Credit ESL Courses Methodology and Definitions

Methodology

A completion rate is the percentage of students in a given cohort (e.g., 2015-2016, 2021-22, etc.) who successfully completed a transfer-level course in English or ESL equivalent course within the specified timeframe (e.g., one term, one year, two years, three years). The cohort is defined by the student's starting level and the academic year of the student's first ESL credit ESL enrollment. A completion rate is also known as throughput.

Successful Transfer-Level Completion Counts

Successful completions include A, B, C (including +/- grades where allowable), P, and CR grades, as well as incomplete grades equivalent to a passing grade (e.g., IA, IB, IC, IPP). Enrollments with grade codes of ID, IF, XX, DR, MW, RD, UD, UG, RD0, RD1, RD2, RD3, RD4, RD5, RD6, RD8, IX, INP and IP were not included in the analysis, as they do not represent valid enrollments or letter grades. Non-successful completions were defined as letter grades F, D (including +/- grades where allowable), W, EW, and NP (see COMIS for definitions of letter grades). Excused withdrawals (EW) count as a valid enrollment and are considered a non-successful attempt.

Transfer Level Completion Rates: Disaggregated (PPG-1 Methodology)

Users can disaggregate transfer-level completion rates for credit ESL based on student characteristics to determine if disproportionate impact (DI) is present for the selected subgroup. Student groups who significantly perform below the average rate of all other groups are identified as DI with the Percentage Point Gap (PPG) method. PPG uses the average (excluding the group of interest i.e., PPG-1 method) as a reference taking sample sizes into account. Learn more about the calculation of the PPG-1.

See additional information below on the different disaggregations available in the dashboard.

Definitions/Filters

Timeframe Observed

Displays the timeframe that can be fully observed (e.g., completed) within the timeframe selected (e.g., one term, one year, two years).

College (not displayed until January 2026)

Students are assigned to a college based on their first course enrollment in credit ESL and include completion anywhere in the system. Completion is attributed to the starting college. The “Statewide” option aggregates this information across all colleges in the system.

Timeframe to Completion

The timeframe to completion represents the period over which the starting cohort is tracked to successful completion of transfer-level English or ESL equivalent course. One-term is completion within the first term of enrollment in the discipline. The one-year timeframe includes students who completed a transfer-level class within one year (365 days) of their initial attempt in the sequence (e.g., Fall-[Winter]-Spring-Summer; Spring-Summer-Fall-[Winter]; etc.). Two- and three-year timeframes extend this logic for two or three years.

First Attempt Term

This filter allows users to look at students whose first enrollment in the discipline was either in the fall term or to look at all starting terms combined.

Starting Course Level

“At Transfer Level” means the student’s first course of enrollment in the discipline was at transfer level (CB21 = Y).

“Below Transfer: 1 Level” means the student’s first course of enrollment in the discipline was at one level below transfer (CB21 = A).

“Below Transfer: 2 Levels or More” means the student’s first course of enrollment in the discipline was at two levels below transfer or below (CB21 = B, C or D).

Ed Goal

This filter allows users to select students who selected an educational goal of ‘Degree’ or ‘Transfer’, ‘Other’ or all educational goals (see SB14).

Disaggregation

This filter allows users to select different student variables to determine the presence of disproportionate impact (see Methodology above). Only student variables available in the COMIS system may be reported in the dashboard. Based on the student variable selected, a set of included subgroups will appear. If disproportionate impact is present for a subgroup, a circle will appear in the visualization around the specific data point. See an outline of student variables below.