Gen-1 House at the University of Cincinnati

First-generation college students--students whose parents don't have degrees--struggle for many reasons. The culture of a college campus may be foreign to them and they may lack the wherewithal to navigate the overwhelming maze of academic and administrative offices.

The challenge to solve these issues continues to baffle college administrators, but an innovative program at the University of Cincinnati is helping to influence the outcomes for this group of students and is gaining national attention for its efforts. Gen-1 House was recently featured in the New York Times Education section after only one year of the program.

A true measure of success--the number of students who persist and graduate--may be a some years away, but in a few weeks, the Gen-1 House will welcome its second cohort of first-generation freshmen and continue the vital work to overcome this group's challenges and make them successful college graduates.



Read the full article in the New York Times. Inside Higher Ed also published an article about Gen-1 House in January 2009. Learn more about Gen-1 House at the University of Cincinnati.

Black-White Achievment Gap Narrows

According to a recent article in Education Week, American schools have made modest progress in closing the achievement gap between black and white students in math and reading. A recent study was released by the National Center for Education Statistics and showed that in math, the achievement gap has narrowed significantly among 9- and 13-year-olds since 1978, though it has remained statistically unchanged since 1999. In reading, the gap was statistically unchanged among 9-year-olds, but it has narrowed at age 13 since 1980






























Read the full article at Education Week, or go straight to the report by the National Center for Education Statistics.

Workforce and Economic Growth

The University of Cincinnati Economics Center for Education and Research recently published an article about job trends and workforce gaps. When looking at strategies for regional economic growth, it is important to understand this relationship. The percent of available positions requiring a certain level of training can be compared to the percent of individuals who meet that level of training. Following is a snapshot of the local data from this article.












The full article is available here.

Brain Drain in Ohio - What the Local Data Shows

As a follow-up to the recent post on the Fordham Foundation's report on Brain Drain in Ohio, I tracked down the latest data I could find on local colleges from the Ohio Board of Regents.

The graphs below show the percent of college graduates staying in Ohio as measured by graduates working or going to school in Ohio six months after graduation. Data is presented separately for Associates and Bachelors Degrees.













More can be found at the Ohio Board of Regents.