Institutional Research

Institutional Research (IR) has administered the Course Evaluation process and reporting since the fall 2015 term. The following guidelines and procedures are intended to ensure that instructional staff and students experience an orderly and efficient process. The course evaluation continues to be delivered through Evaluation Kit, which interfaces with Canvas. Student responses are completely anonymous to instructional staff, students, coordinators, and administrators.

• Course Evaluations Guidelines and Procedures
• Targeted Surveys Guidelines
• Standard Questionnaires
• Re-using Custom Questions from Previous Semesters
• Creating New Custom Questions
• Steps for Students
• Accessing Course Evaluation Reports Through EvaluationKIT
• Course Evaluations - Data Interpretation Guide
• FAQ for Students
• FAQ for Faculty

The Almanac and Trends provides key institutional data and information on historical trends and growth patterns at both the university and the college levels. The links to the six interactive sections are described below.

• All Student Enrollment: describes comprehensive university student enrollment by several demographic factors, such as age, race/ethnicity, and gender
• New Student Enrollment: provides information on application, admission, and enrollment for entering undergraduate and graduate students
• International Student Enrollment: provides information on the number and percentage of international students, a large and important part of The New School, by region; lists the top 20 countries of origin; and includes a word map
• Bachelor's Student Enrollment and Outcomes: provides eight years of trend data for one-year retention rates and four- and six-year graduation rates for undergraduate students seeking bachelor's degrees
• Faculty and Staff: lists faculty and staff by federal job category and demographic category, such as gender and race/ethnicity
• University Resources: lists key university financial measures and library resources

For full-time faculty and staff on the campus network (or VPN), this is the link to the second location for the Almanac and Trends, which offers additional download options and some additional filters.

As required by federal and state law, The New School has an official student enrollment census date, the evening of Friday in the fifth week of the fall semester. Please refer to this Census Enrollment Story, which describes comprehensive university student enrollment, graduation rates, and financial aid disbursements at the time of the census. The interactive report provides an overview of our student population in terms of gender, race/ethnicity, and other socioeconomic dimensions. Trends across the last ten years are included. Please note that because of the nature of the information included, this report is available only to individuals in the campus community who have access to the "institution-wide" role when viewing reports on a campus computer or through the VPN.

The Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, requires that institutions that participate in federal student aid programs report data on enrollments, program completions, graduation rates, student outcomes, faculty and staff, finances, institutional prices, student financial aid, and academic libraries through the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). 

IPEDS Shared Information data is made available to students and parents through the College Navigator college search website and to researchers and others through the IPEDS Data Center for every college, university, and technical and vocational institution in the United States that participates in federal student financial aid programs.  Please use the IPEDS Shared Information ReadMe file first to understand the contents of this folder.

IPEDS Data Feedback Reports
Please use the IPEDS Data Feedback Report Read Me file first to understand the contents of this folder. This information has been designed by the U.S. Department of Education to provide institutional executives with a useful resource and to improve the quality and comparability of IPEDS data.

Data for The New School and for all other U.S. institutions can be accessed in several locations:

• College Navigator, National Center for Education Statistics
• College Scorecard, U.S. Department of Education
• IPEDS, National Center for Education Statistics - U.S. Department of Education - Use the Data

Middle States Commission on Higher Education Annual Reporting
To remain compliant with federal accreditation, The New School must also submit an Annual Institutional Update (AIU) to the Middles States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) each year. The New School enters or verifies institutional data for key indicators such as enrollment, financial information, and measures of student achievement and uploads required documentation. The data submitted from the AIU are aggregated by MSCHE into trends for use in other monitoring and review processes.

• 2017-18 New School MSCHE AIU
• 2018-19 New School MSCHE AIU
• 2019-20 New School MSCHE AIU
• 2020-21 New School MSCHE AIU

Additional information and data dictionaries are available on the MSCHE website  

The massive amount of data collected across The New School allows for rich insights and analyses. Distilled and succinct data can enhance decision making and spark ideas. On this premise, Institutional Research and Decision Support (IRDS) offers the monthly publication IR Digest: Data, Insights, and Stories. We collaboratively develop topics that speak to The New School’s priorities, challenges, and strategies and tell analysis-driven stories to guide conversations and decisions.

Visit the repository of all IR Digest Issues.

