The Right Data for the Right Intervention
(4) Determine lines of communication and expectations for periodic reporting: Student success initiatives frequently involve a broad team of campus faculty and staff. It is essential to establish methods of recording decisions and a regular reporting schedule. Communication of results to funders, administration, the governing board, and other stakeholders should also be completed on a regular schedule. (5) Don’t love the problem — Love the solutions: Multiple meetings consisted of griping about the problems encountered by students, faculty, and staff. Moving from discussing the problem to proposing solutions required resolve on the part of the entire team and was an important step in the process.
Data quality, data systems integrity, and data access are integral to all student success initiatives. Building strong data systems requires commitment, resources, team work, and technical expertise. Creation and utilization of knowledge is the next step, requiring development of routine processes for data review then determination of relevant actions and evaluation criteria. These efforts are critical to the selection of interventions, determination of whether to scale up or revise initiatives, and creation of systems that enhance overall institutional effectiveness.
C O N V E R T I N G D ATA TO KNOWLEDGE Ultimately, the work of the Data Team is intended to lead to better decision-making and increased student success at SKC. Russell Ackoff, an early systems theorist, defined a hierarchy from data to wisdom. While data are the facts acquired through systematic collection, making meaning of the data is required for effective decision-making. In other words, creation of knowledge requires answering the “how” and “why” questions with an understanding of institutional context, comparing data to internal and external benchmarks, and reviewing patterns and trends. While work to enhance data integrity will be ongoing, the Team will be implementing strategies to ensure that college administration has the information and knowledge needed for effective decisions and that faculty members can access data that assist with accurate advising and curriculum revision. Efforts to transform data into knowledge are the next step for the SKC Data Team.
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