Institutions of higher education are asked to consider how their work can advance equity in institutional outcomes. Assessment, too, has been asked to consider the ways in which traditional student assessment "privileges and validates certain types of learning and evidence of learning over others" (Montenegro and Jankowski 2017, p. 5).…

The Grand Challenges for Assessment in Higher Education project is a collaborative effort of 10 endorsing organizations and over 400 volunteers to increase the extent to which assessment (1) supports equity; (2) is visible, actionable, and drives innovation; and (3) guides rapid improvements in pedagogy (Singer-Freeman and Robinson 2020). Several…

Speculative reform jumps the gun on notions of data-driven reform, requiring administrators to anticipate and act to ensure problems (and the data that would show them) do not materialize. Speculative reforms are incapable of delivering the outcomes they promise, as they are fueled by a fear of the future that their reforms do not extinguish. In…

Recently, the rise of generative AI tools such as "ChatGPT" have prompted deep and wide considerations about teaching and learning, student success, research and development, and the use of data for informed institutional decision making. In this volume, authors discuss specific concepts, considerations for use, and some specific tools…

The U.S. Department of Education has required educational collection and reporting. For postsecondary institutions, this requirement has evolved from the Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS), which was used from the 1960s to the 1980s, to the Integrated postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) (Aliyeva, Cody, & Low, 2018).…

Students, families, colleges, and lawmakers need clearer information on postsecondary outcomes to make informed decisions. By leveraging data available at institutions and federal agencies, a nationwide student-level data network (SLDN) would close information gaps that persist in our higher education landscape to answer critical questions about…

Data-informed decision-making is no longer an optional or occasional practice, as higher education professionals now routinely respond to calls for accountability by providing data to show how their work impacts students. Institutions are operating with a culture that, at a minimum, includes the use of descriptive and diagnostic analyses to assess…

Student privacy is a critical area of higher education that deserves greater focus, particularly as student data digitalization increases. Many colleges and universities use data literacy as a way to prepare students, sometimes from different disciplines, to work with others' data postgraduation. Data literacy can be an avenue for helping all…

In June 2019, Minnesota State set a critical goal: By 2030, eliminate the educational equity gaps at each of the 30 colleges and 7 universities that comprise the system. To achieve the goal of Equity 2030, and empower actors at every level of Minnesota State, system and campus leaders need to fully embrace data democratization. Without access to…

As institutions seek to shift into more advanced analytics and data-based decision-support, many institutional research offices face the challenge of meeting the office's current demands while taking on more intricate and specialized work to support decision-making. Given the great need organizations have for information that supports real-time…

State legislators have the opportunity to create and support legislation that positions data as a tool to help decisionmakers at all levels take action to support student success. This checklist can serve as a guide to crafting legislation that addresses education data. It applies specifically to education data legislation which includes bills…

Based on information technology to promote the upgrading of various industries, the core of Industry 4.0, the current internet big data has gradually become a hot spot of social development, and a huge amount of data gushes out. Music is the education of beauty, and it is a key to inspire people to be true and good. China has been a land of…

Capital appropriations are an important but often forgotten component of the public contribution to funding higher education. In fiscal year 2021, nearly $13 billion was appropriated for capital projects at public institutions, representing 11.6% of the total state contribution to higher education. When compared to general operating support and…

The American College Personnel Association recognized the increased prominence of digital technologies in student affairs work, developing a technology competency area that includes foundational, intermediate, and advanced objectives for data use. However, as the role of technology use in student affairs practice rapidly changes, it is…

Across higher education, educational developers and their supporting campus communities are being called upon to scale up evidence-informed practices, to enhance student experiences, and to document the changes. This article builds on the work of scholars who have taken up this evaluative challenge, by examining varied aspects of the evidencing…