The American Council of Education (ACE) came out with a brief, titled “The Data-Enabled Executive: Using Analytics for Student Success and Sustainability”, to increase data-informed decision making in higher education leadership positions. We thought we would share this brief, in case you missed it, along with offering some additional points about it. Here is the link to brief:
http://www.acenet.edu/news-room/Pages/The-Data-Enabled-Executive.aspx
Here are a few quotes and points from the brief:
- “Strong leadership and a recognition of the value of data-informed decision making are often key factors in the successful implementation of analytics solutions at the campus level.”
- “Creating a sound plan for data governance is an exercise in patience, and requires that the time be spent on developing and maintaining consensus and buy-in.”
- The Association of Institutional Research (AIR) issued a statement saying that a focus should be put on empowering students, faculty, staff, and leadership to engage in data-informed decision making. A key to this is providing tools that activate data-informed decision making.
- “Regardless of where any given campus is situated on the road to becoming data-savvy, quick wins can be had without all the bells and whistles of a 100-factor algorithm. It is OK to start modestly.
- There exists higher education data systems and communities (such as community.datacookbook.com) that schools should use to get “granular and comprehensive data within them to boost performance in an equitable and sustainable”.
- “Data play an integral role in the creation of institutional practices to improve student outcomes.” But there is a challenge around the use of data for student success. “Even if there is access to such data, it is not universally understood what the data mean. While efforts have been undertaken to streamline the understanding of data within and across sectors, the work remains incomplete.”
In the brief’s conclusion it is stated:
"Colleges and universities have begun to embrace the analytics revolution, but more must be done in order for it to firmly take root. The benefits of modernizing analytics are manifold and include equitable access and outcomes, and more sustainable and inclusive campuses. To reap those benefits, a few things must first happen. Data governance and stewardship practices must be strong in order to ensure that data are of quality and secure, and that data use is ethical. Cross-functional data should be integrated so that individual faculty, staff, and administrators can assess the effectiveness of various courses, programs, and services. This requires a common language and standard definitions around data…”
We couldn’t agree with this more.
Feel free to check out the entire brief and review what is necessary for a data-enabled executive at a higher education institution. We would love to hear your feedback. For additional reporting related resources click here. And for the complete library of data governance (data intelligence) related resources click here.
Also remember that IData has expertise in data governance. If you are interested in our data governance services or the Data Cookbook, the leading data governance tool for higher education feel free to 
.
(Image Credit StockSnap_7XI32LEZNO_DataEnabledExecutive_BP #1046)
