Although institutional researchers devote a great deal of time mining and using student data to fulfill mandatory federal and state reports and analyze institutional effectiveness, financial and personnel information is also necessary for such endeavors. In this article, the authors discuss the challenges that arise from extracting data from…

This chapter describes the development of a state-level student tracking system that enables the state and institutions to follow various cohort types of students across institutional boundaries. The system was developed by the Policy Research and Data Warehousing section of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV). SCHEV is the…

In 2001, the grant and research coordinator of the Community College System of New Hampshire (CCSNH) was inspired to create an informal collaborative with representatives from other organizations who had similar interests in collecting and sharing data that related to postsecondary education aspirations and participation. Representatives were…

Employing a critical-empirical approach to the study of college access, the author explores the role of policy researchers in seeking educational equity. (Contains 2 tables.)