Who We Are
The Research team believes students' experiences and aspirations should be at the center of every decision. We transform data into knowledge that includes and honors every student. This knowledge is continuously improved by the college through critical inquiry and reflection, and it serves as the foundation for all college plans and actions.
We support the mission of City College of San Francisco by partnering with college constituents to transform inquiries into insights. We leverage student data, domain expertise, and our data analysis skills to guide the college toward student-focused decisions at all levels.
What We Do
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Impact
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Data and Analysis
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Team Up with Us
Tens of thousands of students enroll at CCSF every term, across thousands of courses, earning awards from hundreds of programs. At each of these millions of moments, there is an opportunity to improve the experience for our students by answering questions such as:
- What are students doing or not doing?
- Are students successfully progressing toward their goals?
- How effective are our initiatives and interventions?
We work with departments and committees across the college to build a culture of data-informed decision-making.
How do we collect data?
Depending on the research question, we use database systems to record student information and design research instruments to capture the student’s voice directly.
Examples of datasets:
- Enrollments, outcomes, and demographics in the college's Banner database
- Perceptions, feelings, and opinions through focus groups and interviews
- Experiences before and after CCSF from external data sources
How do we analyze data?
Depending on the data, we process the raw information, define key metrics, measure statistically significant trends, and draw insights from our analysis.
Examples of analyses:
- Monitor student success rates for annual Program Review
- Measure disproportionate impact to highlight opportunity gaps
- Detect patterns in data to predict future student behaviors
How do we share the results of our work?
Depending on the audience, we create written reports and briefs, dashboards, and presentations.
Examples of work products:
Annual Fact Book: published annually and provides college-wide metrics and trends.
Productivity Dashboard (Tableau): provides interactive charts to track full-time equivalent students and faculty (FTES/FTEF) and productivity.
Centers and Locations Dashboard (Tableau): provides visualizations of student demographics by CCSF center/location.
Looking for more of our work? Log in to CCSF SharePoint.
How might I work with you?
We partner with a wide variety of people interested in using data to understand and improve students’ experiences at CCSF.
We can support you and your work at all stages in the project, from helping you formulate your research questions through sharing the findings.
To get started, please fill out the Research Request form. Our team will review your request, discuss the best ways to support your work, and follow up with you.
I'm a CCSF employee, where can I go to see more?
City College of San Francisco faculty, staff, and administrators can log in to SharePoint to see more of our work, including training materials and reports on special topics.
I'm not yet sure what I'm looking for, how can I reach you?
For any other questions, feel free to reach out to us.