Data and Analytics
Current Data Initiatives
As part of our ongoing efforts to demonstrate the power of systems to advance opportunity, student success, and national prosperity, NASH is committed to building our members’ capacity to use data to drive decision-making and improve outcomes.
Metrics Academies
In partnership with WestEd’s Center for Economic Mobility, we are launching the NASH Metrics Academies in 2025. This initiative enables faculty and staff to leverage labor market information to inform academic planning, advising, and other activities to enhance the economic mobility of graduates. The academies will engage eight NASH member systems in two cohorts to participate in state-specific in-person convenings where they will:
- Receive customized labor market and educational data tools;
- Engage with colleagues from their system on topics related to enrollment, completion, student debt, and employment;
- Develop skills in how to find, interpret, and apply labor market information and other data to improve economic mobility; and
- Create action plans using labor market information and the academy insights to improve student outcomes.
The first round of applications for the Metrics Academies closed in fall 2024. Systems were chosen based on the following criteria:
- System representation (geographical; institutional profile; urban and rural, etc.);
- Demonstrated commitment and capacity to participate; and
- Alignment to organizational priorities and a commitment to action.
For more information regarding the Metrics Academies, contact metrics-academies@nash.edu.
Systems Benchmarking Tool
NASH member systems and education policymakers frequently request information on peer systems for the purposes of comparison across areas such as organizational structure, student enrollment and outcomes, and system policies. NASH is actively working toward creating relevant data sets that are of value to NASH members and partners.
NASH’s in-progress Systems Benchmarking Tool will compare and contrast public higher education systems. The benchmarking tool will be paired with National Student Clearinghouse data to enable insights related to disaggregated transfer student outcomes, degree completion outcomes, and labor outcomes. The development of the tool is led by Maria Khan, NASH Senior Research Associate.
The tool is expected to be previewed for members in fall 2025.
Applying Artificial Intelligence to Transfer Student Advising
NASH is revolutionizing transfer student advising by leveraging artificial intelligence to create individualized transfer plans, shifting the focus from institutional policies to student-centered solutions. Through a partnership with Dr. Zach Pardos and the Computational Approaches to Human Learning Lab at University of California, Berkeley, this vision is becoming a reality.
Key innovations include:
- AI-Driven Course Articulations: Using over two million articulations from the State University of New York, the research team developed CourseWise, an AI-assisted platform that predicts course equivalencies, even when data are incomplete, and streamlines transfer planning.
- Virtual Academic Advising: A virtual advising system generates personalized transfer plans using advanced natural language processing. Successfully deployed at UC Berkeley for over 10,000 students, this tool is expanding to support cross-campus degree planning for systems like SUNY and the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities System.
With support from the Gates Foundation, these tools will scale to four additional systems in 2025, aiming to establish a national course articulation platform. The initiative also includes a Credit Mobility Community of Practice to explore how AI technologies can enhance credit mobility and improve transfer success.
Systems Metrics & Data Infrastructure
Over an 18-month period during 2020-21, a group of 100 system leaders supported by five design teams developed a transformation agenda for public higher education systems known as the Power of Systems. A team of data and analytics experts drawn from across NASH’s membership initially proposed ten metrics aimed at supporting access, completion, and success for all students. Ultimately, the metrics were streamlined into three system-level metrics on degree and credential completion, social mobility, and student debt.
In 2022, NASH convened a Systems Metrics Task Force (SMTF) drawn from a broad group of
stakeholders and content experts to create a baseline study, further define the three metrics, and set 2030 targets for each.The SMTF was led by Dan Knox, Director of the NASH Institute for Systems Innovation and Improvement and chaired by Dr. Tristan Denley, Deputy Commissioner
for Academic Affairs and Innovation at the Louisiana Board of Regents.
The metrics and 2030 targets were adopted by the NASH Board of Directors and presented to the membership at our Superconvening in December of 2022. For more information on the metrics and targets, follow the links below:
After publishing an initial report card on the metrics, our work with systems revealed data infrastructure gaps (particularly around disaggregation), as well as system-specific needs for new tools and professional development for system leaders and staff to ‘democratize’ data so it can be used to drive institutional change.
To address these issues, NASH convened the Systems Data Infrastructure Group (SDIG) in February of 2023.
The SDIG engaged in research and discussion, considered stakeholder feedback, and created a plan for an implementation phase to build out key elements of the data infrastructure for ongoing research and accountability.
The SDIG was led by Dan Knox, Director of the NASH Institute for Systems Innovation & Improvement and included representation from NASH member systems, core data partners (notably the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC)), advisory members, and project support from Sova Solutions.
Five strands of work emerged as most critical:
- Data infrastructure gaps, tools, and visualizations;
- Professional development for system leaders and practitioners;
- The development of a system benchmarking tool;
- An updated collection of baseline findings which included additional NASH member systems that joined after the initial baseline study; and
- An additional year of data analysis to show progress in meeting the 2030 goals (performed by NCHEMS).
NASH’s current data initiatives - including the Metrics Academics and Systems Benchmarking Tool are informed by the foundational work of the Systems Metrics Task Force and Systems Data Infrastructure Group.