Pre-publication draft Action Analytics: Measuring and Improving Performance That Matters in Higher Education By Donald Norris, Linda Baer, Joan Leonard, Louis Pugliese, and Paul Lefrere Donald Norris is President of Strategic Initiatives, Inc., a management consulting firm in Herndon, Virginia, which has been co-creating action analytics solutions with colleges, universities, and commercial clients since 2007. Linda Baer is Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs at the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities. Joan Leonard is President of 3Degrees Consulting. Louis Pugliese is President of Learning Diagnostics, Inc. Paul Lefrere is Associate Professor (Senior Lecturer) with the Institute of Educational Technology at the Open University of the United Kingdom, Professor of eLearning at the University of Tampere in Finland, and a Principal Consultant with Strategic Initiatives, Inc. © 2008 Donald Norris, Linda Baer, Joan Leonard, Louis Pugliese, and Paul Lefrere For the past several years, EDUCAUSE publications have described the emergence of two complementary forces: (1) the growth of “academic analytics” in higher education and the knowledge services needed to support seamless sharing and leveraging of contextualized data/ information; and (2) the escalating accountability de- mands that are driving performance measurement and improvement initiatives. 1 These forces converged in the July/August 2007 issue of EDUCAUSE Review, which showcased their potentially transformative impacts on higher education. 2 First, knowledge-leveraging and analytical practices are advancing in sophistication and proliferation, aided in part by a host of new software and professional services offerings. These include deploying academic analytics (tools, solutions, and services) to produce actionable intelligence, service-oriented architectures, mash-ups of information/content and services, proven models of course/ curriculum reinvention, and changes in faculty practice that improve performance and reduce costs. Over time, these new offerings have the potential to support previously unattainable levels of measurement, comparison, and institutional interventions to improve access, affordability, and success for students. Second, public demand in the United States is escalating for colleges and universities to measure, demonstrate, and improve performance and to provide access to this data. This demand is being driven by a variety of forces and interests. The most compelling is the stark fact that the international standing of the United States is slipping. In spite of the relative dominance of U.S. leading universities and their world-class reputations, the nation is losing ground in terms of the overall educational attainment of its population. The United States is also deficient in the across-the-economy-and-workforce competencies necessary for success in the global economy. Additionally, mid-tier institutions are increasingly at risk of falling behind U.S. and international competitors in their ability to track their performance and identify areas where they need curriculum and process reinvention and innovation. As a consequence, the United States faces projected declines in per capita income and economic competitiveness.