Search | Menu Madison College honored with Strategic Data Project Data Excellence Award from the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University
The Strategic Data Project (SDP) at the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University announced Madison Area Technical College as the winner of the 2024 Strategic Data Excellence Award.
The Madison College project targeted student-parents, who are often older than traditional students and predominantly identify as female, Black, Hispanic, multi-racial, or Asian.
“The path to success is rarely smooth, especially for student-parents who are juggling classes, childcare, and work. We cannot let these students leave college with debt and no degree,” said Strategic Data Project Senior Director Miriam Greenberg.
Madison College’s use of data to provide support for an often-overlooked student demographic is a model for the sector, Greenberg said.
“We are particularly excited about the intergenerational economic mobility this project promotes and look forward to their continued work on using data to inform this service as they join the next cohort of the Strategic Data Project Fellowship.”
Results from the college’s basic needs and student satisfaction surveys revealed that 42% of the student population were parenting birth to school-age children and facing barriers related to childcare. In response, the data team linked the parenting status question to their data warehouse, allowing them to track and support these students longitudinally to monitor outcomes like retention and graduation rates.
By gaining a nuanced understanding of student-parents’ unique needs, the Madison College team sought to develop a comprehensive support system tailored to addressing the challenges of balancing academic and parental responsibilities.
The first step was integrating parenthood status into the school’s Student Information System. Now, student parents who self-identify for targeted support are directly linked to a new one-stop resource page designed to help them navigate challenges such as finding and paying for childcare and studying with children.
Madison College’s Director of Institutional Research & Data Management Zong Her— an SDP-CTE ECMCF fellow alumna—said that this systemic integration exemplifies the school’s commitment to using data as a tool to support and empower students.
“It's a model that demonstrates the potential of data systems to be more than repositories of information, but active participants in student success and well-being,” Her said.
This data deep-dive resulted in the creation of dedicated parent study rooms on campus and the acquisition of a fire station from the City of Madison to expand the childcare resources for student parents.
Dr. Sylvia Ramirez, Madison College’s Executive Vice President of Finance & Administration, said that while student-parents are often among the college’s highest-achieving students, they are also statistically the least likely to graduate.
“Childcare needs and finances are some of the biggest derailers of student-parents. We know that investment in student-parents is transformational for them, for their community, and for their families,” said Ramirez. “So, you’re talking about generational change, with this investment.”
Madison College plans to monitor student-parent usage of the school’s resources—both physical resources, like the study rooms and childcare center, and support services, like advising and financial aid. As the award recipient, Madison College will nominate a team member into the next cohort of the SDP Fellowship, who will receive training and support to execute this next phase.
The Strategic Data Project (SDP) at the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University announced Madison Area Technical College as the winner of the 2024 Strategic Data Excellence Award at their annual spring Convening in Boston.
The award was created in 2021 to recognize that while strong data work is critical to successful strategy, innovation, and improvement, it is too often taken for granted and uncelebrated.
Read the full Harvard Strategic Data Project press release.
