Last month I shared a suggestion that economic developers consider downloading key raw data sets that are used regularly to market their areas and by others to evaluate their areas.This month, in view of publicity surrounding the potential future or lack thereof of the Institute for Education Statistics (IES), the research and statistics arm of the Department of Education, I have a few thoughts.
TLDR version:
Just in case, have a plan B to get the raw data you can usually find nicely aggregated in the College Navigator program directly from your local colleges and universities, and put it in a place and in a format you will be able to access, format, and update as needed.
Longer version:
The IES, runs the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), which in turn runs the IPEDS program, which in turn populates the College Navigator program. In a nutshell, that means the IES is responsible for the data set that many economic developers and their private data vendors along with consultants can use to see program and completion data for higher education institutions across the country.
As of this writing, it has been reported that IPEDS and the College Navigator programs have been spared from the DOE research grant cuts. However, a former commissioner of NCES who was appointed by President Trump during his first term, James Lynn Woodworth, has recently given several interviews explaining that up to 90% of NCES data is collected by outside contractors who sometimes even maintain the web sites with .gov domains. He has raised serious concerns about the available and reliability of this data in the future. To read these yourself, Google his name or check out this interview in The Guardian or this one in the Hechinger Report. (In case you are wondering, he now works at the Hoover Institute, which most sources I could find is considered a center-right or right-leaning institute)
Workarounds are possible.
Private data archives are filling up.
Your private data vendors are no doubt on top of this and coming up with their own contingencies.
As is always the case, the strength of your local relationships will serve you well. I think it’s time for a check in with your colleges and universities to design some contingencies of your own.