Data-Driven Decision Making
Stir Up Your BI Initiative!
Without all of the ingredients necessary to move your campus culture toward an evidence-centric model, your new business intelligence technology is just software.
A 'culture of evidence': The term gets tossed around mightily in higher education these days. But what does it mean? Is it just another catchphrase, or is there a chance that the concept-if realized through to implementation at colleges and universities across the nation-has the potential to change higher education as we know it?
Simply put, a culture of evidence is the outcome of a deliberate strategy to make decisions through the analysis of data. A culture of evidence cannot be forced and it is not something that is implemented. What's more (and as most higher education leaders know), the culture of an institution does not change overnight; and it certainly does not change without strong leadership and the right tools in place within the organization.
Spearheading External/Internal Accountability
ON ITS WEBSITE, Slippery Rock University now publishes highly detailed institutional data, enabling the public to make an informed decision about whether or not the university 'fits' education wants and needs.
At Oklahoma City Community College (OK), President Paul Sechrist has embarked on just such a journey to change the culture of decision-making at the institution. While OCCC's Office of Institutional Effectiveness had been providing senior staff with regular monitoring reports, Executive Director of Strategic Planning Stu Harvey explains that "Dr. Sechrist has made it a priority for staff and faculty to build on this activity and use better and more timely information to make decisions. Anecdotal decision-making is being discouraged, though it will be with us a little while longer, I'm sure."
Sechrist is not alone is his quest. Many college and university presidents across the US are now insisting that decisions be justified by data and not simply arrived at via hunch, intuition, or best guess. Presidents are heeding the call for increased accountability to their constituents as though their posts depend upon the change-and in some cases, they do. As we all know, colleges and universities have been challenged to become more transparent to the constituencies they serve. The US Department of Education and accrediting agencies, along with students and parents, are demanding more detailed information about the success of past alumni, graduation rates, admission criteria, and other critical data.
Some institutions are not only meeting the challenge, but a few, like Slippery Rock University (PA), are now publishing in-depth data on their websites- highly detailed information regarding admitted class profile, retention, and graduation rates, for instance. (See SRU's "Rock Solid-Institutional Profile: Accountability 2008" site here.)