Using the eSTATS

Overview:

eSTATS provides powerful tools to help explore and understand data. This tool provides both a snapshot view of measures and a more sophisticated tool for users to dig deeper into the data to better understand the underlying trends in different subpopulations of the college.

The national data provides a variety of institutional data culled from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data Surveys, collected annually by the U.S. Department of Education (ED).  The three sets of measures look at enrollment and graduation, revenues sources, and student financial aid. 

For the members only college data, the initial view of the data provides a snapshot of the measures Achieving the Dream colleges have committed to examine. Some examples of these measures are completion of remedial education courses, student persistence, and certificate or degree completion.

A more experienced user of the eSTATS tool will be able to modify the view in a variety of ways, such as producing graphic representations of the data or drilling further into the data to disaggregate the data based on variables of interest to the user. For example, a user can look to see if there are differences in the way students complete remedial math courses based on their age, their sex, or both.

Exploring the data:

To open an eSTATS measure, simply choose it from the list of measures on the far left. The first time you open a measure, referred to as a data cube [hyperlink or mouse-over to definition to be provided], your browser will load the Java based applet on your computer. (See Computer Requirements for more details). The following message will appear when you open the eStats tool:

Select “Yes” to allow it one time, or “Always”, to always allow the eStats tool to load on your computer.

In addition to the initial view of the data, there is a list options and reports to the left of the data. The “Open new window” will open the data cube in a new window, where it will be easier to view and manipulate.

Once the new window opens, maximize the window.

The power of this tool is most fully realized in the data-view mode. In this mode, the user will notice a series of measures along the top, and categories along the left hand side. In addition, there are more categories listed along the top of the view. Each of these categories can be used to drill down into the data. For example, one can grab a category from the top row, and drag it to the left column to disaggregate the data accordingly. For example, if one were to drag “OBE region” from the top and place it left of the existing categories, the display would first be split by OBE region, and then by the existing categories. The user could, however, also place the “OBE region” category to the right of the existing categories, and the existing categories would then be split by OBE region.

The categories along the top can also be used to filter the data displayed below.  For example, if one wanted to select only Rural andSmall Town colleges, the user would first select “Locale” by left clicking the mouse on the “Locale” category.  Once the “Select: Locale” box appears, the user would check the “Small Town” and “Rural” boxes, and by selecting the “Apply” button, the filter is applied.  To unselect these, simply select the “Reset” and “Apply” buttons.

Return to eSTATS