Students Are About to Get ‘Starfished’

Manuela Ekowo and Iris Palmer's work on predictive analytics in higher education was cited in the Pasadena Community College Courier:

The Washington-based think tank New America published an article written by policy analysts Manuela Ekowo and Iris Palmer with the explanatory title “The promises and perils of predictive analytics in higher education.”

“Colleges are really excited to have a new tool to identify students who need support and intervene before it’s too late,” Ekowo said over the phone. “But there is a dark side to it.”

Ekowo and Palmer warn institutions of the risk of unintentionally reinforcing inequality when targeting students for intervention using race, ethnicity, gender or socioeconomic status.