Presentation to SHEEO/NCES Data Conference Charles McGrew Director, Information & Research Spring 2008

Presentation to Transition Committee on Education  Comprehensive Data Base (CDB) system originated in  Cornerstone of the state’s accountability system for postsecondary education.  All public universities and two-year institutions.  20 independent (AIKCU) universities. Kentucky’s Data Base system

Presentation to Transition Committee on Education  Student demographics  Course taking activity  Grades  Degrees and credentials  Transfer information  High school records  Undergraduate, graduate, and professional students Kentucky’s Data Base system

Presentation to Transition Committee on Education  Discontinued staff on-site audits roughly 10 years ago.  Data quality issues arose:  Over 12 years, 14,000 students were enrolled that never seemed to start as “first-time” students anywhere.  Instances where one institution said it was impossible to identify groups of students as residents or non-residents.  Hundreds of students at one institution appeared to earn 90+ credit hours in their first year. Kentucky’s Data Base system Data Quality

Kentucky Postsecondary Education Data System (KPEDS) Implementation Fall 2008

Presentation to Transition Committee on Education  Meetings with institutional staff and discussion of data quality and linkages with funding.  Traditional on-site audits.  More advanced error checks through record matches over time and across institutions. Kentucky’s Data Base system How can we Improve Data Quality?

Presentation to Transition Committee on Education  None of the public institutions had actual policies governing data quality.  Institutional staff had varying levels of understanding of how data was collected, entered into the systems, and verified.  Most institutions assumed data in their systems were correct until a student “caught” an error and brought it to their attention.  Data (IR) staff and those entering the actual information had very little contact.  They really don’t like the term “audit”. Kentucky’s Data Base system Findings

Data Quality Policy Implementation: November 2007

Presentation to Transition Committee on Education  Each institution is required to develop and submit their own data quality policy or a report outlining all the processes in place to ensure data is collected and entered into the system correctly which are due May  Development of new, advanced edits that compare data across time and across institutions.  Limitation of fields that the Council will ultimately check.  Every other year, institutions must conduct their own data quality check beginning in Kentucky’s Data Base system Data Quality Policy

Presentation to Transition Committee on Education  After identifying the subset of “critical data elements”, data will not be accepted for students without all these fields completed.  Beginning in 2010, the Council staff will visit a number of institutions each year to conduct a brief data quality check on-site.  Limited to 100 cases of student data with verification of a limited number of the more important variables.  Schools and students are not necessarily selected at random. Kentucky’s Data Base system Data Quality Policy

Presentation to Transition Committee on Education  Institutional data quality checks and results from the Council staff checks will be presented publicly to the Council.  Institutions’ presidents are answerable for questions and findings.  Possible public reports on the state of data quality.  Fiscal implications. Kentucky’s Data Base system What do you do with the results?

Thank You Charles McGrew Director, Information & Research Spring