Key Indicators Tool (KIT)

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Key Indicators Tool (KIT)

The Key Indicators Tool (KIT), introduced in 2004, is aimed at improving the capacity of member institutions to gain access to and utilize data to enhance institutional decision-making and improve institutional effectiveness. The KIT provides a customized benchmarking report for each CIC member institution with 18 indicators of institutional performance in four key areas: 1) student enrollment and progression, 2) faculty, 3) tuition revenue and financial aid, and 4) financial resources and expenditures. Institutional performance is benchmarked by regional and national comparisons over a five-year trend based on three sorting criteria— 1) region, 2) financial resources, and 3) enrollment size—and includes the latest data available from the U.S. Department of Education's Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). The KIT dataset contains information from 750 baccalaureate and masters-level, four-year, private, not-for-profit colleges and universities in the United States. The KIT is prepared by The Austen Group and provided to CIC member institutions free of charge. In addition to the KIT, CIC and The Austen Group recently completed a pilot project to explore developing a Financial Indicators Tool (FIT) as a possible companion to the KIT.

Funder: The William Randolph Hearst Foundations

Program Status: The Key Indicators Tool (KIT) was initially distributed to all CIC member institutions in June 2004. Annual updates were distributed in August 2005 and September 2006. The next KIT distribution is scheduled for October 2007.

Independent Newsletter Articles:
Fall 2006: CIC Enhances Key Indicators Tool and Related Services
Summer 2006: Data Initiatives Reach Five-Year Mark
Summer 2005: CIC Expands Benchmarking Services
Spring 2005: Key Indicators Tool to be Updated, CIC Announces

For questions about the KIT, contact CIC Director of Research Hal Hartley, at (202) 466-7230.