In Fall 2011, staff at the University of Minnesota Libraries-Twin Cities undertook a project to measure how often, and in what ways, students used the Libraries' services. Partnering with the University's Office of Institutional Research, the team investigated ways to match library service usage to individual accounts while retaining patron…

In this paper we analyze the relationship between charter school authorizers and student achievement. We perform this analysis using a 10-year panel dataset from Minnesota, a state that permits four distinct types of authorizers--local school boards, postsecondary institutions, nonprofit organizations, and the Minnesota Department of Education.…

As Institutional Research (IR) moves beyond its fiftieth anniversary, a new profession, called Institutional Effectiveness (IE), is emerging. In some respects, IR and IE are similar. IE, though, appears to be taking the leadership role. What are the structure, purpose, and responsibilities of IE offices? What are the implications for the IR field…

The University of Minnesota Extension conducted a social network analysis (SNA) to examine its outreach to organizations external to the University of Minnesota. The study found that its outreach network was both broad in its reach and strong in its connections. The study found that SNA offers a unique method for describing and measuring Extension…

This paper describes a Developmental Education Outcomes Study being conducted for 21 Minnesota state community colleges. The goals of the study were to examine the academic performance of students placed into developmental reading, writing, and mathematics courses and to identify areas where improvement was needed. Subjects were all 20,543…