DAACS is a suite of technological and social support to optimize student learning. It provides personalized feedback about students’ strengths and weaknesses in terms of key academic (reading, writing, and mathematics) and self-regulated learning skills, linking them to resources to help them be successful students. DAACS is an open source project and institutions are free to use and adapt DAACS for the specific needs of their students. Please contact us for more information.
DAACS was developed under grants #P116F150077 and #R305A210269 from the U.S. Department of Education. However, the contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the U.S. Department of Education, and you should not assume endorsement by the Federal Government.
DAACS Executive Team
Jason Bryer, Ph.D.
Founder & CEO
Dr. Bryer is an Assistant Professor at CUNY's School of Professional Study where he teaches statistics in the Data Science department. In addition to his research on college readiness assessments, Dr. Bryer focuses on visual statistical approaches for teaching and modeling as well as propensity score analysis.
Heidi Andrade, Ed.D.
Founder
Dr. Andrade is a Professor at the University at Albany, School of Education. Her research and teaching focus on the relationships between learning and assessment, with emphases on formative student self-assessment and self-regulated learning.
Angela Lui, Ph.D.
Chief Operating Officer
Victor McKenzie
Chief Technology Officer
DAACS Research Team
Principal Investigators
Jason Bryer, Ph.D., CUNY School of Professional StudiesHeidi Andrade, Ed.D., University at Albany
Timothy Cleary, Ph.D., Rutgers University
Project Manager & Data Analyst
Angela Lui, Ph.D.Research Associate
David Franklin, Ph.D.Evaluators
IES Grant
Susanne Harnett, Ph.D., Metis AssociatesBrian Yates, Ph.D.,
American University
FIPSE Grant
Amy Gurmuth, Ph.D., EvalWorksBarbara Storandt, M.S., Alta Solutions
Project Advisors
Diana Akhmedjanova, Ph.D.Virginia Clinton-Lisell, Ph.D.,
University of North Dakota
Kimberly Colvin, Ph.D.,
University at Albany
Abbe Herzig, Ph.D.,
American Mathematical Society
Nathalia Holtzman, Ph.D., CUNY Queens College
Darragh McNally, Ph.D.,
University at Maryland Global Campus
Robert Yagelski, Ph.D.,
University at Albany
Glenn Braddock, Ph.D.,
Siena College
Francesco Crocco, Ph.D.,
Excelsior College
Lisa Daniels, Ph.D.,
Excelsior College
Anastasia Kitsantas, Ph.D.,
George Mason University
Jason Levin, MBA,
Western Governors University
Ronald Dugan, Ph.D.,
The College of Saint Rose
Phil Winne, Ph.D.,
Simon Fraser University
Other Personnel
University at Albany
Oxana Rosca, Ph.D.Elie Yu, Ph.D.
Kara Hogan, Ph.D.
Fusun Sahin, Ph.D.
Rutgers
Erica Pawlo, Psy.D.Bracha Schnaidman, Psy.D.
Nikki Schreihofer, M.A.
Jackie Slemp
Devora Panish
Amanda Austin
Jamal Waire
Tom Gambino
Excelsior College
Jeanne Mannarino, M.A.Jane Weyers
Bethany de Barros
Patti Croop
Brian McCaffery
Western Governors University
Chelsea Barnett, M.Ed.Jessica Stokes, M.S.
Why DAACS? Why Now?
DAACS is an effective, low-cost approach to boosting students’ college readiness.
Diagnostic assessments of both academic (i.e. reading, writing, and mathematics) and non-academic (i.e. self-regulated learning; metacognition, motivation, and learning strategies) knowledge and skills provides a comprehensive picture of students’ abilities. The feedback from the assessments and the accompanying links to open educational resources (OERs) enable students to boost their skills on their own, while also enabling their institutions to provide targeted interventions based upon individual student needs.
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In rigorous research, students in the DAACS treatment group achieved a higher average GPA (+0.13, p < 0.01) during their first semester compared to students in the control group. This is equivalent to about a half a letter grade.
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Students who complete the assessments and also review the feedback have higher GPAs and retention rates than those who do not.
