Predictive analytics methods in education are seeing widespread use and are producing increasingly accurate predictions of students' outcomes. With the increased use of predictive analytics comes increasing concern about fairness for specific subgroups of the population. One approach that has been proposed to increase fairness is using demographic…

This article explores utilizing a post-graduation success lens to help community college leaders frame the challenges of achieving equitable improvement for their students. Specifically, it posits that providing and exploring customized labor market data presented in an accessible format can help institutional leaders provide a "true…

This issue of "Assessment Update" presents a three part series on fixing assessments. In Part 1: "Assessment Standards are Broken," David Eubanks highlights the challenges with the assessment standards articulated by institutional accreditors. In this article, Part 2: Megan R. Good, discusses the opportunity costs faced and…

The higher education sector is under increasing pressure to deliver more and to evidence the fruits of its contribution to society. There is a particular focus on the enhanced engagement of students in order to maximise success, and for this engagement to be achieved equitably across the student body, regardless of demographic backgrounds. This…

Across diverse sectors of the economy, standardized processes and shared tools have allowed professionals to manage complexity at enormous scale. Too often, schools lack the kind of access to timely information and predictable processes that are taken for granted in other work settings, especially when considering what happens in educators' direct…

As support continues to grow across the country and across the political spectrum for the federal student-level data network (SLDN) proposed in the College Transparency Act (CTA), IHEP partnered with AEM Education Services, with input from RTI International, to further build out a roadmap to support the implementation of the SLDN. "Frameworks…

This post is one in a series highlighting MDRC's methodological work. Contributors discuss the refinement and practical use of research methods being employed across MDRC. Part I of this two-part post discussed MDRC's work with practitioners from the Boston Public Schools (BPS) Department of Early Childhood to construct valid and reliable measures…

Education policies serve as potent tools for advancing equitable outcomes and systematically addressing inequities in schools and districts. But education policies often mirror inequities and bias-based beliefs within the K-12 education system. Increasing educational equity is key to overcoming the status quo and improving educational outcomes for…

The papers in the special series describe the role of data-based decision-making (DBDM) in improving the outcomes of students with learning disabilities based on research across Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States. The articles address multiple aspects of a model of DBDM that includes the role of teacher knowledge, skills, beliefs, and…

There are longstanding calls for inclusive education for all regardless of student need or teacher capacity to meet those needs. Unfortunately, there are little empirical data to support full inclusion for all students and even less information on the role of data-based decision making in inclusive education specifically, even though there is…

Scientific advances in genetic analysis have been made possible in recent years by technical developments in computational biology, or bioinformatics. Bioinformatics has opened up the human genome to diverse analyses involving automated laboratory hardware and machine learning algorithms and software. As part of an emerging field of social…

Informed by interviews with campus administrators and Northern Arizona University (NAU) students, the "Student Success is the DNA of NAU" case study outlines strategies this public, four-year, Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) is employing to build NAU into an engine of opportunity for students and the communities they represent. The…

With national graduation rates that range from 32% among open enrollment institutions to 66% among private not-for-profits, higher education institutions have a moral imperative to improve the success of their students. Interventions to support today's students must consider the student holistically, be just-in-time, and come from a…

The increased use of quantitative education data is often regarded by scholars as evidence of the emergence of 'governing by numbers'. These scholars ascribe major stakeholders such as the OECD and nation states agency as they produce, distribute and consume data, and respond to these with policy and management initiatives. This paper argues that…

We study learning outcome prediction for online courses. Whereas prior work has focused on semester-long courses with frequent student assessments, we focus on short-courses that have single outcomes assigned by instructors at the end. The lack of performance data and generally small enrollments makes the behavior of learners, captured as they…