Mission

The Office of Institutional Research and Assessment (IRA) provides data-informed, research-driven decision and strategic planning support to the administration, trustees, faculty leadership, and other campus constituencies to fulfill the mission and goals of Carleton College. IRA collaborates with campus offices to ensure reliable and accurate data collection and reporting, performs comprehensive analysis and interpretation of pertinent data, and serves as a strategic partner to help academic programs and campus offices design and administer a sustainable, meaningful, and actionable assessment to advance institutional priorities.

Laird

Scope of Responsibilities

Frisbee

Data Stewardship

IRA leads the development of infrastructure to ensure reliable and consistent data reporting and usage in collaboration with campus partner offices. Our work includes:

  • Providing the institutional data and statistics to federal and state agencies, consortia, and other external audiences.
  • Contributing to the development of policies and practices that support the effective, ethical, and accurate use of institutional data assets.
  • Delivering pertinent data points to support periodic comprehensive reviews. 
  • Facilitating campus-wide understanding of the institutional data definitions.

Decision-Support

IRA drives the development of methodologies to measure the impact of strategic goals of the College. Our work includes:

  • Monitoring progress toward the institutional goals using longitudinal data.
  • Conducting comparative analysis with peer institutions. 
  • Executing targeted studies on topics relating to institutional priorities.
  • Communicating research findings and actionable recommendations. 
  • Engaging academic programs and campus offices to design and administer sustainable, meaningful, and actionable assessment.

Partnership and Support

Summer campus

Data Request

Submit the form below to request institutional data. The Data Governance Committee will review the data availability and role-based access permission to the requested data. Please allow at least one week for decision-making. The total processing time will be confirmed after reviewing the scope of the request.

Data Request Form

Priorities

Data Requests are prioritized in the following order:

  • Tier 1 Mandatory Reporting & Compliance: Data submission and reporting to the federal (IPEDS), state, accreditation, consortia, and college rating agency.
  • Tier 2 Institutional Studies & Projects: College-led research and initiatives designed to support institutional priorities
  • Tier 3 Program Reviews: Data support for academic department decennial reviews or comprehensive program evaluations.
  • Tier 4 Ad Hoc & General Inquiries: All other requests are prioritized based on the current office capacity, complexity of the request, and the availability of the requested data.

Workshop Request

IRA provides various workshops on a wide range of research and assessment topics, as well as presentations on institutional studies and projects.

Learn about Past Workshops and Presentations

To request a workshop or presentation, please contact the Assistant Vice President for Institutional Research and Assessment.

The Office of Institutional Research and Assessment works within guidelines in the Association for Institutional Research’s Code of Ethics and Professional Practice.