Madison Reporter

The Strategic Data Project (SDP) at the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University has recognized Madison Area Technical College as the recipient of the 2024 Strategic Data Excellence Award. The college's project focused on student-parents, a demographic that is typically older than traditional students and primarily identifies as female, Black, Hispanic, multi-racial, or Asian.

Miriam Greenberg, Senior Director of the Strategic Data Project, stated, “The path to success is rarely smooth, especially for student-parents who are juggling classes, childcare, and work. We cannot let these students leave college with debt and no degree.” She praised Madison College's use of data to support this often overlooked demographic as a model for other institutions.

According to survey results from Madison College, 42% of their student population were parenting children from birth to school-age and encountered obstacles related to childcare. To address this issue, the college's data team linked parenting status information to their data warehouse. This allowed them to longitudinally track and support these students by monitoring outcomes such as retention and graduation rates.

Madison College took steps towards understanding the unique needs of student-parents in order to develop a comprehensive support system tailored to their challenges. The first step was integrating parenthood status into the school’s Student Information System. Now student parents who self-identify for targeted support are directly linked to a new one-stop resource page designed to help them navigate challenges such as finding and paying for childcare and studying with children.

Zong Her, Madison College’s Director of Institutional Research & Data Management and an SDP-CTE ECMCF fellow alumna said that this systemic integration demonstrates the potential of data systems not just as repositories of information but active participants in student success and well-being.

This extensive use of data led to the creation of dedicated parent study rooms on campus and acquisition of a fire station from the City of Madison to expand childcare resources for student parents. Dr. Sylvia Ramirez, Madison College’s Executive Vice President of Finance & Administration, noted that while student-parents are often among the college’s highest-achieving students, they are also statistically the least likely to graduate. “Childcare needs and finances are some of the biggest derailers of student-parents. We know that investment in student-parents is transformational for them, for their community, and for their families,” said Ramirez.

Madison College plans to monitor student-parent usage of the school’s resources—both physical resources like study rooms and childcare center, and support services like advising and financial aid. As the award recipient, Madison College will nominate a team member into the next cohort of the SDP Fellowship, who will receive training and support to execute this next phase.

The Strategic Data Project (SDP) at the Center for Education Policy Research at Harvard University announced Madison Area Technical College as the winner of the 2024 Strategic Data Excellence Award at their annual spring Convening in Boston. The award was created in 2021 to acknowledge that strong data work is crucial to successful strategy, innovation, and improvement but is often overlooked.