• Issue 5. August 2021 - Fall 2021 New Student Preview
• Issue 6. September 2021 - New School Graduates: Outcomes and Perceptions
• Issue 7. October 2021 - The Stopouts and Dropouts at The New School
• Issue 8. November 2021 - Tableau Fall Census Workbook: Enrollment Before and During the Pandemic

Through the collaborative effort of a sub-group of the Teaching and Learning Committee and Institutional Research, Data, Analysis, and Planning, two surveys were administered from April 20 to May 22, 2020. The purpose of the surveys is to assess faculty and students' experience as they faced the challenges of the rapid transition of the spring 2020 classes from on-campus to remote instruction and learning in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Tableau reports are available only to the New School community and require logging in the FortiClient VPN.

• Questionnaire: Faculty’s Experience
• Questionnaire: Students’ Experience
• PowerPoint
• Narrative Report
• Tableau: Faculty’s Experience
• Tableau: Students’ Experience

Institutional Research collaborates with academic and non-academic departments at The New School in developing research on diverse topics.

Research Topic: Assessing Degree Faculty Experience with Non-Native English-Speaker Students (a collaboration with English Language Studies)

• Research Brief
• Survey Questionnaire
• PowerPoint (as presented at TESOL 2018 International Convention)

The goal of the Indicators Briefs is to provide concise, succinct, and distilled information. Topics may include the results of regular or ad hoc survey research or commonly asked institutional research questions.

• Remote Education Experiences of Students and Faculty, Fall 2020
• National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) Pulse, Fall 2020
• Undergraduate Students' Six-Year Outcomes: The New School and the National Benchmark
• Costs of Textbooks, Supplies and Materials: Estimates from Faculty and Students
• The Class of 2022: Significant Differences Between Domestic and International Students

Beginning College Survey of Student Engagement (BCSSE) collects data about entering college students’ high school academic and co-curricular experiences and their expectations for participating in educationally beneficial activities during the first college year. The New School has been participating in this initiative since 2014. Starting in 2019, BCSSE is nationally administered to transfer students.

2019

• The Incoming Class of 2023: Results of 2019 BCSSE 
• Transfer Students: Results of 2019 BCSSE

2018

• The Incoming Class of 2022: Results of 2018 BCSSE
• Infographics: Who are the Class of 2022?
• BCSSE 2018 Questionnaire

National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) assesses the extent to which students are engaged in academic and social activities and high-impact practices. The New School has been participating in NSSE since 2001.  

2019

• Infographics
• Engagement Indicators Brief
• Sustainability Education Brief
• High-Impact Practices Brief
• Undergraduate First-Year Experience
• Undergraduate Senior Transitions
• A Comparison: International and Domestic Students
• BCSSE 2018-NSSE 2019 Longitudinal
• Survey Questionnaire

2016

• 2016 National Survey of Student Engagement - The New School vs. Peer Groups

Assessment of student learning is the systematic and cyclical process through which faculty members, department chairs, and program directors articulate learning outcomes for their program, align learning opportunities with outcomes, measure students' progress toward those outcomes, and use this information to improve their programs.

To assess student achievement of program learning outcomes, program faculty might look directly at student work (e.g., papers, projects, and portfolios), or they might survey students or alumni on their achievement of program learning outcomes. However, faculty must look directly at student work at least once every three years for accreditation purposes. We recommend that faculty create a multi-year assessment plan to ensure that that program assessment is informed by data from a variety of sources (e.g., direct assessment of student work, student surveys, faculty surveys). Colleges and schools within The New School may have more specific assessment cycles or guidelines.

The director of Assessment is available to assist faculty at every stage of the student learning assessment process and provide technical, logistical, and reporting support for assessment. Please email blackerk@newschool.edu if you are interested in a consultation.

For more information, visit our Assessment of Student Learning website.

Please complete our Data Request Form to let the IR staff know about your data, analyses, or project request. In some cases, we may point you to resources that already exist. We may not be able to respond to all requests in the time frame required, because of limited staff resources, but we will make our best effort to assist you. If you have an urgent request (requiring an answer within 24 to 48 hours), please contact us by phone or email.

The Office of Institutional Research and Decision Support is charged with the administration and/or support of institution-wide surveys that provide The New School with data and insights on the educational experiences of students, faculty, and staff and post-graduate outcomes of alumni. IR conducts activities in a highly collaborative manner to develop effective survey instruments and ensure systematic data collection and reporting.

Please contact ir@newschool.edu if you need assistance in survey development and administration.

IR-administered survey research initiatives