Collecting Data that Matters for Today's Students

When I began in my role at the Lumina Foundation I often I'd get a pitch to build a data tool for "students." Yet when I asked for them to define what was meant by "students," the response was underwhelming.  

This ocurred at a time when enrollment drops and #attainment data showed what we needed was an effort to reach #todaysstudents ,particularly #adults who identify as #black, #hispanic, #nativeamerican to empower them with the information they sought when deciding to enroll.  

It is with that spirit, and understanding, that we engaged the thoughtful Sovateam of Alison Kadlec Verónica (Vero) Guajardo, PhD (she/her/ella)Stephanie Gardner, Ed.D. Quintina Barnett Gallion to conduct this research.  The goal of which was to hear directly from adult students of color to help ensure that current and future data tools feel relevant and useful to them

I encourage you to learn from Sova’s Turning the Mirror: Data Adult Learners of Color Want to See report, released today. It shows that institutions, systems, and higher education leaders are collecting and sharing data that isn’t viewed as relevant by the people who most need education to lead to social and economic advancement. Data can empower people to make better educational decisions-- but only if it’s information they actually want. The research shows that colleges would be well-served by turning the mirror and sharing more information about what they’re doing to help create an environment of belonging and success for adult learners of color. 
 
For anyone involved in data collection I encourage you to digest it. For any company thinking they are building a data tool “for students,” I hope you come to realize that #todaysstudents are looking at #value in a different, but complementary way, and we must honor it.

#edtech #dataviz #datavisualization #data#datacollection #datareporting #data #highered #highereducation #statistics #collegesanduniversities#collegeplanning

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