Not so long ago, officials at Delaware State University (DSU) — the lone historically Black college in the state — responded to dropouts and stop-outs in an after-the-fact manner.
“In the past we would sit around and wait until the semester’s end, and then everybody fusses and fights.
‘What happened to this student? What happened to that student?’” DSU President Harry L. Williams told Diverse during a visit this past spring.
But DSU — which cut a series of low-enrollment programs earlier this year — can no longer afford to take that kind of approach, Williams says. Now, the school uses data analytics to flag not only when students leave the school, but to anticipate before they “stop out.”
School officials also use analytics to understand the reasons why and to figure out what, if anything, can be done to get them to stay or re-enroll and finish.
Data transformation
The work began in March 2014, when Williams established a data transformation team. The effort has since been bolstered by a $1.2 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to retain low-income, first-generation students.
