College
readiness has been a topic of much interest and debate over the past
decade. Various attempts at
raising college attainment rates focus on the idea that college ready
students are the key to any successful endeavor, yet attrition rates and
timely graduation rates continue to be an affliction upon these goals.
To date, measures of college readiness have only focused on
academic factors specific to the individual student.
IQS
Research, with the support of local and regional education groups, is
developing a measure that will assess a community’s desire and capacity
to educate its population through the completion of a postsecondary
degree. Known as the Index of
Community Commitment to Higher Education, or ICCHE for short, it will be
the most comprehensive measure of college readiness to date.
By analyzing both personal traits (attitudinal, academic, and
behavioral) and community assets ICCHE identifies the strengths and
weaknesses within a community so that they can be targeted and improved.
To view a .pdf document with more information about the ICCHE system click
here.
IQS
Research has worked extensively to help communities better understand
their educational climate and they continue to expand the work in this
area. Past clients have come
to trust IQS Research as a source for providing insightful and important
information about the underlying factors of educational success.
One
of the company’s recent studies focused on understanding the perceptions
of students and adults in the Greater Louisville community regarding the
importance and difficulty of attaining a college degree.
The findings helped shape the city’s most aggressive education
campaign in decades: 55,000 Degrees.
To
view the findings of the published report, Community
Perceptions of Higher Education, click
here.
To view the two-page report summary click here.
To view more information about the 55,000 Degrees program click
here.
IQS
Research has also worked closely with Jefferson County Public Schools in
the district’s efforts to realign its student assignment plan.
IQS and Gary Orfield’s Civil Rights Project at UCLA interviewed
parents of students in the JCPS system to better understand their
perceptions of the current student assignment plan and on the idea of
diversity in schools. The
completed report for this study can be found here.
IQS Research continues its tradition of producing high quality research in education with the following clients:
·
Jefferson
County Public Schools
·
Business
Leaders for Education
·
University
of Louisville Speed School of Engineering
·
City
of Louisville’s Mayor’s Education Roundtable
KY Community & Technical College System
Listed
below are a few articles and publications where work performed by IQS
Research has been recognized and discussed.
·
U.S.
Conference of Mayors – U.S. Mayors Newspaper: Best
Practices: Achieving
55,000 Degrees to Advance Louisville’s Education,Job Growth (p. 20) (April
2011)
·
UCLA
Graduate School of Education & Information Studies Newsletter –
Experiencing Integration in Louisville (January
2011)
·
WHAS11
News – Critics Raise Questions (January
2011)
·
55,000
Degrees – Community
Perceptions of Higher Education
·
WHAS11
News – Say what?! Louisville ranks low in list of smartest cities (June
2010)
