Civitas Learning presents the findings of our survey conducted during the September 2014 Civitas Learning Summit, where more than 100 leaders representing 40 Pioneer Partner institutions gathered to share more on their work. The survey, distributed to all participants, resulted in 74 responses highlighting how this cross-section of higher education institutions are using advanced analytics to power student success initiatives.

1. S U R V E Y C O N D U C T E D S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 4
A PULSE OF
PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS
I N H I G H E R E D U C A T I O N

2. T H E C I V I T A S L E A R N I N G N E T W O R K
BY THE NUMBERS
CIVITAS LEARNING NETWORK BY THE NUMBERS
850
Campuses
2.7M
Students
14M
Student
Records
150M
Enrollment
Records

3. 24%
Public, 2 - year
12%Independent,
Non-profit
13%System
31%
Public, 4 - year
19%
Private
1%
Other
T H E C I V I T A S L E A R N I N G N E T W O R K
BY THE NUMBERS
CIVITAS LEARNING NETWORK BY THE NUMBERS
75
Institutions
and systems

4. SURVEY
RESULTS

5. C I V I T A S L E A R N I N G S U R V E Y
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Civitas Learning presents the findings of our survey conducted during the September
2014 Civitas Learning Summit, where more than 100 leaders representing 40 Pioneer
Partner institutions gathered to share more on their work. The survey, distributed to all
participants, resulted in 74 responses highlighting how this cross-section of higher
education institutions are using advanced analytics to power student success initiatives.
K e y f i n d i n g s f r o m w i t h i n o u r c o m m u n i t y o f p a r t n e r s i n c l u d e :
CIVITAS LEARNING SURVEY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

6. Predictive analytics are powering ongoing work
Given the context of this meeting with our partners, we expected and found predictive analytics are in
use across all responding institutions to bolster strategic decision-making, support all aspects of their
mission to improve student success, and measure the impact of their work.
Institutional use of analytics is founded on strategy
Respondents indicated predictive analytics is a part of the long-term strategy for their institutions, but
as the results indicate, they are at various stages along the journey of implementing the use of analytics.
Additionally, priorities vary for which initiatives will benefit first from predictive analytics.
Institutions feel ready to implement analytics
Along the five categories of the EDUCAUSE maturity/institutional readiness index, 60% of respondents
agreed that they had the maturity to leverage analytics for student success initiatives. At most of these
institutions, at least three teams – most often institutional research, administration, and student/
academic affairs – are already doing work in or with analytics.
K e y f i n d i n g s f r o m w i t h i n o u r c o m m u n i t y o f p a r t n e r s i n c l u d e :
CIVITAS LEARNING SURVEY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

7. Current state OF institutional data vary
Some respondents felt their current data are comprehensive, timely, effective, and already helpful in
informing decisions. Others felt the state of their data and the extent of its use was middling to challenged
at best. In short, our partners began their advanced analytics work from different starting points.
Partners are up to the challenge
Our partners made it clear that institutional priorities are competing for time, funding, and focus; which
means they must effectively integrate their analytics efforts. They also made it clear that the potential
impact of this work on student success makes it worth their efforts.
L E T ’ S G O T O T H E S U R V E Y …
K e y f i n d i n g s f r o m w i t h i n o u r c o m m u n i t y o f p a r t n e r s i n c l u d e :
CIVITAS LEARNING SURVEY EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

8. “We have a good
understanding of student
success, but we are
looking for ways to refine
that, see the nuances, use
integrated sources of
disparate data in order to
make improvements along
the margins, which are
difficult to identify.”
ANGELA BALDASARE
UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA
“We have seen an
increase in cross-
functional teams using
predictive analytics at
UMUC. This growing,
collaborative culture is
helping us to better serve
our students, from the
time they apply to the
time they graduate.”
DARREN CATALANO
UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND UNIVERSITY COLLEGE

9. Indicate where you believe your institution is in using predictive analytics to
transform student success initiatives.*
*While all institutions have committed to the use of predictive analytics, they are at various levels of integrating analytics into the institution’s decision-making processes..
We are just getting started with analytics
We are accelerating the use of analytics
We are transforming/ optimizing our
initiatives and policies through deep
use of analytics
6%39%
55%
CIVITAS LEARNING SURVEY RESPONSES

10. What teams of individuals at your institutions are currently doing work in or with
predictive analytics? Answers indicate the number of responses for each category
(n=74). Respondents could select all that apply.
CIVITAS LEARNING SURVEY RESPONSES

