Our Data Story
Data provides the foundation for our approach to understanding and responding to efforts at the University of Washington. Studies, reports, and recommendations generated through the Office of Educational Assessment 2014 and 2019 Undergraduate Retention and Graduation Studies serve as roadmaps that guide the work of the Retention Task Force.
Data can be used to tell a variety of stories. Our data tells us that we have success retaining and graduating students at rates we can be proud of and that other large urban research institutions strive for. Our interest in retention is regarding the year-over-year reenrollment of students at the UW, and for graduation we are most attentive of a student’s ability to earn a degree in six years. The following dashboards provide visual and numeric data, and can be used to explore both retention and graduation data across the UW system and among specific populations. Special attention is paid to those who have been historically underserved in higher education. These dashboards utilize data organized for IPEDS reporting. To access the data you must have a UW NetID and turn on a UW supported VPN.
Publicly accessible data on retention and graduation can be found at the UW Public Profiles.
The UW is committed to enhancing equitable experiences and outcomes for marginalized students and communities. The dashboards above utilize the student race and ethnicity categories determined for IPEDs reporting. Our Office of Minority Affairs and Diversity approaches retention and graduation data by allowing students to identify with more than one race or ethnicity group. As a result, data reported on the success of historically marginalized, first-generation, and low-income students tells a different story of student success:
The UW has been recognized at effectively graduating students who are from communities that have been historically marginalized and K-12 school systems that have been under-resourced. Our data also tells us that we have work to do in order to realize equitable graduation rates for all student populations.
Peer comparison data provides important context for the success of retention efforts in relation to peer institutions. The Peer Comparison Dashboard provides insight into our retention and graduation success compared to other AAU peers, US News Top 25 public peers, and other peer comparison groups.
In 2019-2020 The ATI/Retention Taskforce convened a Data Synthesis Team to explore and synthesize findings across multiple studies related to student success, retention and graduation. The report from this team can be read here.