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The inclusion of DAACS data in predictive models increases their accuracy by at least 2% and as much as 11%.
DAACS has a higher correlation with freshman GPA than the SAT/ACT.
Components of the DAACS intervention
DAACS has four major components: 1) untimed, no-stakes, online diagnostic assessments of students’ readiness for college in terms of self-regulated learning, reading, writing, and mathematics; 2) feedback on the assessments that includes recommended strategies and links to OERs to help students address deficiencies; 3) predictive models that identify students at risk, as well as the specific risk factors; and 4) information that enables instructors and academic advisors to help students build on strengths and address deficiencies identified by the assessments.
The Assessments, Feedback, and OERs
DAACS focuses on four domains related to college readiness:
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Self-regulated learning: This survey collects information about students’ metacognition, learning strategies, and motivation. Instant feedback includes links to the DAACS SRL Lab
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Writing: The writing assessment serves as both a reflection on students’ SRL results and feedback, and an assessment of their writing skills. This assessment has students summarize the results and feedback from their SRL survey, identify SRL skills they will use as a college student, and commit to using them. Their writing is assessed in terms of nine criteria. Essays are machine scored using theLightSide software that provides feedback within one minute, along with links to the Excelsior’s Online Writing Lab
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Reading: The reading assessment provides feedback on students’ comprehension skills, including structure, inference, language, purpose and ideas, with links to the Reading Comprehension Lab.
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Mathematics: The mathematics assessment is adaptive. Students receive feedback on geometry, lines and functions, numbers and calculations, statistics, variables and equations, and word problems, up to and including precalc, with links to OERs such as Math is Fun
How does DAACS work?
DAACS is not meant to place students nor to measure their growth.
Completing all four DAACS assessment typically takes 90-120 minutes, often as part of a first-year experience course or college orientation.
Model of Assessment as Regulation of Learning
Publications
Cleary, T. J., Yu, E. C. Y., & Bryer, J. (in revision). Examining college readiness profiles among students enrolling in an online college: The importance of leveraging academic skills and self-regulated learning data [Manuscript in revision at Journal of Postsecondary Student Success].
Bryer, J., Andrade, H. L., Cleary, T. J., Lui, A. M., Yu, E. C. Y., & Franklin, D. W. (2026). The effects of the Diagnostic Assessment and Achievement of College Success intervention on freshman GPA and retention [Manuscript submitted for publication].
Franklin, D. W., Andrade, H. L., Bryer, J, & Lui, A. M. (2026), Grit, mindset, and academic outcomes among nontraditional online college students. Journal of Research Initiatives, 9(3), 1-33. https://digitalcommons.uncfsu.edu/jri/vol9/iss3/8
Rosca, O. (2026). Choosing internal-consistency coefficients under dimensionality and model violations: An empirical workflow using SRL survey scores [Manuscript submitted for publication].
Yu, E. C. Y., Lui, A. M., Andrade, H., Akhmedjanova, D., Franklin, D., & Bryer, J. (2026). College students’ responses to automated feedback on self-regulated learning. Educational Assessment. https://doi.org/10.1080/10627197.2026.2727839
Bryer, J., Andrade, H. L., Cleary, T. J., Lui, A. M., Franklin, D. W., & Akhmedjanova, D. (2025). The effects and predictive power of the Diagnostic Assessment and Achievement of College Success intervention on academic success indicators. Educational Technology Research and Development, 73, 3067–3104. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-025-10547-1
Cleary, T. J., Yu, E. C. Y., & Bryer, J. (2025). Examining college readiness profiles among students enrolling in an online college: The importance of leveraging academic skills and self-regulated learning data. Studying and Self-Regulated Learning American Educational Research Special Interest Group Newsletter.
