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Data & Transparency
Strong use of data promotes strong student outcomes.
Initiative
Postsecondary Data Collaborative (PostsecData)
Through the PostsecData Collaborative, IHEP is leading efforts to improve postsecondary education data quality and use. For example, in May 2016, IHEP collaborated with partners to publish 11 policy papers on Envisioning the National Postsecondary Infrastructure in the 21st Century – the largest effort to date aimed at improving national postsecondary data systems. Explore the policy recommendations here.
Timely, high-quality, complete, accessible, and disaggregated postsecondary data is critical to promoting student success and closing equity gaps in college access and success.
Students and families need data to inform their college choices and find their best-fit school. Institutions and employers need data to drive institutional improvement and align college offerings with workforce needs. And policymakers need data to promote evidence-based decision-making.
To more effectively serve today's students, IHEP:
- advances the creation of a secure, privacy-protected federal student-level data network to ensure that students, families, institutions, employers, and policymakers have access to the information they need to make informed decisions;
- identifies trends in higher education data collection and reporting at the federal, state, and institutional levels;
- supports a culture of data-use on campuses through timely research, interactive guidebooks, trainings, and communities of practice; and
- works with policymakers, practitioners, and institutional leaders to encourage the use of disaggregated data to inform and evaluate policies to promote student success.