Berkeley Outreach Roundtable Symposia

Berkeley Outreach Roundtable Symposia

Berkeley's ability to measure success at making a difference in student achievement, teacher professional development and college preparation and awareness in the districts and at the schools in which we work is critical. In order to do this effectively we need to strengthen coordination and collaboration, develop strategic interventions and disseminate research and best practices. The Outreach Steering Committee recommended the creation of a campus outreach data warehouse with the following characteristics.

The Mission:
The mission of the outreach data warehouse is to:

1. Provide centralized management reports to the Berkeley Outreach Steering Committee and the Chancellor's Administrative Policy Committee on Outreach
2. Fulfill reporting requirements from UC systemwide and the State
3. Enable ad hoc reporting and analysis by outreach programs
4. Provide a robust longitudinal database for evaluation and research of outreach efforts

The Vision:
The vision for the outreach data warehouse is one where:

1. Every outreach program director uses it to learn more about their peers and enable better coordination, reduced duplication of effort and more effective use of limited resources.
2. The Outreach Steering Committee receives accurate and timely reports on the numbers of UC eligible, transfer ready and Berkeley competitive underrepresented minority students in outreach programs.
3. The Outreach Steering Committee and outreach program directors receive accurate and meaningful longitudinal analysis of student achievement and program effectiveness.
4. School administrators and school district officials receive concise, yet meaningful information about the level and nature of Berkeley's outreach program participation in their schools.

The Challenge:

1. Similar endeavors have not been successful.
2. Outreach programs are diverse with widely varied data collection methods and data manipulation ability.
3. Outreach programs face increased work load to comply with additional reporting requirements.
4. Longitudinal analysis and understanding effectiveness and outcomes are difficult and require specialized knowledge and data from many different sources.

Guiding Principles:

1. Choose simplicity and flexibility.
2. Achieve progress through frequent prototypes and user feedback.
3. Success is achieved when 80% of needs are met.

Strategies:

1. Hire a Outreach Data Warehouse Administrator.
2. Start small and focus on outreach programs that receive funding through the state outreach initiatives (e.g. school/university partnership (Berkeley Pledge Programs), EAOP, MESA).
3. Begin collecting information about programs and their activities with later expansion to participant information.
4. Integrate with existing outreach data sources e.g. UCOP Gateways.