Spotlight Series

Spotlight Series are linked sessions at the Forum that elaborate on important challenges facing IR. Invited opening speakers frame the overall issue. Subsequent related concurrent sessions by AIR members flesh out the Spotlight Series with campus-specific presentations. Combined, the linked sessions provide a “mini-track” with a tight focus on a single issue. These sessions are open to all Forum attendees.

2012 Series Topics

Defining Student Success

Monday, June 4, 2012
Opening Speaker: Archie P. Cubarrubia, Ed.D., Education Statistician, National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education

This Spotlight Series will focus on institutional efforts to improve measures of postsecondary student success. With increased attention on college completion and student success at the national, state, and local levels, more comprehensive measures of success for a wider group of students are critical.

Related Sessions in this Series

  • Innovative Methods for Exploring Community College Student Constituencies and Factors that Influence Their Success
  • Using Grouped Data to Predict and Compare Academic Success Rates
  • Graduation Rate Performance, Institutional Rankings, and Performance Funding
  • A Comprehensive Graduation Metric Based on Current Information: The Normalized Graduates-to-Leavers Ratio

Politics and Policy of Data Usage in Higher Education

Monday, June 4, 2012
Opening Speaker: Hans Peter L’Orange, Vice President for Research and Information Resources, State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO)

This Spotlight Series will guide participants in the increasingly important relationship between data and public policy, review several current national policy initiatives that have institutional data implications, look at methods for opening lines of communication with government affairs offices and policy groups, and provide tips for using available resources to stay current in the data/policy loop and how to stay up-to-date on changing requirements.

Related Sessions in this Series

  • VFA: Using the National Accountability Framework Built By and For Community Colleges
  • College Completion: The Complete College America Common Completion Metrics and Reporting Process
  • Higher Education Regulations Study: Final Report and Recommendations
  • Common Education Data Standards (CEDS) Alignment and Utilization: Innovative Tools for Implementation

Managing the Work, Leveraging the Resources

Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Opening Speaker: Michelle Appel, Director, Enrollment Policy and Planning, Institutional Research, Planning and Assessment, University of Maryland

This Spotlight Series will provide participants with tips on how to leverage resources to prioritize and balance the workload, how to demonstrate results and provide access, how to use new technology and vendor tools, and will include suggestions for streamlining IPEDS and other mandatory reporting tasks.

Related Sessions in this Series

  • Simplifying Data Analysis and Reporting for External Surveys
  • Navigating Data: Further Exploration in Choosing the Best Resource
  • The Right Question: A Key Collaboration Skill
  • Organizing and Integrating Data Management Across Multiple Applications