11. Rate the following priorities as they relate to improving student success
initiatives at your institution.
CIVITAS LEARNING SURVEY RESPONSES
Gaining deeper insights for incoming students' likelihood
for risk and success, to clear educational pathways for
them once they enter the institution
Implementing an evidence-based method to test/iterate
student success approaches and learner interventions
Leveraging analytics and learnings to design interventions and
identifying what types of outreach are mosteffective, and for whom
High Priority
Neutral
5% 95%
Making institutional data easier to share and access
across the institution 89%6%
Mining historical datasets for insight and better
understanding of previous student populations
Securing funding and grants for student success initiatives
Fostering an internal institutional culture around the use
of data analytics to fuel initiatives
8% 83%
14% 60%
Increasing the enrollment of socially and economically
underrepresented student populations 17% 67%
3% 89%
Improving the advising process and the advising
experience for students 88%4%
88%5%
88%7%
Providing faculty with insight and tools/applications to
help them take actions that improve learning 76%6%
8%
5%
8%
7%
5%
9%
18%
16%
26%
88%
Low Priority

12. Rate the following based on the data your institution currently uses to inform decisions.
Our data are
comprehensive to help
us make precise vs.
broad decisions
Our data are timely;
we do not rely solely
on historical reporting
Our data are specific
to our institution
and our students
Our data are helping
us improve decision-
making through testing,
learning, and iteration
Our data yield a
compound return
on investment
HighPriority
2
Neutral
4
LowPriority
Agree Neutral Disagree
HighPriority
2
Neutral
4
LowPriority
Our data help accelerate
time to information and
actionable insight
36% 37% 78% 32% 40% 37%
32% 40% 7% 32% 37% 27%
32% 23%
15%
36% 23%
36%
CIVITAS LEARNING SURVEY RESPONSES

13. AASCU lists the following among the top higher education state policy issues in 2014. How
likely is it that your institution will implement analytics to address these issues? Range 1 =
not likely to 5= very likely.
3.8
3.7
3.5
2.7
2.6
2.5
2.3
1.8
College readiness
State educational attainment and college completion goals
STEM-related initiatives
Harnessing higher education to address state economic goals
Vocational and technical education
Allocation of state higher education appropriations
Agreements linking state funding and tuition policy
State capital outlay and deferred maintenance funding
MOST likely
CIVITAS LEARNING SURVEY RESPONSES

14. Rate the following potential challenges to broad scale implementation of predictive
analytics at your institution. Range: 1 = not challenging, 5 = very challenging.
3.6
Competition
with other
institutional
priorities
3.5
Organizing
and interpreting
the data
3.5
Staffing
3.5
Expertise
3.1
Funding
3.4
Acting upon
the insights
3.3
Adopting a
culture of
evidence-
based practice
CIVITAS LEARNING SURVEY RESPONSES

15. An EDUCAUSE study on analytics in higher education looked at five categories to assess
institutional maturity/readiness to leverage analytics for student success initiatives.
Indicate where your institution is on this index for each category.* Range: 1 = strongly
agree, 5 = strongly disagree with the statements below:
Culture/Process: Key leaders and stakeholders are interested and committed
to the use of analytics, and we have identified outcomes we are trying to improve.
Data/Reporting/Tools: We have the right kind of data, we have good data
quality, and we have the right tools/software delivering reports to inform decisions.
Investment: We have appropriate amount of funding, and our investment in
analytics is viewed as essential to the future of our institution.
Expertise: We have dedicated IT, business, and other professionals who support
and know how to apply analytics to key areas of our institution.
Governance/Infrastructure: Our information security policies and
practices are robust, we have sufficient capacity to store, manage, and analyze data.
2.2
2.42.4
2.8
culture/process
governance investment
data/reporting/tools
2.2
expertise
*Institutions diving into analytics in student success work connected with peers on issues and ideas across these five categories.
CIVITAS LEARNING SURVEY RESPONSES

16. Indicate the extent to which you believe predictive analytics will be
critical to the long-term strategy at your institution.*
CIVITAS LEARNING SURVEY RESPONSES
*It is important to note that this response is from our community of partners who have committed to the use of predictive analytics at their institutions.
19%
Somewhat Likely
Very Likely
SomewhatLikely
Somewhat Unlikely
Very Unlikely
81%Very Likely

17. “Designing an implementation and
adoption strategy that places faculty
front and center from day one was
critical for us. We wanted to make it
clear that our use of predictive
analytics would be learning-centered.
Having them with us in this work is
really what is going to make sure that
the applications we develop and
implement will be successful and
meaningful to students.”
KURT EWEN
VALENCIA COLLEGE
“In terms of student success, you can never do a good enough job.”
PAUL DOSAL
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA
“We learned there has to be some
motivating factor for the person you
want using analytics. We implemented
an engagement challenge where we
looked at how student engagement
changed over the term, and got faculty
excited about driving that up. This
made them adopt the applications
more, and want to use them.”
JOE SCHAEFER
STRAYER UNIVERSITY

18. THANK YOU
To learn more about the work Civitas Learning is doing with our Pioneer Partners to measurably
improve student success and deliver insights and action analytics to the frontlines of education,
visit civitaslearningspace.com and connect with us on social media.
To speak with us or request a demo, please email partnerships@civitaslearning.com.