Key Performance Indicators For

Schools & Education Management

Selecting KPIs to track for schools and higher education can
be a tough process—so we’ve come up with 28 of them for
you.

Ted Jackson
Ted, Founder and Managing Partner at ClearPoint, has over 25 years of experience working with organizations to
improve their performance management and strategy execution processes.

A key performance indicator (KPI) is a type of performance

measurement that helps you understand how your organization,
department, or institution is performing and allows you to
understand if you’re headed in the right direction with your
strategy.
But if you’re looking for key performance indicators for schools or higher education,
you know that there are hundreds to select from. That’s why we’ve narrowed down a
list of 28 critical education KPIs—divided between nine categories specific to
education management—that you can begin tracking today.
28 Key Performance Indicators In Education
Academia

1. Graduation Rate: This KPI determines the number of students who completed their
schooling or received a particular certificate or degree within the normal time frame.
(You’ll want to ensure you have a policy for tracking transfers in and out of your
grades.)

2. Awards: This metric looks at the number of awards granted to students and/or faculty
and staff during each academic calendar year.

3. Research Grants: This metric examines the percentage of the grants students and/or
faculty received versus those that were applied for. You may also want to track total
grant dollars.

4. Student Attendance Rate: Determining the number of students that have achieved,
say, 90% attendance during a given semester or academic year is vital to track. (You
can set your target and measure accordingly.)

Finances

5. Percentage Of Students On Aid: This metric calculates the number of students

receiving some kind of financial assistance, like scholarship money or government aid.
In a secondary school you may also track those on meal assistance.

6. Grant Money: It’s important to track the dollars fundraised for an institution through
endowments, donations, or partnerships.

7. Tuition Costs: This metric examines the cost to each student in a given scholastic
timeline (i.e. a quarter or semester) to attend the institution.

Use a Financial Dashboard to display and analyze key

financial goals and metrics
a financial dashboard

Ratios

8. Student To Faculty Ratio: Schools may want to examine this metric to ensure
students are receiving the proper attention. In most cases, the lower your student to
faculty ratio is, the better.

9. Cost Per Student: This metric calculates every cost a school incurs to educate each
student. This might include campus and building maintenance, teacher and staff
salaries, some books costs, some food costs, and much more.
 10. Faculty To Administration Ratio: If this ratio is too low—say, you have only two
administrators for 50 faculty members—there may be issues with scheduling,
organization, and finances.

11. Number Of Students Enrolled Per Number Of Applications: This metric is

particularly important for private schools who wish to remain academically
competitive. Additionally, it can help you keep tabs on statistics with the student body
so you are able to offer the right amount of student resources. This can also be called
the acceptance rate.

Curriculum

11. Percentage Students In Focus Areas: This metric allows you to examine the
percentage of students taking, say, a foreign language, STEM courses, or AP courses.
(Which focus areas you hone in on will depend entirely on your strategy.)

12. Proficiency Rates For Each Subject: This allows you to see not just how your
curriculum breaks down, but how each area of a curriculum is performing.

Faculty

13. Percentage Of Faculty With Advanced Certifications Or Degrees: In higher

education, this metric may be important for recognition, grant money, or simply the
reputation of the school.

14. Number Of Training Sessions Per Year: Ensuring faculty members are in touch with
the latest teaching methods or technologies helps ensure that students receive the
best educational experience.

15. Faculty & Staff Attendance Rates: If your institution has a low attendance rate from
faculty and staff members, this can have a negative effect on the organization as a
whole. Timelines can be thrown off, and time and money is spent finding substitutes
or temps.

16. Faculty & Staff Retention Rate: Not only does a high retention rate help students
and professors build better rapport, but education management also doesn’t have to
retrain new employees as regularly.

Looking to create a strategic reporting policy? Use our proven

guide as your road map!

Facilities

17. Average Age Of Buildings: Renovating older buildings effectively lowers the
building’s age. Thus tracking the age of your buildings on campus helps ensure that
adequate maintenance is being provided and that they are fully functional.
 18. Percentage Of Buildings Passing Inspection: Of course, this metric should ideally
come out at 100%—but if it’s lower, you’ll know to pay immediate attention to the
buildings that did not pass. You could also have an internal inspection for something
like the availability of technology. For example, what percent of your buildings have
adequate WiFi?

19. Classroom Utilization Rate: This metric examines whether you’re making the best
use of your campus space and keeping classes as full as possible.

Technology

20. Percentage Of Classes Using Technology: You’ll want a high percentage of classes
in your school using the technologies or online platforms that have been provided to
them.

21. Percentage Of Administrators Using Technology: Both teachers and administrators

should be using the online- or classroom-based technologies they’ve been provided
for lessons, projects, or activities—and this metric should make you aware of whether
that is happening or not.

22. Social Media Engagement: The analytics you’ll need for this metric are often
available through the social media platforms your school chooses to employ (like
Facebook, for example), and can show how well your social media department is
performing.

23. Calls To Tech Department Per Month: This may act as a productivity metric for your
IT department, showing them how many calls they’re fielded and how many (if any)
went unanswered.

Transportation

24. Percentage Of Students That Take Public Transit: Whether at a junior high or a
large university, schools will want to track whether students are using the
transportation options that have been provided to them by the institution,
municipality, or state.

25. Percentage Of Students That Commute: Month-to-month or year-to-year, the

admissions office will likely want to track what percentage of students commute—as
this is directly tied to how much parking and on-campus housing may be needed.

26. Cost Of Transit: Tracking your cost per student of busses will allow you to analyze if
you have an appropriate bus route or if you need to get creative about getting your
students to class. You have the same challenge at a university, when looking at the
availability of transit options. Having a school transit option might be a good way to
encourage attendance.
Housing

27. Percentage Of Students Living On Campus: Tracking this rate allows administrators
to ensure that there is enough room (or too much room) for students on campus and
that this stays in line with the long-term strategy of the institution.

28. Percentage Of Students That Say On-Campus Housing Is Above Average: Survey

results are always important to keep in consideration. You’ll want to ensure that
students feel their tuition and fees are being utilized appropriately and that
administrators are responding to their feedback accordingly. The quality of housing
options certainly affects where students choose to live during college.

What key performance indicators for schools are we missing?

Tweet us @clearpointstrat and let us know!