Georgia State University tests predictive analytics to improve retention rates

7 urban universities in the US have each received more than $200,000 from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for Transformational Planning Grant projects on subjects including credentialing and assessment, modularized course content, and flexible degree offerings. Georgia State University will experiment with adaptive learning and predictive analytics to help it save money while graduating more students on time. The university has over the past 10 years improved its graduation rate by 22 points and in the past 5 years cut in half withdrawal rates and the number of students receiving D and F grades. It plans to see if adaptive learning technology can help them better deliver introductory chemistry and accounting classes, as well. Georgia State has set up more than 700 alerts that warn academic advisers of students’ “risky” academic behaviour; they hope to use their grant to prove the value of the project, which could bring in $3 M by simply improving the retention rate by one point. Government Technology