2. “The most innovative function of PAR is what we like to call solving the ‘Now what?’ problem,” said Davis. “It’s not enough to identify which students are at-risk and which courses are obstacle courses. Colleges and universities need to know what to do about it. We call this closing the loop.”
PAR’s data is able to provide institution-specific, statistically-validated recommendations on which intervention strategies and/or programs need work, as well as what other interventions the institution may want to try.
“We can show our member institutions ‘here are your available interventions, and here’s what other interventions from partner institutions are successful for similar campus goals,” she said.
From providing PAR student data to receiving predictive and intervention insights, the entire process takes weeks, not months.
Helping colleges and universities determine which courses are the most challenging for students, as well as providing action plans, can produce compelling results. One PAR member realized a 25 percent increase in pass rates when it tackled issues in a PAR-identified obstacle course. Applied across all the obstacle courses on that campus, that institution has the potential to recoup more than $3 million a year, says PAR.
“Institutions can report data back to us after implementing our data-backed recommendations, so that’s how we came to these numbers,” said Davis.
3. Transparency in how PAR uses institutional data, we well as its common definitions, provides institutions what Davis calls open, common language that unlocks the potential for scale.
“Sometimes with predictive analytics solutions, results come across as if from a black box shrouded in mystery as to how the data is analyzed. Not with PAR,” she emphasized. “We have openly reveal how student characteristics put them at risk all of which is based on readily available data and publicly available definitions, which also provide a common language among institutions.”
“PAR’s project’s release of the data definitions as a Creative Commons license is a major step forward and a possible competitive advantage over commercial competitors such as Civitas Learning,” wrote Lowendahl.
The data definitions were published in 2013 using the Data Cookbook, a collaborative data dictionary and data management tool for higher education built by iData Inc.
Using the online Data Cookbook “was a very beneficial way to develop the overall parameters of the individual data variables,” said Vincent Maruggi, director of institutional research at Broward College. “The iterative, cooperative process unearthed a number of variables that had multiple interpretation options that needed rational and consistent consideration, especially considering their application across the diverse set of institutions involved in PAR.”
Maruggi attested that working with the other institutions within the project was a positive experience.
“The dialogue was highly productive and forced me to investigate deeper into Broward College’s student data system for elements that were not previously utilized in a like manner, while also giving us a new conceptual structure for future reporting.”
Into the future
Recently, PAR announced a partnership with the American Institutes for Research (AIR) to extend higher education outcomes metrics and measurement efforts at the national policy level.
This partnership will feature the collaboration of more than 11 U.S. higher-ed institutions focused on serving non-traditional student populations coming from the for-profit and not-for profit sectors.
“Today’s metrics used to analyze the performance of institutions don’t often reflect the growing number of non-traditional students, instructional methods, business models, and data resources that distinguish contemporary higher education,” noted Davis. She believes that this collaboration with AIR will inform benchmarking development in higher ed, as well as provide initial insight into performance of for-profit and alternative delivery models including online learning and competency-based education.
PAR’s website also noted that the effort will aim to “identify potential improvements to federal data collections, statutory disclosure and reporting requirements, especially with regards to transfer students and adult learners.”
For more information on PAR Framework, as well as how to become a member, click here.
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