[ti:US College Completion Rate Rises, As Ceremonies Are Postponed] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]This year, many students who are graduating from universities across the United States and in many countries [00:08.16]will not get to enjoy traditional celebrations of their success. [00:13.44]A growing number of schools are cancelling or postponing their graduation ceremonies [00:20.08]because of the worldwide spread of the coronavirus. [00:25.56]But in the U.S., the cancellations do come at a time when the national graduation rate is continuing to increase. [00:35.60]Mikyung Ryu is the director of research publications for the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. [00:44.52]She told VOA that for a long time, the national rate of completion [00:50.68]for two and four-year college study programs stayed a little over 50 percent. [00:57.72]The U.S. Department of Education reports the nation's graduation rate. [01:03.52]But, Ryu said it has not been getting the full picture of who actually was entering higher education. [01:11.44]She noted that the agency was not including in its numbers students who left college to study at different schools. [01:21.12]Also, many older students and ones working full-time jobs [01:26.84]have started attending colleges and universities in recent years. [01:32.20]These people are often unable to complete their programs in the usual two or four years. [01:39.60]"The traditional measure of college completion outcomes does not work well anymore. [01:46.28]So it has to be adjusted to better address the increasingly complex student profile," said Ryu. [01:55.64]So in 2009, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center [02:01.20]asked over 3,600 colleges and universities in 45 states for more complete student data. [02:11.00]For students in two-year programs, the group looked at how many students graduated within three years. [02:19.44]For four-year programs, it looked at the six-year graduation rate. [02:24.40]The center also included information on students who moved from one school to another to continue their education. [02:33.44]Last December, the center released a comparison between the six-year graduation rate [02:39.76]for all students who started in the fall of 2009 to those who started in the fall of 2013. [02:48.44]Researchers found the overall graduation rate had increased to 60 percent. [02:55.36]Ryu said the results represent a nationwide success story because gains were found in 43 out of 45 states. [03:05.84]Yet experts like Iris Palmer say the national graduation rate does not tell the whole story. [03:14.00]She is a top advisor for higher education and the workforce at New America, a public policy research group. [03:23.92]She noted that, because of the rising cost of higher education in the U.S., [03:29.08]many schools are under pressure to show their success in both completion and job placement. [03:36.84]In addition, some colleges and universities might admit only the highest performing candidates [03:44.16]in order to increase their completion rates. [03:47.48]"If you become more selective, you're more likely to have a higher graduation rate," Palmer said. [03:55.28]"So the worry is that if you focus too much on the graduation rate, [04:00.12]you disadvantage low-income and historically discriminated against populations, [04:06.24]because it is actually harder to get them to graduate." [04:10.52]Still, Palmer notes schools and policymakers have made an effort to improve student success. [04:19.48]This includes measures to improve guidance for students through their programs, [04:25.12]as well as other support services. [04:28.48]Josh Wyner agrees that overall this seems to be a sign [04:33.56]that American higher education is moving in the right direction. [04:38.92]He is the executive director of the College Excellence Program at the Aspen Institute. [04:45.44]But he notes 60 percent is still low and it is not clear what this number means for the future. [04:53.56]There is still more to be done that can increase the rate, Wyner argued. [04:59.12]This includes exploring new teaching methods, and increasing efforts to make all students, [05:05.92]especially non-traditional ones, feel like they belong at colleges and universities. [05:12.64]It also means including different kinds of study programs in this count. [05:18.88]"The credentials that matter are the ones that enable somebody to get a good job ... [05:24.64]regardless of whether that's technical training or traditional liberal arts," Wyner said. [05:30.84]I'm Pete Musto. [05:32.76]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM