States serve as the central authority in higher education oversight, playing a critical role in consumer protection and quality assurance within the regulatory triad and as an independent regulatory entity. However, there is a notable gap in understanding the components of renewal processes, how agencies implement them in practice, and the…

Student outcome data is essential for decision-making in higher education, informing choices at the student, institutional, and state levels. Within state authorization--the gatekeeping process for institutional entry, continued operation, and closure--these data support oversight, accountability, and consumer transparency. This brief summarizes…

Statewide longitudinal data systems (SLDSs) can enable researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to identify and understand important relationships and trends across the education-to-workforce continuum. A well-developed SLDS can increase state and territory governments' ability to establish more informed and equitable policies, enable agency…

Cooperative Extension professionals utilize proven qualitative techniques to collect and analyze information to make data-driven decisions that guide program direction and determine impact. While the process may not always look the same, it is indeed essential to ensure findings are credible and reflective of the data. A codebook is a valuable…

Because learning from failures is just as important as learning from successes, we used qualitative case study data gathered in the Netherlands and the United States to examine instances in which data teams struggle to contribute to school improvement. Similar factors in both the Dutch and U.S. case hindered the work of the data teams, such as…

This brief examines how state policies and practices continue to evolve in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is based on data provided by 45 states plus the District of Columbia as of early May 2022. The brief updates our 2021 report, "Are Students Present and Accounted For? An Examination of State Attendance Policies During the COVID-19…

Over recent decades, higher education infrastructures have become increasingly digitized and datafied. The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated adoption of online learning platforms, trading the walls of the classroom for digital systems. Yet the surveillance, privacy, and discrimination issues that such systems raise are minimally understood by those…

The Program for International Student Assessment Young Adult Follow-up Study (PISA YAFS) is a follow-up study with students who participated in PISA 2012 in the United States. The study is designed to measure how performance on PISA 2012 relates to subsequent measures of outcomes and skills of young adults on an online assessment, Education and…

This article presents the findings of a systematic qualitative analysis of research in the ethics of digital trace data use in learning and education. From the resulting analysis of 77 peer-reviewed studies, we (1) map the characteristics of research by study type, academic community, institutional setting, and national context; (2) identify the…

The November 2022 60-Second Survey invited AACRAO members to share how, if at all, their institution uses degree-audit and/or education-planning technology to support students. There were 653 responses from 11 countries. The majority of responses were from the United States (n = 621) and Canada (n = 23). Sixty-three percent of respondents serve…

Despite the widespread adoption of data-based decision making (DBDM) policies in schools around the world, there is limited understanding of how teachers use DBDM in K-12 classrooms and the impact of DBDM training on teacher practices and student outcomes. This scoping review aims to provide an overview of the existing literature on the uses of…

What metrics matter the most to advancement professionals? Are the most strategic data being regularly collected, or are there new metrics that should be considered? To answer these questions, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and GiveCampus partnered on a pulse survey on this topic for advancement professionals at…

This contribution takes a critical perspective on digital school performance platforms (SPP), which today play a key role in US state education monitoring and accountability. Using examples from two different US state education agencies, I provide an analytical disentanglement of some key dimensions of such platforms' enactment and materiality. I…

As art libraries face challenges from an evolving environment, repercussions from the COVID-19 pandemic, and static or diminishing resources, finding sustainable pathways forward becomes an increasing priority. An important option for art research collections in achieving long-term sustainability is collaboration. This report explores…

Datafied digital systems have permeated higher education over the past decade. Registration, grading, financial operations, and often teaching all take place through digital platforms that extract and collate data about students as well as faculty and staff. At the level of these data system processes, academics may not have the knowledge or…