As part of Round I of the Aspen Prize selection process, the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS), in consultation with the Prize’s Data and Metrics Advisory Panel, developed a model for selecting 120 public two-year institutions (out of 1,008 potential candidates) eligible to apply to the Round 2 selection process.  The model was developed using publicly available data from the National Center for Education Statistics’ Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the U.S. Census Bureau. This document provides the details of the analytic model developed to determine the top 120 institutions. Specific calculations for each of the metrics in the model are available in the appendix.

The model is based on institutional performance in three general areas: (1) retention and completion, (2) improvement in performance over time, and (3) equity, defined as performance outcomes for underrepresented minorities and institutions in low-income service areas.  Each of these general categories was equally weighted, with each accounting for one-third of the overall score.  Adjustments to the measures were made in the analytic model (where possible) to control for institutions with unusual percentages of part-time and underrepresented minority student enrollment in order not to penalize institutions that serve disproportionately large populations of these students. Also, greater weight for overall performance was applied instead of improvement for institutions that did not improve on the performance metrics analyzed. Finally, in order to produce a representative set of institutions with respect to mission and size, the top overall performers were selected within each quartile of “percent vocational/technical credentials awarded” and “unduplicated annual enrollment.”  Additionally, to ensure that there was not disproportionate representation of institutions from certain states, no more than half of the institutions in each state were included in the top 120. 

Please click here to read the full description of the model.