Information for Federal Agencies
HigherEd.org, Inc. has assisted the U.S. Department of Education and its National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in a variety of projects, from building online software applications to conducting technical review panels to preparing special data tabulations and studies. Whether it is with one of our best practices in knowledge management (KM) software solutions or another application design, we are uniquely positioned to help the federal government meet its software development and KM needs.
Dataset tools
The IPEDS Data Analysis System (DAS) and the IPEDS Dataset Cutting Tool (DCT) are designed to promote more effective and efficient use of existing national datasets and are tailored to different needs and levels of user sophistication. These sets of tools can be applied to different types of federal data needs.
IPEDS Data Analysis System
The DAS does not require users to know very much about particular variables or value labels in IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System). It lets them create aggregate tables that sum, average, and count different variables of interest.
The DAS model can be used to help agencies create customized, aggregate reports. Instead of getting five different answers to the same question, table parameter files can be shared among analysts to document previous queries, without complex knowledge of a particular statistical tool. The Department of Education's Institute for Education Sciences is now using the IPEDS DAS model to develop an expanded DAS that will accommodate numerous complex datasets. The DAS model can be used by HigherEd.org for many knowledge management (KM) purposes to help your agency facilitate better use of existing data to justify the high costs of collection and dissemination.
IPEDS Dataset Cutting Tool
The DCT is geared more for power users who want to manipulate data using other statistical tools such as SAS, SPSS, and STATA (statistical packages). The DCT allows users to create customized datasets for their unique use. In addition to the data, it provides a customized data dictionary, programs for reading the data into SAS, SPSS, or STATA, and a special spreadsheet file that includes value labels.
For creating restricted site licenses, the DCT is especially powerful for creating custom datasets and is a model for helping power users create sophisticated programs. It is often difficult for users to keep track of changes in variable titles, names, and their associated value labels. The DCT does this automatically and also merges data when appropriate across different tables so that users can have a single spreadsheet or table of data to analyze. A statewide version of the DCT is currently being developed for a unit record data collection about teachers being prepared in schools of education. This model can be expanded for many other purposes.
User-friendly KM tools
HigherEd.org has also produced more user-friendly knowledge management (KM) tools, such as the IPEDS Executive Peer Tool (ExPT) and the IPEDS Glossary to generate interest in and help users understand existing data like IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System). There are many models for peer comparisons across institutions, states, and other levels of organization. The ExPT demonstrates an approach where users select the variables of interest and the software does the work for them of comparing data and generating meaningful reports and graphics.
Online data collection tools
In addition to promoting effective use of the data, HigherEd.org has been involved in extensive data collection efforts. The following projects demonstrate HigherEd.org's capability for developing a secure, complex data collection to meet different federal agency needs:
Lumina Foundation studies
The company has developed online data collection tools to collect state and institution-level data about noncredit course activities as part of a Lumina Foundation study. It is currently conducting a follow up study about instructional costs, also funded by the Lumina Foundation, with surveys of states and institutions.
Common Data Set Exchange (CDSX)
The Common Data Set Exchange (CDSX) is another exciting example of a HigherEd.org data collection with wide appeal for federal agencies. This involves over a thousand data elements in 10 tables about admissions data. These are the same data used for U.S. News, the College Board, and Peterson's and the CDSX helps institutions by giving them back the data they submit to vendors. The CDSX application collects data from participating institutions and lets them create customized datasets and generate PDF and HTML versions of their common data set for a particular year.
Teacher Pipeline Application
Another online data collection effort by HigherEd.org has been developed for the Virginia Teacher Pipeline Application (TPA). This effort involves the collection of individually-identifiable student unit record data about teachers as they progress through schools of education and alternative licensure programs in Virginia. The application is being developed by HigherEd.org and will be housed at the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV).
ANSWERS
The ANSWERS (Accessing National Surveys with Electronic Research Sources) Web site documents almost 30,000 variables in 110 datasets. It is a veritable cornucopia of information about national, postsecondary data. Just as it includes data about IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System), National Science Foundation (NSF), population and sample surveys, the ANSWERS data portal approach can be applied to other types of data across agencies or departments, including unit record data. The ANSWERS taxonomy was developed as an industry standard and provides an extensive crosswalk between different data systems.
Meeting and panel leadership
HigherEd.org staff have been integrally involved in leading technical review meetings of national, state, and institutional leaders for the Department of Education. These included three two-day, national panels for the IPEDS Student Unit Record Feasibility Study and a two-day panel for the IPEDS Derived Variables project. Planning for the three panels including all logistics and travel support.
For more information, please contact:
John Milam at jmilam@highered.org or telephone 540.722.6060
