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…

From Fall 2019 through Spring 2020, The Hunt Institute released a series of policy briefs, "Attainment for All: Postsecondary Pathways," that highlighted scalable state-level strategies to boost postsecondary attainment rates among specific student subpopulations including high school graduates, first-generation students, and adult…

Libraries remain one of the last places on campus where the purging of usage data is encouraged and "tracking" is a dirty word. While some libraries have demonstrated the usefulness of analytics, opponents bring up issues of privacy and debate the feasibility of student-generated library data for planning and assessment. Using a study…

The purpose of this brief is to provide school-level examples of how early college practitioners are collecting and using data to improve their practices. Examples three and four are school-level data from two early college partnerships: the MetroWest CPC (Framingham, Milford, Waltham), and Lawrence. The brief begins, however, with the national…

State leaders have a responsibility to use their data systems to help students seamlessly navigate transitions from high school into college, workforce training programs, the military, and apprenticeships. Many state leaders are meeting this responsibility by establishing initiatives to make enrolling in postsecondary education and workforce…

Inclusivity in data reports for undocumented students can be difficult to achieve. By nature of those students' status and livelihood, there is contention among academics and practitioners on whether this is a population that should not be formally tracked or identified, for a variety of reasons. Concerns about tracking arise because of the…

The legal and ethical use of Big Data and Learning Analytics in academic libraries has been widely debated. Analyzing large data sets has tremendous potential for libraries to implement changes that help students and prove the library's value to the university. The librarian's role in safeguarding patron privacy in a university setting where…

Recently, there has been a demand for increased educational technology usage in the university classroom, despite expanded access and implementation there has been little attention paid to student data privacy concerns. Our work is one institution's response to addressing the data privacy gap by creating a comprehensive review process for…

This guidebook is designed for institutional leaders and student success teams who are ready to talk openly about the students they serve and who are eager to learn practical strategies from national experts and peer institutions. We cannot design an experience that meets our students where they are unless we holistically understand who they are.…

Technology integration and learning analytics offer insights to improve educational experiences and outcomes. In advancing these efforts, laws and policies govern these environments placing protections, standards, and developmental opportunities for higher education, students, faculty, and even the nation-state. Nonetheless, evidence of…

This qualitative case study was conducted to understand the experiences of Ten faculty participants at a private, not for profit, 4-year degree granting, high research institution located in the Northeast, who needed to change from in person instruction to remote teaching due to COVID-19 during Spring 2020, as they prepared to protect student…

The issue of student retention and graduation from postsecondary institutions has grown in stature over the past decade. While the last 40 years of federal and state policies have focused largely on access to college, there is now a very real interest in not only getting students into college but also helping them earn baccalaureate and other…

The Intensive Partnerships for Effective Teaching initiative, which was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, was a multiyear effort to improve student outcomes--particularly high school graduation and college attendance among low-income minority students--by increasing student access to effective teaching. The RAND Corporation worked…

In 1974, Congress passed legislation known as the "Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act" or FERPA, in response to "the growing evidence of the abuse of student records across the nation." The law was written to protect the confidentiality of information held in a student's records. With the introduction of technology in…

Analysis of student-level data to inform policy and promote student success is a core function of executive higher education agencies. Postsecondary data systems have expanded their collection of data elements for use by policymakers, institutional staff, and the general public. State coordinating and governing boards use these data systems for…