Students, families, colleges, and lawmakers need clearer information on postsecondary outcomes to make informed decisions. By leveraging data available at institutions and federal agencies, a nationwide student-level data network (SLDN) would close information gaps that persist in our higher education landscape to answer critical questions about…

Learning analytics and digital badges are emerging research fields in educational science. They both show promise for enhancing student retention in higher education, where withdrawals prior to degree completion remain at about 30% in Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development member countries. This integrative review provides an…

Carol Harrison is the registrar at the College of Southern Maryland, and back in the days of paper, she used to have a problem: keeping track of students' records, especially as they moved from one department to another, and through one process or system after another. It wasn't that the records disappeared; they were just, well, occasionally hard…

Alternative methods of storing and handling the registrar's records are described, and their relative advantages and disadvantages are noted. The methods include paper files, micrographics (computer output microfilm and source document microfilm), and electronic image systems. (MSE)

This chapter examines the main aspects of the Buckley Amendment, giving special attention to the definition of "educational record" and to the ten instances in which an institution may release information about a student without the student's consent. (IRT)

Discusses a number of potential security and privacy problems that are frequently found in educational information systems and presents a framework for reviewing potential risks in an educational information system and procedures for insuring that adequate countermeasure exist. (Author/IRT)

Offers suggestions for storing and handling records efficiently and economically at educational institutions. (JG)

Describes the computerization of student academic records for a science course with multisection laboratories. (SL)

The information system of the American Council on Education (ACE), which comprises the basis for the ACE Higher Education Data Bank, is designed to collect and maintain biographical and other data on approximately 300,000 college freshmen each year for continuing longitudinal research based on subsamples of the students. The need for confidential…

A large fire in a main administration building at Hope College (Michigan) destroyed many records, though not all. The crisis plan used to disseminate information about the fire and its results is described and both the problems and positive results are reviewed. (MSE)

Describes the general data management and file processing system created by the Open University to assist the tutor-counsellors in their support of students. The differences between the tutorial and the counselling functions are discussed, details are given of the type of information stored on disc. (EAO)