Yu, E. C. Y., Rosca, O., Andrade, H. L., Lui, A. M., & Bryer, J. (2025). Predictive validity evidence for a no-stakes, untimed, machine-scored diagnostic writing assessment. Assessing Writing, 66, Article 100978. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.asw.2025.100978
Cleary, T. J., Bryer, J. M., & Andrade, H. L. (2023). Using the Diagnostic Assessment and Achievement of College Success to promote SRL skills among entry-level college students: Challenges and recommendations. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 2023(4), 73–79. https://doi.org/10.1002/tl.20551
Franklin, D. W., Jr., Bryer, J., Lui, A. M., Andrade, H. L., & Akhmedjanova, D. (2022). The effects of nudges on students’ use of the Diagnostic Assessment and Achievement of College Skills. Online Learning, 26(2), 218–240. https://doi.org/10.24059/olj.v26i2.2674
Bryer, J., Akhmedjanova, D., Andrade, H. L., & Lui, A. M. (2021). The use of predictive modeling for assessing college readiness. In H. Jiao & R. Lissitz (Eds.), Enhancing effective instruction and learning using assessment data: Theory and practice (pp. 83 – 108). Emerald Publishing Limited.
Franklin, D. W., Bryer, J., Andrade, H. L., & Lui, A. M. (2021). Commentary: Design tests with a learning purpose. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice. https://doi.org/10.1111/emip.12457
Franklin, D. W., Akhmedjanova, D., Lui, A. M., Andrade, H. L., Cleary, T. J., & Bryer, J. (2019, Fall). SRL Lab announcement. Studying and Self-Regulated Learning American Educational Research Special Interest Group Fall Newsletter, 7. https://ssrlsite.files.wordpress.com/2019/12/newsletter_ssrl-sig_fall-2019.pdf
Lui, A. M., Franklin, D. W., Akhmedjanova, D., Gorgun, G., Bryer, J., Andrade, H. L., & Cleary, T. J. (2018). Validity evidence of the internal structure of the DAACS self-regulated learning survey. Future Review: International Journal of Transition, College, and Career Success, 1(1), 1–18. http://www.futureinstitute.us/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Future-Review-Online-Article-1.1.pdf
Yu, E. C. Y., Lui, A. M., & Akhmedjanova, D. (2021). The Diagnostic Assessment and Achievement of College Skills: A powerful tool for regulation of learning. In A. Reis, J. Barroso, J. B. Lopes, T. Mikropoulos, & C. Fan (Eds.), Technology and innovation in teaching, learning, and education (pp. 193–202). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-73988-1
Yu, E. C. Y., Lui, A. M., & Franklin, D. W. (2021, Summer). Using DAACS to foster students’ development of SRL strategies and practices. Studying and Self-Regulated Learning American Educational Research Special Interest Group Summer Newsletter, 13–14. https://ssrlsig.org/2021/08/23/ssrl-sig-2021-summer-newsletter/
Presentations
Akhmedjanova, D., Lui, A. M., Andrade, H. L., & Bryer, J. (2019, April 4–8). Validity and reliability of the DAACS writing assessment [Paper presentation]. Annual Meeting of the National Council on Measurement in Education, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Andrade, H. L., Bryer, J., & Yagelski, R. (2018). Developing and validating the DAACS writing assessment [Paper presentation]. 16th International Conference of the EARLI Special Interest Group on Writing, Antwerp, Belgium.
Boyer, D., & Harnett, S. (2026, May). Diagnostic Assessment and Achievement of College Skills (DAACS) project: Cost and cost effectiveness study report. Metis Associates.
Bryer, J. (2025, April 9–11). ShinyQDA: R package and Shiny application for the analysis of qualitative data [Presentation]. ShinyConf 2025, Virtual conference.
Bryer, J. (2025, August 2–7). CLAV: R package and Shiny application for cluster analysis validation [Paper presentation]. Joint Statistical Meetings, Nashville, TN, United States.
Bryer, J. (2025, August 8–10). Predictive modeling with missing data [Paper presentation]. useR! 2025 Conference, Durham, NC, United States.
Bryer, J. (2026, April 9–11). Bootstrapping to determine the optimal number of clusters [eBoard presentation]. Annual Meeting of the National Council on Measurement in Education, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
Bryer, J. (2026, March 10). Special k: The science (or art) of finding the optimal k in clustering [Invited talk]. New York Open Statistical Programming Meetup. https://bryer.org/posts/2026-03-10-Special_k.html
Bryer, J., & Andrade, H. L. (2017). Introduction to the Diagnostic Assessment and Achievement of College Skills project [Brown bag presentation]. Department of Educational and Counseling Psychology, University at Albany, Albany, NY, United States.
