Now that we’ve taken a solid look at the postsecondary enrollment rates and trends of METS students and their peers, it’s time to take a look at how they do in completing their degrees. Using the same StudentTracker report put out by the state of Maine in partnership with the Mitchell Institute and the National Student Clearinghouse, we are able to compare METS rates vs those of their peer groups in their target schools. The enrollment year we will be comparing is the 2007-2008 cohort, and we will be using the rates of those who graduated within 6 years, with a certificate, associates, or bachelor degrees. As before, the names have of schools have been changed so as not to accidentally disclose individual student information. One note, School I is a private school, and as such was not included in the state of Maine’s report.
In 2007-2008, 125 METS seniors enrolled in postsecondary education, at an enrollment rate of 91.2%.
Table 1: METS student attainment rates vs. their peers in the 2007-2008 enrollment cohort.
| Total school 2008 enrollments | Target School Postsecondary Attainment % | Economically Disadvantaged Total school enrollment | ED attainment % | METS 2007-2008 enrollments | METS Attainment % | |
| School A | 116 | 50% | 42 | 31.0% | 15 | 80.0% |
| School B | 86 | 36% | 23 | 26.1% | 10 | 70.0% |
| School C | 17 | 35% | 5 | 0.0% | 10 | 50.0% |
| School D | 155 | 23% | 49 | 14.3% | 25 | 40.0% |
| School E | 31 | 26% | 12 | 41.7% | 10 | 40.0% |
| School F | 276 | 32% | 105 | 19.0% | 29 | 37.9% |
| School G | 51 | 22% | 16 | 18.8% | 12 | 25.0% |
| School H | 36 | 42% | 18 | 22.2% | 4 | 25.0% |
| School I | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | 10 | 40.0% |
| METS | 768 | 33% | 270 | 21.5% | 125 | 45.6% |
Sources: METS Attainment Study, 20016; National Student Clearinghouse, StudentTracker for High Schools Demographics report, 2015.
As Table 1 shows, METS students are completing their degrees at higher rates then their peers. In Table 2, we will break down the rate of the difference a little bit further.
Table 2: Difference in postsecondary attainment rate between METS students and their peers.
| % | ED attainment % | % | % improvement over target school % | % improvement over economically disadvantaged schools from target school % | |
| School A | 50% | 31.0% | 80.0% | 30.0% | 49.0% |
| School B | 36% | 26.1% | 70.0% | 34.0% | 43.9% |
| School C | 35% | 0.0% | 50.0% | 14.7% | 50.0% |
| School D | 23% | 14.3% | 40.0% | 17.4% | 25.7% |
| School E | 26% | 41.7% | 40.0% | 14.2% | -1.7% |
| School F | 32% | 19.0% | 37.9% | 5.7% | 18.9% |
| School G | 22% | 18.8% | 25.0% | 3.4% | 6.3% |
| School H | 42% | 22.2% | 25.0% | -16.7% | 2.8% |
| School I | 40.0% | n/a | n/a | ||
| METS | 33% | 21.5% | 45.6% | 12.7% | 24.1% |
The impact on individual schools varied,but with two exceptions, METS students showed significant improvement over there peers. In Schools A and B, 80 and 70 percent of METS students respectively achieved a postsecondary degree, a remarkable rate of achievement.
Less positively, In School E, METS showed improvement over the school population as a whole, but not over their economically disadvantaged peers. In School H, the opposite was true. As these schools were all served by different advisors in different parts of the state, it’s not immediately clear what the lesson is in these instances, but further research is warranted.
As table 2 shows, almost half (45.6%) of all METS students completed a postsecondary degree within six years. When compared with their economically disadvantaged peers, it’s clear that METS students are more than twice as likely to complete their degree.
Next up in our series on METS Outcomes is a closer look at some of the trends in METS student’s postsecondary attainment.
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