How to Improve the 4-year Graduation Rate at California State University, Sacramento
Overview of the Problem: Graduating within 4 years is very rare at Sacramento State University. According to an article by Sacramento State, only 8.8 percent of students graduated in four years in 2016 ( Figure 1). That number is very low when it shouldn’t be. Only 9 students out of 100 graduating on time is insane. 91 students are staying at Sacramento State when they shouldn’t have to, leading them to taking out more loans, filling up classes, and stressing when it should be unnecessary. This is a waste of time, resources, and money. The goal of this website is to present ideas that could help raise the four-year graduation rate to at least 50 percent, but 70 percent would be ideal. The internet is the ideal medium for this problem because high school students, parents, faculty, staff and current college students, most likely have access to the internet or could get access to the internet (Starbucks free Wi-Fi or library computers). Therefore, they would be able to view my webpage if they type in some keywords.
Problem #1: Certain teachers know most students will fail their test, and they believe that’s fine. Solution: I would like to introduce the idea that each teacher must be randomly reviewed by a higher up once a semester. This would be similar to how teachers were observed in high school. The higher up should ask the teacher for a thorough overview of the class and statistical data about how well each student is doing in the class. If over 50 percent of his/her students are failing the class, the higher up should recommend some teaching methods or ask the teacher to adjust her tests accordingly to the content of the class. The class should have at least a 60% passing rate. If the teacher proceeds to make her class too hard where the passing rate is below 60% two semesters in a row, then she may be put on leave.
Problem #2: We don’t hire the best quality teachers. We need more teachers that are passionate about a student’s learning and creativity. We need to hire teachers that actually teach rigorous material but at the same time are willing to adjust the content/teaching methods/exams in order for the majority of students to pass the class Solution: The hiring process could be adjusted in many ways. One way it could be adjusted is we should take more time to interview each teacher. We would interview them longer because if they aren’t good teachers and are just failing the students, this is just putting students behind in their academics. We need to actually know who the teacher is and what he/she values in a student’s learning experience. For example, my peer’s teacher thinks it's fine that almost everyone in her class is failing each exam. In a right person’s mind, that should be a problem. Either she isn’t teaching the learning objectives effectively or the exam’s content is not related to the class. Extremely hard work does not mean harder working/smarter students. More work done does not equal more learning. It takes time to learn, and a reasonable amount of time should be used to teach that subject. Another issue I have heard is that a teacher gives 40 seconds per question. She gave the students 40 seconds per question after everyone failed the first exam which she gave everyone 30 seconds per question. Although she gave more time the average was still 50 percent. It appears statistically that many students will have to retake this class next semester, this could have been prevented if we took more time to evaluate how she values her student’s learning experience. We need to hire the best teachers; it will cost us a little extra money, but it will be worth it in the long run.
Problem #3: Course evaluations could be put to better use if they were adjusted to ask for new ideas/recommendations for the class instead of asking how students felt about the class. Solution: Sacramento State could adjust the course evaluations. The course evaluations could be more specific to previous evaluations. The evaluations are very measurable, but maybe we could actually incorporate something new into the teacher’s class to make her class better/easier based on the evaluations. If students said the work was too hard, we could start off by including more TA’s in a class or enforcing tutoring hours which would help students do better. After the semester is over, we could compare the statistical data of the class with tutors and tutoring hours vs the class without extra help. Another great idea I’ve seen from very few professors are mid-semester course evaluations. Some professors do this to recognize their strengths and weaknesses to help the current students, which is amazing and portrays their passion for teaching
Problem #4: Not enough room in classes that students need. The number of impacted classes in impacted majors is too high. Solution: Sacramento State could lower their acceptance rate by 10-30 percent. Lowering the current acceptance rate of 82 percent will help prevent classes from filling up as quick. In addition, the number of impacted classes could be lowered. We could observe if lowering the acceptance rate will help students graduate faster because they are actually taking the classes they need instead of being waitlisted for required classes. We would need to observe for 8 years because it’d be easier to start with a fresh batch of data. We would lower the acceptance rate after the 4^th year.
Figure 1: Image depicts how the majority of students graduate in 6 years +, instead of 4 years Source: Sacramento State Graduation Rate	This table exhibits the statistical data that approximately 9 percent of all students graduate on time at Sacramento State University.
Summary: It is essential to lower the 4-year graduation rate. Having students spend more than 4 years at Sacramento State is a waste of tuition fees, time, staff, and other resources. Some solutions that we could incorporate are taking more time with teacher interviews. All though it would take more time, and more money to retain the better teachers it will be worth it in the long run. Another solution we could incorporate is implementing better course evaluation sheets. We need to improve the course evaluations to gain the most benefit/input from the student’s experience to improve future courses. Another way we could improve the graduation rate is accepting less students. I rather have fewer quality students and staff instead of more mediocre students and staff. Lowering the acceptance rate will also help make room in classes, in result reducing the number of impacted majors. In addition, we would have a better student to teacher ratio, which will be a huge benefit to both the students and teachers. Overall, I believe with a few modifications Sacramento State University has the potential to be one of the best schools in Northern California.
Published by Bryan Alvarado iambryan647@gmail.com Works Cited “California State University-Sacramento Academic Overview.” College Tuition Compare, www.collegetuitioncompare.com/edu/110617/california-state-university-sacramento. Hubert, - Cynthia. 'Finish in Four' Push Leads to Dramatic Graduation Rate Jump, California State University, Sacramento, 2 July 2019, www.csus.edu/news/articles/2019/7/2/Sac-State's-graduation-rates-leap-again-in-2019.shtml.
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Bryan Alvarado takes full responsibility for the information posted. The information on this page represents that of Bryan Alvarado and not that of California State University, Sacramento