UIC Equity Dashboard uses data to explore student success disparities

The UIC Equity Dashboard, a digital tool that compiles institutional data in an objective way and allows for reporting in disaggregation format, has recently announced significant updates. In partnership with the UIC Office of the Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Engagement (ODEE), the UIC Office of the Vice Provost for Academic and Enrollment Services and the UIC Office of Institutional Research, the Equity Dashboard Project is built to assist in understanding where inequities exist on campus through comparison across various student characteristics and attributes.

In particular, the dashboard seeks to examine the complexity of student success–especially underrepresented minority (URM) and first-generation student success–by shifting away from deficit-minded perspectives of students towards perspectives of equity-mindedness.

“The Equity Dashboard Project draws on campus-wide data to provide an easy-to-use tool to help the UIC community take data-informed steps to advance equity and inclusion at the university,” stated Jessica Joslin, PhD, assistant vice chancellor for diversity initiatives in the ODEE.

The project utilizes a series of dynamic Tableau dashboards to present key indicators of student success along four dimensions: access, achievement, inclusion and engagement. Depending on available data, the core filters included in each dashboard are student type/level, race/ethnicity, gender, URM status, UIC college, first-generation status and Pell eligibility status.

Users can adjust these filters across the dimension dashboards as needed to gain more specific insights alongside the broader campus-wide data.

This Equity Dashboard Project update includes the latest data as well as new and/or redesigned visualizations and features, such as:

• The Access Dashboard now includes data for the latest 5 years.
• The Achievement Dashboard now consists of two separate components: Student Outcomes and the DFWU Dashboard with added charts to show trends in graduation, retention and pass/fail rates.
• The Engagement and Inclusion Dashboards now include the latest survey data which can be viewed by additional filters as well as trend charts.

Significantly, the Equity Dashboard does not provide simple answers for how or why disparities in indicators exist. Rather, it notes that these disparities exist with the goal of hopefully prompting more detailed analyses of these indicators to better understand the sources of success gaps.

Data for the project is primarily collected via student data from application, enrollment and academic records compiled by Equity Dashboard team members for the access and achievement sections and climate surveys of undergraduate, graduate and professional students that are administered approximately every other year. The next survey will be offered in spring 2025.

“We are excited to learn more about the experiences of our students and use that information to continue to advance our diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at UIC,” Joslin reiterated.

For more information and to explore the Equity Dashboard Project, please visit: https://diversity.uic.edu/diversity-education/equity-dashboard/