Panel Discusses How Schools Can Use Data to Help Struggling Students
By Joelle Fredman, Communications Staff
Collecting and analyzing data on students can allow schools to intervene when they appear to be struggling, a panel of higher education experts said during an event in Washington, DC, Tuesday.
The event, hosted by Third Way, was the second part of three-part series of discussions called “Using Data To Get To And Through College.”
The panelists argued that collecting personal data on students and utilizing that data to reach out to those who are at risk of dropping out or failing, is essential to improving the higher education system.
Focusing on data can have a real impact on a student’s success in college, according to panelist Gerardo de los Santos, senior fellow at Civitas Learning and former president and CEO of the League for Innovation in the Community College.
Lone Star College in Houston, Texas, for example, collected data on students who showed high persistence predictability but were far from attaining certificates. School officials then reached out to those students and offered their support. This message alone was enough to increase persistence percentage, Santos said.
Bridget Burns, executive director of the University Innovation Alliance, said that an institution she worked with uses swipe card data to learn about students’ behaviors. When a student who goes to the gym everyday suddenly stops going, that should be flagged and the student should then hear from a concerned administrator, she said.
In order to be successful in data collection and implementation, institutions need to pull from all of their resources on campus, said Jason DeSousa, associate professor of higher education leadership & policy studies at Howard University. An institution he was involved with found that students who missed two or more classes performed worse in their courses than students who attended every lecture. The school then utilized resident advisors to knock on doors to encourage students who tended to skip class to go.
Burns said that while she believes every institution should be using data and predictive analytics, schools must understand that it needs to be coupled with interventions.
“It’s just the beginning of the conversation. It’s got to be that and other things,” she said. “It’s 20 percent tech, 80 percent people.”
Santos explained that the process of data collection is a commitment and that schools must know that catering to students’ individual issues is a continuous process.
"Students’ needs are ever changing, and their behaviors are ever changing," he said. "This is the long game."
DeSousa said there is more that institutions can do with regards to collecting data and intervening with students, such as warning students who change majors that they may be coming to the end of their financial aid. When students get closer and closer to completing their attempted hours, "some bell needs to go off," he said.
The panelists agreed that more institutions need to utilize current data to help students and better higher education.
"It’s about institutions being more self aware," Burns said. "It has to be raised as a priority."
Publication Date: 11/15/2017
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