1982 = 23 1983 = 26 1984 = 30 1985 = 39 1986 = 41 1987 = 44 1988 = 29 1989 = 51 1990 = 56 1991 = 53 Because of the low numbers of ethnic-minority graduates, statistical analysis of significance between ethnic groups was not conducted. Raw percentages and numbers are presented for whatever interest they may have, but the sometimes enormous swings or vast differences in percentages or points between ethnic groups is undoubtedly due to the fact that quite often information on only one or two graduates is being presented.

Identifier

355

Publisher

Digital object produced by Office of Survey Research, Western Washington University, and made available by University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.

Subjects - Topical (LCSH)

College graduates--Washington (State)--Statistics

Title of Series

Technical and research reports (Western Washington University. Office of Institutional Assessment and Testing) ; 1992-02

Genre/Form

Reports

Type

Text

Rights

This resource is provided for educational purposes only and may be subject to U.S. and international copyright laws. For more information about rights or obtaining copies of this resource, please contact University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries.

Language

English

Format

application/pdf

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