How one university created a departmental dashboard with actionable metrics for student success

In 2009, UW Eau Claire engaged faculty in a campus-wide gap analysis exercise to identify reasons for delayed student completion. During the process, over 1,200 transcripts and 919 degree audits of students who had 90 credits or more but had not applied for graduation were analyzed by 60 participating faculty members. Faculty received an average financial stipend of $1,000 in return for their participation.

Student transcripts and degree audits did not hide student names, which allowed faculty to identify familiar students and provide context to their analysis. Faculty were asked to fill out the degree audits for their students and identify key gaps in student credit hour completion and progression. The transcripts did not identify demographic factors of students including first-generation, low-income, or racial status.

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