print page
close window

ACHIEVING THE DREAM

The challenge: The Lumina Foundation's Achieving the Dream initiative is designed to help institutions better understand the persistence patterns of students and identify which interventions increase students’ chances for success. Institutional data are the key to reaching the project’s goals. JBL Associates, Inc. (JBL) coordinates the data collection effort for this project. Institutions submit student-level data every term based on data definitions and file structures and formats. As the project has grown in scope processing data from the colleges has many manual elements and has become time consuming.

Solution: Xcalibur developed a web-based data collection application where all the colleges and JBL go to monitor the progress of the data collection. The system manages the entire process, restricts access to a specific set of data, and is the resource for pulling/sharing information with the end users. A web enabled system provides real-time data input and monitoring of progress from the user as well as the administrator perspective (both as a system administrator and a JBL data administrator).

Benefits: Xcalibur worked closely with JBL to create flag, frequency, and standard analytic reports. These reports helped in improving the quality of the data because the end user could validate and review their data before it was processed by the central office. The web site also reduced the time to completing the data upload process. Furthermore, the website quickly provides colleges with easy-to-read reports containing data pertinent to the initiative’s goals. Finally, JBL was able to develop and disseminate user specific Data Notes that were extremely valuable to each of the colleges.

PRACTICE CONTACT
Contact Jim Brown for more information
on our consulting and technology services
for educational programs