Traditional student information systems were designed primarily to collect and manage records of course enrollment and credit hours earned, as well as other data elements needed to monitor each student's progress to graduation. Now, institutions want to monitor and improve the quality and equity of students' learning experiences in courses and the…

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…

Multiple studies show that outcomes, whether they be better degree completion rates or successful short-term workforce training, are negatively affected by inadequate funding (Kahlenberg, 2015). To bolster their case for underfunding, researchers and college advocacy groups produce studies that rely on an important federal dataset--the Integrated…

Digital transformation (Dx) refers to a series of deep and coordinated culture, workforce, and technology shifts that enable new educational and operating models and transform an institution's business model, strategic directions, and value proposition. Dx initiatives on many campuses are anchored in student success goals. As a result of this…

Complete College America (CCA) is partnered with the National Student Clearinghouse in promoting the latter's Postsecondary Data Partnership (PDP), a data and reporting tool for tracking student success metrics. The PDP is offered at nominal cost, built for democratized data access, and encompasses transfer data native to Clearinghouse products,…

Vertical transfer from community college to a university offers a promising, although unrealized, pathway to diversify STEM disciplines. Studying how successful transfer-­receiving universities support STEM transfer students can offer insights into the institutional practices that promote transfer student retention and success. Using institutional…

This article describes a 6-week module course called Just Google It! that the author developed and teaches each fall semester. Students who take the course explore personal data collection by private companies, search algorithms, identify implicit bias in the results, and learn the best recommended privacy and security practices. At the end of the…

In 2017 the National Association of System Heads launched its Taking Student Success to Scale: High Impact Practices Network. The goals of this initiative were to identify and scale promising High Impact Practices (HIPs) at both the campus and system level to prioritize equitable participation for low-income and first-generation students and…

Over the last two years, more data was created than in the entire previous history of humankind (IBM, 2016; Marr, 2016). Roughly 1.7 megabytes of new information will be created every second for every person on earth by the turn of the decade (Evans, 2011; Gantz & Reinsel, 2012; Marr, 2016). Data are created continuously and at a rate that is…

Equity is emerging as a new frontier in the student success movement. But it's not enough to tackle higher education's deep equity divides by looking only at markers such as persistence, transfer, course credits, and DWF grades. True equity accountability depends on clarity about the key components of a quality education, especially the kinds of…

Achievement gaps still remain even though many institutions have invested in efforts to close them. Some institutions have benefited from the use of data analytics, yet may be unaware of whether they are reinforcing institutional and social behavior that may be increasing or maintaining achievement gaps. Focusing efforts on cultivating learning…

In this article, the authors report on a tested workload intervention, faculty work activity dashboards, to enhance transparency and reduce ambiguity. This intervention is part of the Faculty Workload and Rewards Project (FWRP), a National Science Foundation-funded, action-research project designed to improve equity in how faculty workload is…

In recent years the fight for equity in higher education has intensified. Institutional leaders, advocates, and policymakers alike are seeking scalable solutions that rapidly close equity gaps among this nation's most underserved populations. Too many hardworking students still struggle to afford a college education, and historically underserved…

In the past few decades, especially since the 2008-09 economic downturn, the faculty of American colleges and universities has undergone a far-reaching transformation. Multiple factors, mainly extraneous to the campus itself, are reshaping higher education, and as a result a reprioritizing of the internal allocation of resources is occurring. The…

The level of educational attainment in the United States is a central focus of public policy. The Obama administration, some states, large national foundations, and other organizations have set near-term goals to increase the number of Americans with college degrees. Achieving these goals is likely to involve a combination of increasing…