Randall Lofton, 20 year old: ”I screen-shot it and I saved it. And he was basically saying, like, ‘Don’t quit, you’re very hardworking in this class. The course is almost over; I appreciate your participation. I appreciate how you’re very diligent and very intrigued by the work.’ That touched me that somebody was paying attention. And I’m not just in somebody’s class just as a name. That was cool.”

The email from English Professor Neal Phillips showed genuine care from an engaged professor. It was also, perhaps unbeknownst to Lofton, part of the community college’s strategy to marry data science with interventions to improve student performance.

Call it higher ed’s version of Moneyball. Only the goal isn’t a World Series ring; it’s to help more students stick with college, improve academically and graduate.

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