The Minnesota State Colleges and Universities System is an Equal Opportunity employer and educator. Data for Effective Educational Policy Decision-Making: State System Perspective SHEEO Professional Development Conference August 16, 2006

Slide 2 MINNESOTA STATE COLLEGES & UNIVERSITIES SYSTEM Institutions –30 Two-Year Open-Door Colleges –7 Masters Comprehensive Universities Annual Enrollment –240,000 unduplicated credit headcount –135,000 full-year equivalent –130,000 unduplicated non-credit headcount Annual Awards Conferred –33,000 degrees, diplomas and certificates

Slide 3 GOVERNANCE STRUCTURE Single state level governing board appointed by the governor Board of Trustees: –Appoints and evaluates the Chancellor, –Establishes policy, –Sets tuition rates –Allocates state appropriations Chancellor –System CEO –Appoints and evaluates the presidents

Slide 4 INFORMATION RESOURCES Common information system - all 37 colleges and universities use the same system: –Student records and financial aid; –Personnel and payroll –Finance and facilities Office of the Chancellor staff access all institutional data from the system; State unemployment insurance wage and hours data; National Student Clearinghouse enrollment and degree data.

Slide 5 DATA INTEGRITY: WHAT IS IT? Integrity - Three meanings: The condition of being free from damage or defect; The quality of being complete or unbroken; Honesty.

Slide 6 ASPECTS OF DATA INTEGRITY Accuracy – Agreement between a data value and a source assumed to be correct. Completeness – The extent to which data values are present in the data fields that require them. Consistency – Data are free from variation or contradiction. Timeliness – Data are provided at the time required or specified. Validity – Data elements contain only valid values.

Slide 7 STUDENT DATA INTEGRITY INITIATIVE Led by cross-functional group from colleges, universities and system; –Admissions, student records, financial aid, customized training, academic affairs, institutional research; –Worked on a consensus basis; Identified data integrity problems and recommended solutions; 172 recommendations: –Data collection and entry standards –Changes in info system to improve integrity.

Slide 8 SYSTEM ACCOUNTABILTY PROCESS Response to Board of Trustees desire to focus on “ends” rather than “means”; System’ strategic plan is the framework; 28 measures that assess accomplishment of strategic plan goals; Measures developed by the System’s institutional research directors’ group; Measures use System data or national data; No additional institutional reporting requirement.

Slide 9 CREATING A DATA INFRASTRUCTURE TO SUPPORT ACCOUNTABILITY Defined database structure & metadata Building data warehouse focused on accountability Hyperion dashboards and scorecard to deliver measures to stakeholders Two levels of dashboard access –Public access to System-level measures –Password protected access to institution-level measures

Slide 10 DATA PRIVACY Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) creates the federal framework; State data privacy provisions vary and must be addressed; Implementation of the Workforce Investment Act was the key to accessing unemployment insurance wage data in Minnesota; Both FERPA and state laws also impact the reporting of summary information created from private data.

Slide 11 LESSONS ON DATA FOR DECISION-MAKING Data integrity is foundational; Create explicit standards for data integrity and assess compliance; Use consultative processes to facilitate buy-in and ownership; Develop data infrastructure to sustain information and accountability processes; Data privacy impacts both access and reporting of data.