Student Predictive Analytics Services docs
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| Submitted | Sept. 5, 2023 |
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Communications
From: Todd Feathers
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to the Pennsylvania Right to Know Act, I hereby request records related to student predictive analytics services used by the university.
For the purpose of this request, the term "student predictive analytics services" means software or computer code that employ machine learning models to generate predictions about individual students or groups of students for one or more of the following purposes:
a) To generate predictions about which prospective student names/contact information to buy from vendors such as the College Board, ACT, Cappex, etc. for advertising and recruiting.
b) To generate predictions about prospective students' likelihood to apply to, be admitted to, and/or enroll at the university.
c) To generate predictions about prospective students' financial aid needs and/or likely response to different financial aid packages.
d) To generate predictions about enrolled students' likelihood of passing a class, re-enrolling for another term (retention), and/or graduation (these tools are often called early warning systems).
My request applies to student predictive analytics services used by the university during the 2022-23 academic year, including those developed in-house by the university or purchased by the university from a vendor.
I request:
1) All contracts and statements of work between the university and outside parties for student predictive analytics services that the university used during the 2022-23 academic year.
2) Records defining the input variables and their weights/relative power for each student predictive analytics service the university used during the 2022-23 academic year (In other words, records defining the data points fed into each predictive model and its respective impact on the model's output).
3) Records documenting the accuracy (AUC, true/false positive, specificity, lift, etc.) of each student predictive analytics service the university used during the 2022-23 academic year.
4) Any validation studies, disparate impact studies, or other records documenting the student predictive analytics services the university used during the 2022-23 academic year performed for different student groups (e.g. Black students vs. White students, male students vs. female students).
I ask that all fees be waived as I am a journalist and intend to use the requested records to publish articles in the public interest about the operations of a government agency. If you choose to impose fees, I ask that you provide an explanation of the fees, including the hourly wage of the lowest-paid employee capable of fulfilling the request.
If you choose to reject this request or redact portions of responsive documents, I ask that you cite the statutory exemptions and associated case law underlying your decision to withhold each portion from public review.
The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.
In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.
Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.
Sincerely,
Todd Feathers
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I wanted to follow up on the following Pennsylvania Right to Know Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on Sept. 5, 2023. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: East Stroudsburg University
ON BEHALF OF
Michael Sachs, Interim Vice President
For Administration and Accreditation
& Right to Know Officer
________________________________
This e-mail acknowledges receipt by East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania of your request for records under the Pennsylvania Right-To-Know Law (65 P.S. § 67.101, et seq., as amended) (“RTKL”). Your request was received by this office on September 5, 2023. Therefore, under the RTKL, a written response to your request is due on or before September 12, 2023. This e-mail is provided pursuant to that requirement.
You are hereby notified that the University will require a 30 day extension, until October 12, 2023, in which to provide a written response to your request. This extension of time is required because the extent or nature of the request precludes a response within five (5) days. 65 P.S. §67.902(a)(4) & (7).
Please direct any questions that you may have regarding this e-mail directly to this office.
Thank you,
Office of the Right to Know Officer
Interim Vice President for Administration & Accreditation
East Stroudsburg University
200 Prospect Street
East Stroudsburg, PA 18301-2999
(570)422-3201 (office)
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From: East Stroudsburg University
ON BEHALF OF
Michael Sachs, Interim Vice President
For Administration and Accreditation
& Right to Know Officer
________________________________
This e-mail acknowledges receipt by East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania of your written request for records under the Pennsylvania Right-to-Know Law (65 P. S. §§ 67.101 et seq.,) ("RTKL"). Your request was received by this office on September 5, 2023. On September 12, 2023, we notified you that East Stroudsburg University required an additional 30 days, until October 12, 2023, to respond to your request. This e-mail is provided pursuant to that requirement.
You requested copies of the following information:
1. All contracts and statements of work between the university and outside parties for student predictive analytics services that the university used during the 2022-2023 academic year.
Your request is granted. All contracts and statements of works between East Stroudsburg University and outside parties for student predictive analytic services can be found in the Pennsylvania Treasury website which can be accessed at the following link:
https://patreasury.gov/transparency/e-library
1. Records defining the input variables and their weights/relative power for each student predictive analytics service that the university used during the 2022-23 academic year. (In other words, records defining the data points fed into each predictive model and its respective impact on the model’s output).
Your request is denied, as East Stroudsburg University does not have the records that you seek.
1. Records documenting the accuracy (AUC, true/false positive, specificity, lift, etc.) of each student predictive service the university used during the 2022-23 academic year.
Your request is denied, as East Stroudsburg University does not have the records that you seek.
1. Any validation studies, disparate impact studies, or other records documenting the student predictive analytics services the university used during the 2022-23 academic year performed for different student groups (e.g. Black students vs. White students, male students vs, female students)
Your request is denied, as East Stroudsburg University does not have the records that you seek.
You have a right to appeal this denial of information, in writing, to Office of Open Records, 333 Market Street, 16th Floor, Harrisburg, PA 17101. If you choose to file an appeal you must do so within 15 business days of the mailing date of this response. 65 P.S. §67.1101.
Please be advised that this correspondence will serve to close this record with our office as permitted by law.
