East Valley Institute of Technology using data to increase course-completion rates

By Richard Dyer
Mail | X: @RHDyer

East Valley Institute of Technology officials have analyzed three academic years of data to identify where students are dropping out and not completing programs with a goal of developing improvement plans to retain more in the future.

EVIT is a public trade school providing 50 career training programs for East Valley high school students and Phoenix-area adults at two central campuses in Mesa. Classes are 8-10:35 a.m. or noon-2:35 p.m. Monday through Friday. Classes with four-hour blocks are 7-11 a.m. or noon-4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Classes are also held at satellite campuses, according to https://www.evit.edu.

A 68-page document on student-retention data was discussed during the EVIT Governing Board’s Dec. 16 meeting. It lists all classes at the EVIT and satellite campuses, the number of students per class, and the percentage who completed a full one- or two-year program, which was called “persistent data.”

Chief Academic Officer Ronda Doolen, in collaboration with career and technical education directors, created the evaluation of EVIT’s programs to apply the same rules to the central campus as those at satellite campuses, Superintendent Chad Wilson told the board.

“You, as a governing board, are charged with the quality and content of CTE programming. Not just at the central campus, but across the entire (Career and Technical Education District),” he said.

“(Dr.) Doolen has spent quite a bit of time to try to create an evaluation instrument that we believe will allow us to measure data and use that data for informed decisions on what we can do better, what’s working, what we can celebrate,” Wilson said.

Three years of EVIT and satellite data sent to the Arizona Department of Education were used, from academic year 2022 to 2024, which ended in May, said Nicole Quow-Thomason, EVIT’s director of curriculum and instruction.

The data examined courses that have two classes in a sequence to complete in one year or three-sequence courses completed in two years, Doolen said.

Wilson set a goal of 85% or better persistence for one-year programs and 60% or higher for two-year programs at the EVIT main campuses. Satellite campuses need to have a score of 30% or higher, she said.

“The ask is higher for central campus than he’s asking for satellite campuses at this time,” Doolen said. “(WIlson) really wanted to make sure we are striving to be as good as we can be and really raising that bar here at the central campus.”

She used the two-year automotive technologies courses at the EVIT main campus as an example of one with a high persistence number — 67%.

“So that means 67% of the students are persisting to the final course. So that is something we’re really excited about, that they’re doing so well in auto. That was lower several years ago and they’ve done a good job at retaining those students,” Doolen said.

One struggling program is the one-year culinary arts program, she said.

“That one we’re wanting at 85% and you can see it’s at 46%,” Doolen said. “(T)here are reasons that are valid reasons it’s at 46%, but that’s the same with every program that is below where we want it to be... (B)ut the goal is still to improve and get it where it needs to be.”

An improvement plan has been put in place on retaining students for culinary arts and getting better participation until the end of the program, she said.

“So I know already it’s on track and doing better this year,” Doolen said.

Two programs had a persistence number of more than 100%, possibly because a student took the first class at a satellite campus and finished at the EVIT main campus, she said later.

Examples of programs with persistence scores higher than 100% at the EVIT central campuses were:

• 111%, plumbing, a one-year course with 56 students starting and 62 completing.

• 109%, precision machining, a two-year course with 23 students starting and 25 completing.

Richard H. Dyer can be reached at rdyer@iniusa.org, or on X @rhdyer. To voice your opinion on this story, connect with us at AzOpinions@iniusa.org.

Richard Dyer
Managing Editor | East Valley

rdyer@iniusa.org

Meet Richard
Richard Dyer has worked at Independent Newsmedia Inc. USA since 1987, starting his career in Apache Junction as a copy editor and being promoted over the years to work as the editor of the Mesa Independent, news services editor for the East Valley office in Apache Junction, managing editor for the East Valley office, news services editor for the East Valley office and eventually also for the newspapers at INI’s then-Chandler office, managing editor again and as a news editor covering Apache Junction/Gold Canyon and Queen Creek. He helped start the Florence Independent while the news editor covering Apache Junction and Mesa news. In January 2023, he became associate managing editor for the East Valley newspapers and in August 2023 became managing editor for the East Valley newspapers of Chandler/Tempe, Gilbert, Queen Creek, Florence, Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon, while also reporting on Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon.  

Community: Since 2009, he has worked as a volunteer to design The Blue Guitar Magazine, Blue Guitar Jr. magazine and Unstrung magazine, which are projects of The Arizona Consortium for the Arts; and since 2014, has been overseeing the art submissions. 

Education: University of Arizona with a master of arts in journalism and a bachelor of science in agricultural communication. Also continuing education at Mesa Community College in welding in a metal art sculpture class.

Random fact: Saw his first tornado on May 31, 2010, which was classified as an EF-2, as part of a stormchasing tour group.

Hobbies: He is an artist of welded-steel sculptures, selling his artwork at juried and non-juried art shows.