The Management Council: Ohio FAFSA Completion Dashboard

The Management Council works with Ohio’s Information Technology Centers, and State education organizations to deliver the connectivity, support, software, and digital resources Ohio’s PreK-12 school districts need to succeed today and into the future.

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Using data to inspire action.

The dashboard needed to give everyone insight into FAFSA performance data across the state while also acting as a tool that school districts can use to set completion goals, track progress, and compare performance with peer districts.

But to really improve completion rates, it also needed to inspire.

Making an impact on the lives of Ohioans.

The tool needed to be story-driven, interactive, and compelling to truly make an impact. We did this by designing a dashboard that carefully balances data-rich visualizations with real student success stories.

Creating confidence, not confusion.

To build trust with users and keep them engaged, it was important to be transparent when sharing the data. We pulled that through in our design by providing context and showing methodology with our data visualizations.

We also positively reinforced district progress to keep motivation at an all-time high by showing improvements made year-over-year and peer district comparisons in a friendly way.