Predictive Analytics Determines Student Success

Manuela Ekowo was quoted in the Daily Texan about how predictive analytics are used to identify at-risk students:

Forty-one percent of universities, including UT–Austin, are using predictive analytics for targeted student advising, adaptive online coursework or forecasting class size and financial aid need, according to a research paper  released by think tank New America.

Manuela Ekowo, one of the paper’s researchers and policy analyst at New America, said when she started working on the paper she was interested in learning more about how universities were using
different analytical tools to support students of color, low-income students and first-generation college students.

“Predictive analytics [are used] to recruit students, to offer them financial aid, but also for powering the early alert system that helps identify students who may be at risk of either failing a course or dropping out of school,” Ekowo said. “Advisors intervene before those outcomes pan out.”

Data used by universities to predict success includes current student transcripts, past student transcripts and family income. 

Predictive analytics are also used in adaptive online courseware, which is tailored to a student’s educational needs, Ekowo said.

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Despite the success of the program, Ekowo said she still has concerns with increases in its usage by universities.

“We do have concern that if [predictive analytics] become heavily used, that they can potentially become restrictive, where students don’t have the option other than to do what the recommended system is saying that they should pursue,” Ekowo said.