Using assessment data to advance equity: Five things that get in the way

Abstract

This manuscript reports on in-depth interviews with 27 faculty and administrators, regarding their experiences using data to advance equity at their institutions. Participants were drawn from five institutions: two community colleges, a public baccalaureate college, a private not-for-profit doctoral university, and a public research university. Consistent with the AALHE’s recent calls for research on assessment’s role in advancing equity, this study applies critical social theory and critical-race lenses to understand how participants experience exchanges over data in the context of equity efforts at colleges and universities. We outline five barriers to productive data-use for equity that participants described in interviews: performativity misalignment; collaborators’ resistance; non-equity-minded frameworks; inequitable processes; and lack of structure for follow-through. Findings explore best practices and counterstories, including participants’ sense-making around the barriers they encountered. The manuscript provides assessment practitioners with practical recommendations on how to improve interactions, and thereby contribute to improved institutional practices advancing equity.