Huge advances have been made in access to student data, but efforts now need to be focused on issues that will ensure data quality, according to a new report.
The study by Washington-based non-profit organization The Data Quality Campaign indicates that nearly all US states now have comprehensive education data which can track students' academic careers over time.
While many are now starting to utilize this data, steps must be taken to ensure that the information remains relevant and useful by tackling technical data management issues, said Aimee R Guidera, the executive director of the campaign.
"This is much knottier and hard to solve, because it deals with changing behavior. It's much easier to build a data system that collects information," she added.
A recent report from Experian QAS revealed that 60 per cent of higher education institutions believe they waste part of their financial budget on inaccurate data, caused by human error and a reliance on manual processes.
Posted by Paul Newton