EAB risk score reports (South Dakota State University)

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the South Dakota Open Records Law, I hereby request the following records:

1) An up-to-date report (as of the time this request is processed) from the university's Educational Advisory Board (EAB) system documenting student predicted risk scores, broken down in aggregate by the following categories:
- Race
- Gender
- Race AND gender
- Major
- GPA group

As explained in the attached document, this data is stored in the university's EAB system as part of the Student Success Collaborative and can easily be searched and compiled into reports. Please note that I am not requesting any personally identifying information, but rather aggregate data for the aforementioned groups.

2) All validation studies or technical reports detailing the unique predictive model created by EAB for the university and how it performs across different demographic groups.

I ask that all fees be waived as I am a journalist and I intend to use the requested records to publish articles in the public interest and not for any commercial purpose

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 10 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Todd Feathers

Hello Karyn,

Thank you for the quick response. Could you please provide a little clarification about your message so that I can adjust the request accordingly. I don't understand how anything I've requested would fall under:

1) "Valuable formulae, designs, drawings, computer source code or object code, and research data invented, discovered, authored, developed, or obtained by any agency if disclosure would produce private gain or public loss" [1-27-1.6(1)]

- I have not requested any source code, and I have also stated clearly that the records will not be used for any commercial purpose (private gain), as I am a journalist. Rather, the records will be used to inform the public about the workings of government--the purpose of the open records law.

2)" Proprietary data, trade secrets, or other information that relates to:

(a) A vendor's unique methods of conducting business;

(b) Data unique to the product or services of the vendor; or

(c) Determining prices or rates to be charged for services, submitted by any vendor to any public body" [1-27-1.6(6)]

- Nothing in my request asks for the underlying code or even the model EAB designed specifically for SDSU. I ask only for aggregate data about SDSU students, a category of data the university publishes in myriad different ways, and for reports/studies about how the service performs across demographic groups. None of that information would disclose trade secrets or how the EAB software functions.

3) "Trade secrets, the specific details of bona fide research, applied research, or scholarly or creative artistic projects being conducted at a school, postsecondary institution or laboratory funded in whole or in part by the state, and other proprietary or commercial information which if released would infringe intellectual property rights, give advantage to business competitors, or serve no material public purpose" [1-27-1.5(3)]

- Any studies responsive to my request would not constitute trade secrets or give advantage to a competitor. Nor would they infringe intellectual property rights because the studies, by their nature, would be assessments of a third-party tool, rather than an original work. Futhermore, an analyses of how a tool used to assess SDSU students' risk of dropping out performs across demographic groups would quite clearly be in the public interest, as it is necessary to determine whether the tool is appropriate to use. These types of studies (often referred to as a disparate impact assessments) are a standard part of most public universities vetting process for educational software.

Thank you very much for explaining your reasoning. And if you have any questions for me, please don't hesitate to ask.

Todd Feathers