Inside Higher Education’s Data Collaborative

The National Student Clearinghouse (NSC) is a non-profit, non-governmental organization that works with colleges and universities, high schools, educational organizations, and states to better inform practitioners and policymakers to enable informed decision-making. 

The NSC currently works with over 3,600 colleges and universities across the country and is the acknowledged national leader in accounting for over 17.6 million students across the country, verifying their enrollments and educational achievements.

Roberta Hyland is the Chief Data Officer for the National Student Clearinghouse and, in this week’s episode of the Higher Edge, we got a chance to hear about the benefits of being mission-driven when working in the field of higher education, the uniqueness of higher education institutions and their data, and how the NSC even uses data to aid students during natural disasters.

Roberta began by earning a bachelor's degree in international studies concentrating in German and Russian from Muhlenberg College before deciding to focus on higher education. After obtaining her bachelor’s degree, she earned her master’s degree in higher education, concentrating in enrollment management from Drexel University, and a doctorate in Education from Northeastern University.

“I spent a lot of time in the research services area which built my knowledge of data,” said Roberta, “It became my passion to work with data, and so here I am as a chief data officer for NSC.”

NSC’s Goals as a Mission-Driven Nonprofit

As a mission-driven nonprofit and non-governmental organization, the NSC is completely focused on how they help the education community and ecosystem. 

“Our President, Rick Torres, often refers to the clearinghouse as a ‘data collaborative’ more than a collection,” said Roberta, “Our whole focus working with an institution's data is providing value back into the institution.”

The kind of value Roberta talks about can come in many different forms. When leveraging data from an institution, the NSC focuses on helping the institutional stakeholders understand more about their institution and their learners while relieving administrative burdens.

“We look for ways to take work off the plates of the institution administratively,” said Roberta, “allowing them to spend more time focused on the things that add value to their students and learners.”

A History of Helping Institutions Modernize

One way NSC has relieved administration from burdens was when the clearinghouse first started and everything was paper-based. In a paper-based system, things are easily lost and forgotten about, which is why there were so many technical defaults. 

The NSC helped develop a way to do this electronically, creating an area where not as many staff were needed. 

“That allowed them not to decrease their staff, but to redeploy their staff to things that were more meaningful for learners,” said Roberta.

Helping an institution understand more about itself and learners also allows leaders to view their institution from a different perspective and gain key insights.

Being a mission-driven nonprofit and nongovernmental institution, the NSC can be a collaborative institution that works with a variety of different institutions from the largest to the smallest all across the nation. In turn, the NSC is also thinking about ways to help the entire education community. 

“We balance how we help the institutions specifically and directly,” said Roberta, “We also try to provide these views at the national level to inform the research community on what's working and what's not working in education.”

The Diversity of the Education Community

Roberta emphasized in our discussion that though every college and university is different, the NSC doesn’t shy away from the challenge of serving all kinds of institutions. 

“When you are mission-driven and you're focused on a diverse ecosystem like education, you want to help them all,” said Roberta. 

When working with a new client, the NSC uses its services to provide the institution with a path so that it can grow at its own pace. They call it the “fast, faster, and fastest” progression. 

Each stage in the progression relieves more burdens from the administration so they can focus on their learners. This opens up the opportunity for institutions to choose how hands-on they want to be. 

“That's the beauty of the US education system. Its diversity. Sometimes it can be a challenge, but ultimately that's also the strength of our system,” said Roberta.

Using Data to Aid Students in a Natural Disaster

Whenever we hear about a national disaster we tend to think about the Red Cross and the first responders working with families in crisis. What we don't often think about is the impact on schools and students. 

Roberta also shared details about how the NSC provides help to students and institutions impacted by natural disasters. 

“This was one of those things that you don't think about until you live it,” said Roberta.

For example, it was right at the start of the semester when Hurricane Katrina showed up in the United States. Students in the path of the hurricane evacuated the region and ended up in all different parts of the country. 

The institutions impacted could not restore classes and because of this, lost student records in the disaster. Since many institutions didn't know where their students were, the NSC helped these institutions locate their students so that they could get the records they needed and resume class. 

“We never expected to play this role,” said Roberta, “But it was very heartening, looking for how we could help the education community through that and do what was best for the students and learners.”

Just like with Hurricane Katrina, the NSC also takes part in focusing on how it can help institutions with disaster recovery. The NSC maintains a database of the most updated data from the institutions they work with so that the NSC can take care of requests if the campus has to close. 

“It's once again the benefit of our being mission-driven,” said Roberta, “It's now part of our process of understanding where disasters are occurring and what conversations we need to have with the institutions in those areas.”

The Higher Edge

To learn more about Roberta Hyland and the work she does for higher education, check out The National Student Clearinghouse.

To listen to the full episode, check out our interview with Roberta Hyland on The Higher Edge podcast. Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and our website.