Office of the Right to Know Officer
Interim Vice President for Administrative Services
Administration and Finance
East Stroudsburg University
200 Prospect Street
East Stroudsburg, PA 18301-2999
(570)422-3201 (office)
[cid:d0fe66bb-db57-42e3-8c77-caec64870162]
PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATION
The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to whom it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any use of this information other than by the intended recipient is prohibited. If you receive this message in error, please send a reply e-mail to the sender and delete the material from any and all computers.
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From: Todd Feathers
Hello Michael,
Thank you very much for your help today. As we discussed, I'd like to resubmit the following poritions of my request:
For each EAB predictive model the university used during the 2022-23 school year, I request the following records:
1) Records defining the input variables and their weights/relative power for each student predictive analytics service the university used during the 2022-23 academic year (In other words, records defining the data points fed into each predictive model and its respective impact on the model's output).
2) Records documenting the accuracy (AUC, true/false positive, specificity, lift, etc.) of each student predictive analytics service the university used during the 2022-23 academic year.
3) Any validation studies, disparate impact studies, or other records documenting the student predictive analytics services the university used during the 2022-23 academic year performed for different student groups (e.g. Black students vs. White students, male students vs. female students).
To assist with your search, I've attached several examples of the docuemnts EAB provides to its clients about their models. These were provided to me by other universities in response to similar public records requests.
Please find:
1. An excerpt from the yield model report EAB provided to Youngstown University, describing the input variables for the model and their relative importance.
2. Two reports EAB provided to the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee regarding its student success predictive model. The reports describe the model's accuracy characteristics as well as input variables.
Thank you again for your help and please let me know if I can provide any further information.
Todd Feathers
From: Muckrock Staff
To Whom It May Concern:
I'm following up on the following Pennsylvania Right to Know Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on Sept. 5, 2023. You had previously indicated that it would be completed on Oct. 12, 2023. I wanted to check on the status of my request, and to see if there was a new estimated completion date.
Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.
From: East Stroudsburg University
ON BEHALF OF
Michael Sachs, Interim Vice President
For Administration and Accreditation
& Right to Know Officer
________________________________
This e-mail acknowledges receipt by East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania of your request for records under the Pennsylvania Right-To-Know Law (65 P.S. § 67.101, et seq., as amended) (“RTKL”). Your request was received by this office on October 10, 2023. Therefore, under the RTKL, a written response to your request is due on or before October 17, 2023. This e-mail is provided pursuant to that requirement.
You are hereby notified that the University will require a 30-day extension, until November 11, 2023, in which to provide a written response to your request. This extension of time is required because the extent or nature of the request precludes a response within five (5) days. 65 P.S. §67.902(a)(4) & (7).
Please direct any questions that you may have regarding this e-mail directly to this office.
Thank you,
Office of the Right to Know Officer
Interim Vice President for Administration & Accreditation
East Stroudsburg University
200 Prospect Street
East Stroudsburg, PA 18301-2999
(570)422-3201 (office)
[cid:8f9d933d-c2e1-4f09-8716-34b187c9d138]
PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATION
The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to whom it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any use of this information other than by the intended recipient is prohibited. If you receive this message in error, please send a reply e-mail to the sender and delete the material from any and all computers.
-
Outlook-lt2cfxbg
From: East Stroudsburg University
ON BEHALF OF
Michael Sachs, Interim Vice President
For Administration and Accreditation
& Right to Know Officer
________________________________
This e-mail acknowledges receipt by East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania of your written request for records under the Pennsylvania Right-to-Know Law (65 P. S. §§ 67.101 et seq.,) ("RTKL"). Your request was received by this office on October 10, 2023. On October 12, 2023, we notified you that East Stroudsburg University required an additional 30 days, until November 9, 2023, to respond to your request. This e-mail is provided pursuant to that requirement.
You requested copies of the following information:
1. Records defining the input variables and their weights/relative power for each student predictive analytics service that the university used during the 2022-23 academic year. (In other words, records defining the data points fed into each predictive model and its respective impact on the model’s output).
2. Records documenting the accuracy (AUC, true/false positive, specificity, lift, etc.) of each student predictive analytics service the university used during the 2022-23 academic year.
3. Any validation studies, disparate impact studies, or other records documenting the student predictive analytics services the university used during the 2022-23 academic year performed for different student groups (e.g. Black students vs. White students, male students vs, female students)
Your request is denied for the following reasons: Section 65 P.S. §67.708 (b)(10)(i)(A) permits exemption on a record that reflects the internal, predecisional deliberations of an agency, its members, employees, or officials or predecisional deliberations relating to a budget recommendation, legislative proposal, legislative amendment, contemplated or proposed policy or course of action or any research, memos or other documents used in the predecisional deliberations; and/or East Stroudsburg University does not have the records that you seek.
You have a right to appeal this denial of information, in writing, to Office of Open Records, 333 Market Street, 16th Floor, Harrisburg, PA 17101. If you choose to file an appeal you must do so within 15 business days of the mailing date of this response. 65 P.S. §67.1101.
Please be advised that this correspondence will serve to close this record with our office as permitted by law.
Office of the Right to Know Officer
Interim Vice President for Administrative Services
Administration and Finance
East Stroudsburg University
200 Prospect Street
East Stroudsburg, PA 18301-2999
(570)422-3201 (office)
[cid:4bab0702-0949-4549-a2a8-f98c166dc015]
PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL COMMUNICATION
The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity to whom it is addressed and may contain confidential and/or privileged material. Any use of this information other than by the intended recipient is prohibited. If you receive this message in error, please send a reply e-mail to the sender and delete the material from any and all computers.
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