PowerTalks: Best Practices in Student Success

PowerTalks: Best Practices in Student Success

Higher education is increasingly turning to analytics to drive decision-making around student success initiatives. This section of the summit includes three short presentations about best practices with analytics efforts geared toward student success.

Presentation #1: Using US Census Bureau Data to Tell a More Comprehensive Story About Student Success

It is no longer business as usual: policymakers, media, and the public are questioning student success outcomes. Consequently, there has been a strong consumer advocacy movement asking, Is higher education really worth the cost? Recognizing the importance of explaining the value of a degree and return on investment, the University of Texas System developed a partnership with the US Census Bureau to merge UT System student data with national unemployment insurance (UI) earnings data that is maintained by the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) program. The matching of earnings data allows UT System to create a national-level earnings metric (annual earnings) for any graduate who has UI earnings records from across the nation. The metric was integrated into the UT System seekUT tool, a free online tool that provides students and parents with information on earnings and student debt by major. This session will describe the journey UT System took to develop an agreement with the Census Bureau, demonstrate the seekUT tool and, based on UI earnings data, share student-level and institutional-level earnings metrics.

Presenters: David Troutman, Associate Vice Chancellor for Institutional Research and Advanced Analytics, and Stephanie Huie, Vice Chancellor, Office of Strategic Initiatives, University of Texas System

Presentation #2: Small College, Big Data

It's now possible for small colleges to better respond to increasing demand for data and business intelligence. As college executives, board members, and prominent alumni come to expect data to play an integral role in decision-making, we will discuss the importance of institutional strategy around data governance, as well as how to take advantage of changing technology that has a lower cost of entry. The new BI efforts at Hamilton College are a result of changing roles and intense collaboration among IT and IR. This session is a joint presentation from Hamilton's director of IR, CIO, and BI director.

Presenters: Gordon Hewitt, Associate Dean of Faculty for Institutional Research and Assessment, and Michael Sprague, Director of Business Intelligence and Web Services, Hamilton College

Presentation #3: Analytics for the Changing Enrollment Landscape

In the next 10 years, 35 states are projected to experience a decline in high school graduates. The impact of these changing demographics requires institutions to rethink the tools used to inform enrollment management. One such tool—enrollment dashboards powered by analytics—provides insights quickly and intuitively to recruiters, enrollment executives, and administrators. By amalgamating historical enrollment data with future recruitment targets, enrollment dashboards use analytics to present real-time data on recruitment and admissions targets while informing CRM software. Learn how Michigan State University built enrollment dashboards and incorporated them into its enrollment management strategy to better position the institution to address changing demographics and fulfill future enrollment needs.

Presenters: John Ambrose, Interim Executive Director for Admissions and Recruitment, Michigan State University; Peter Fritz, Senior Manager, Higher Education Practice, Deloitte