This book examines the idea of educational accountability in higher education, which has become a new secular gospel. But do accountability policies actually make colleges better? What if educational accountability tools don't actually measure what they're supposed to? What if accountability data isn't valid, or worse, what if it's meaningless?…

What guidance does research provide school districts about how to improve system performance and increase equity? Despite over 30 years of inquiry on the topic of effective districts, existing frameworks are relatively narrow in terms of disciplinary focus (primarily educational leadership perspectives) and research design (primarily qualitative…

Online program managers (OPMs) are third-party companies that work with colleges and universities to develop, launch, and deliver online learning. Despite the prevalence of these companies in higher education, cost details are often buried or asserted with legal protections as trade secrets or business models unavailable for public review.3…

'Data as technology' has always been, and continues to be an essential part of the structuring of South African society and education, during and post-colonialism and post-apartheid. In the reconfiguration of South African education post-apartheid, student data constitutes a data frontier as un-mapped, under-utilised and ready for the picking.…

This guide provides information and best practices that will help state education agencies (SEAs) and local education agencies (LEAs) manage data related to students who frequently change schools, with a focus on actions to minimize student learning disruptions and allow agencies to provide support for those particular students. This document…

The following case studies explore how emerging and established Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems have used the Education-to-Workforce Indicator Framework (E-W Framework) to support their data system efforts. Developed by Mathematica in partnership with the Gates Foundation, the framework offers guidance on how states can use data to…

A "Cone of Uncertainty" has become ubiquitous in hurricane forecasting, encompassing the likeliest possible path that a storm might take as it approaches landfall. These forecasts are crucial because they help government agencies at all levels prepare even in these far-from-certain future conditions. Although individual institutions have…

Leveraging big data for student data analytics is increasingly integrated throughout university operations from admissions to advising to teaching and learning. Though the possibilities are exciting to consider, they are not without risks to student autonomy, privacy, equity, and educational value. There has been little research showing how…

Data infrastructures exist in a variety of formats. This article draws on the insights of senior personnel involved in developing a new data dashboard in one state jurisdiction in Australia. While literature on dashboards often focuses on the teachers and learners influenced by them, there is less attention to those involved in their development…

The emergence of generative AI technologies has provoked considerable debate among educators regarding their role in education. This study is an investigation of the benefits, disadvantages, and potential strategies for integrating generative AI in educational settings by analyzing societal impacts based on a literature review. We have surveyed…

The use of data to govern education is increasingly supported by the use of knowledge-based technologies, including algorithms, artificial intelligence (AI), and tracking technologies [Fenwick, T., E. Mangez, and J. Ozga. 2014. "Governing Knowledge: Comparison, Knowledge-Based Technologies and Expertise in the Regulation of Education."…

The Evidence to Action project (2019-2021), led by MDRC and the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) and supported by Arnold Ventures, initiated a body of work designed to disentangle the barriers that exist between research and state-level higher education policy and partnered with state higher education agencies to…

We study university admissions under a centralized system that uses grades and standardized test scores to match applicants to university programs. In the context of this system, we explore affirmative action policies that seek to narrow the gap between the admission rates of different socio-demographic groups while still accepting students with…

The problem explored in this study was that the state education agency recommended school board members of low-performing school districts participate in a governance training called student outcomes governance to address student achievement, yet no data suggested the training changed school board members' understanding of how to create policies…

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,…