'Persistence rate' shows Boston students do succeed in college

SHERRYANN HAWKESWORTH'S journey toward a college degree began in 1986, when the sixth-grader at the Woodrow Wilson Middle School in Dorchester enrolled in the Urban Scholars Program at the University of Massachusetts-Boston. After high school, Hawkesworth went on to enroll at Connecticut College, cared for family, raised her own three children, and, finally, in December 2008, completed her bachelor of science degree in nursing at UMass-Boston as an award-winning student.

Hawkesworth's story may be atypical, but her persistence is not. Unreported in the recent data about the graduation rates of Boston Public School students from area colleges is the rate at which some students, many of them overcoming substantial obstacles, persist in their pursuit of a college degree beyond a standard time frame. At UMass-Boston, for example, nearly as many Boston Public School graduates from the class of 2000 were still actively enrolled at the end of the six-year window as had earned their college degrees, according to the recent Private Industry Council study.

As much as data about individual college graduation rates can be useful indicators for improvement, when too narrowly focused or interpreted, they can also mask important factors that must be included in the public discourse around how to better serve public school students.

This is particularly the case for urban public colleges and universities, whose students often encounter far steeper academic, personal, social, and financial challenges. For these students, life sometimes interferes, independent of academic or financial support, and their success lies outside the readily available data pool.

Indeed, when you look at the "persistence rate" at public colleges, the numbers often double. At Bunker Hill, the graduation rate of class of 2000 BPS students was 14 percent, while 16 percent were still pursuing a degree. At Bridgewater State, the graduation rate was 13 percent and the still-enrolled rate 13 percent, for a 26 percent persistence rate. The same can be said for UMass-Boston (39 percent persistence rate) as well as some other public colleges.

What we know is that Boston Public Schools graduates can, and do, succeed in college. Twenty-five years ago when UMass-Boston enrolled 15 students from Roxbury and Dorchester high schools in the pilot Urban Scholars Program, educators believed that urban students represented an untapped resource. That proved correct. Urban Scholars has enrolled nearly 1,500 Boston students, mostly from minority and low-income families. Ninety-eight percent of program graduates have enrolled in college, and 85 percent have graduated or are still enrolled.

Now, we in higher education need to achieve that same level of success with programs aimed at boosting retention levels, particularly at public colleges and universities. Many have already begun these efforts. UMass-Boston, for example, has invested nearly $1.6 million over the past two years in measures aimed at keeping students in college and helping them to be successful, including increased financial aid, more funding for academic tutoring and advising, and newly created positions devoted to student success. A broader effort includes working with community colleges and sister state universities to provide a more seamless pathway for students to move from community colleges to four-year colleges.

Massachusetts's state and community colleges and universities serve an important public mission providing greater access to higher education than available at most private institutions. They are also proficient at providing pathways to success for continuing and returning students. At a time when the state and the public higher education system face budget cuts, we must not let one common yardstick be the only measure of success, and lose sight of those like Sherryann Hawkesworth who expect more from us.

Dr. J. Keith Motley is chancellor of the University of Massachusetts at Boston.