Advancing from Prediction to Prescription: Strategies for Proactively and Thoughtfully Addressing Students' Needs

Abstract

Data-informed decision-making is no longer an optional or occasional practice, as higher education professionals now routinely respond to calls for accountability by providing data to show how their work impacts students. Institutions are operating with a culture that, at a minimum, includes the use of descriptive and diagnostic analyses to assess how students have performed, as well as real-time analyses to monitor current progress. Such regular data use provides a foundation for more advanced examinations to predict student outcomes, and those forecasts will ultimately inform the prescription of specific interventions to help students succeed. However, prescribed solutions are only effective when delivered with appropriate levels of care and consideration of students’ needs and perspectives. In this essay, I describe the challenges and opportunities of advancing from prediction to prescription and I present four tactics for how professionals can do so with student-centered approaches.

“Confidence to Continue”: A Qualitative Investigation of College Students’ Experiences of Microaffirmations

“…This contribution is especially powerful as data-driven technological models for retention become increasingly popular and prolific on college campuses. Although these engineered tools are helpful, it is important to balance such efforts with human interactions that are both welcoming and affirming (Parnell, 2022). As higher education scrambles to fend off declining enrollments, we must not lose sight of the humanity of our students and our institutions.…”

Understanding the Impact of Data-Driven Tools on Advising Practice and Student Support

“…Though this is a fundamentally interpersonal enterprise where relationships between advisors and students are crucial, advisors often have large caseloads and finite resources for serving student populations that are increasingly diverse in their needs (Hughey, 2011;Thomas & McFarlane, 2018;Vianden, 2016). In response, many universities are making substantial investments of funds and staff time in technologies meant to help advisors better serve and retain their students (Krumm et al, 2014;Parnell, 2020;Phillips, 2013). These include tools that allow advisors to more easily identify students' needs and streamline the most prescriptive aspects of advising, thus "freeing up time for advisors to provide more sustained, holistic support" and leading to greater student success (Kalamkarian et al, 2018, p. 6; see also Mattei et al, 2014).…”

“…This study is important because increasing investment in technology and tools, like the one at the center of this study, have been redefining the work of student success practitioners, like advisors, and their influence is only expected to grow (Calhoun-Brown, 2023;Parnell, 2020). However, existing research has yet to adequately address the impact of retention-focused tools on how practitioners support their students.…”

“…However, existing research has yet to adequately address the impact of retention-focused tools on how practitioners support their students. An optimistic reading positions these tools as potentially facilitating both proactive and developmental advising among busy advisors, allowing them to better serve individual students (Felten & Lambert, 2020;Parnell, 2020;Thomas & McFarlane, 2018). On the other hand, it is also possible that something like a new dashboard may have a minimal impact on practice within the larger context of advisors' competing responsibilities or perhaps even undermine the relational aspect of advisors' work with students (Coffin, 2018;Cuseo, 2003a).…”