The Power is in the Data

The collection of useful data is central to ensuring more college graduates in America. We do not know enough about student flow within and through each level of the education system. Data systems that link students from school to school and system to system, and ultimately to employment, give us a snapshot of the current education system as a whole and equip practitioners and policy-makers with information to address problems at all stages of a students education. Data systems that link students from system to system, and ultimately to employment, give us a snapshot of the current education system as a whole and equip practitioners and policymakers with information to address problems at all stages of a students education. Take the example of student transfers. We underestimate our postsecondary productivity by only looking at the graduation rates at individual institutions because they do not account for the lost students who have left one institution but have graduated at another. These students are often considered lost because transfer students are not counted in the receiving institutions graduation rates. Recent National Student Clearinghouse reports have that demonstrated that many students often begin at one four-year institution and graduate from another; and that a large amount of four-year school students are now transferring to two-year schools. Understanding this student flow is critical to understanding actual educational attainment and the performance of the system overall. Linked data systems allow us to see where these students are going, and diagnose why. Clearer insight into these high transfer rates will allow researchers and practitioners to most effectively improve our system. Additionally, USCs Center for Enrollment Research, Policy, and Practice which I directhas produced a way to quantitatively measure college going culture in K-12 schools with an efficient and powerful survey instrument that ties student responses about the school environment, their own attitudes and beliefs about going to and finishing college, and their behaviors to their actual results By doing so, we can help schools make changes that promote better results and predict what the results will be if they do. Data holds powerful promises for our students futures.
Developed in cooperation with Whiteboard Advisors

Data systems link students from that system to system, and ultimately to employment, give us a snapshot of the current education system as a whole and equip practitioners and policymakers with information to address problems at all stages of a students education.
JEROME A. LUCIDO Executive Director of the USC Center for Enrollment Research, Policy, and Practice

Dr. Lucido is Professor of Research, Executive Director of the USC Center for Enrollment Research, Policy, and Practice, and Special Advisor to the Provost at the University of Southern California. Dr. Lucido also served as a trustee of the College Board, as chair of the College Boards Task Force on College Admission in the 21st Century, and as vice chair of the Commission on Access, Admission, and Success in Higher Education.

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