Bryer, J., Andrade, H. L., & Lui, A. M. (2019). Using diagnostic assessment data to advance student success: Results from the Diagnostic Assessment and Achievement of College Skills project [Invited talk]. Nineteenth Annual MARC Conference, College Park, MD, United States. https://education.umd.edu/research/centers/marc/workshops-and-conferences/2019-marc-conference
Bryer, J., Andrade, H. L., Cleary, T. J., & Lui, A. M. (2018). The Diagnostic Assessment and Achievement of College Skills [Paper presentation]. Distance Teaching and Learning Conference, Madison, WI, United States.
Bryer, J., Andrade, H. L., Cleary, T. J., Lui, A. M., & Franklin, D. W. (2025, April 23–27). The effects of the Diagnostic Assessment and Achievement of College Success intervention [Paper presentation]. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Denver, CO, United States.
Bryer, J., Lui, A. M., Andrade, H. L., Franklin, D. W., & Cleary, T. J. (2019, April 5–9). Efficacy of the Diagnostic Assessment and Achievement of College Skills on multiple success indicators [Roundtable presentation]. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Bryer, J., Lui, A. M., Foisy, A., & Akhmedjanova, D. (2020, June 8–19). Using the Diagnostic Assessment and Achievement of College Skills to support student success [Workshop]. Association for Assessment of Learning in Higher Education 2020 Annual Conference, Virtual conference.
Bryer, J., Lui, A. M., Fraser, A., & Ferris, J. (2025, April 23–26). Automated scoring of student essays for diagnostic assessments [Paper presentation]. Annual Meeting of the National Council on Measurement in Education, Denver, CO, United States.
Bryer, J., Lui, A. M., Franklin, D. W., & Andrade, H. L. (2022, April 21–26). Efficacy of the Diagnostic Assessment and Achievement of College Skills for traditional-age college students [Poster presentation]. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA, United States.
Bryer, J., Lui, A. M., Andrade, H. L., & Wesling, P. M. (2026, April 11). Free will as an obstacle to randomized controlled trials [Paper presentation]. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
Bryer, J., Sahin, F., Andrade, H. L., Lui, A. M., Akhmedjanova, D., & Franklin, D. W. (2017, October 18–20). Development of the large-scale diagnostic assessments of college skills [Paper presentation]. Annual Meeting of the Northeast Educational Research Association, Trumbull, CT, United States.
Cleary, T. J., Bryer, J., & Yu, E. C. Y. (2025, April 23–27). Examining college readiness profiles among students enrolling in an online college: The importance of leveraging academic skills and self-regulated learning data [Paper presentation]. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Denver, CO, United States.
de Melo, B., Lui, A. M., & Bryer, J. (2025, August 2–7). AI-generated text detection in the context of domain- and prompt-specific essays: A case study on self-assessment essays [Paper presentation]. Joint Statistical Meetings, Nashville, TN, United States.
Franklin, D. W., & Akhmedjanova, D. (2016, May 11). Overview of the Diagnostic Assessment and Achievement of College Skills [Poster presentation]. 15th Annual Student Poster Session, Educational Psychology and Methodology, University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY, United States.
Franklin, D. W., Andrade, H. L., Bryer, J., & Lui, A. M. (2023, April 13–16). The relationships between grit, mindset, and the academic success of adult students at online colleges [Roundtable presentation]. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, United States.
Franklin, D. W., Bryer, J., Akhmedjanova, D., Lui, A. M., & Andrade, H. L. (2020, April 17–21). The effects of nudges on students’ use of the Diagnostic Assessment and Achievement of College Skills [Roundtable presentation]. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA, United States. (Conference canceled)
Franklin, D. W., Lui, A. M., Andrade, H. L., Bryer, J., & Cleary, T. J. (2018, April 13–17). Validity evidence of the internal structure of the DAACS Self-Regulated Learning Survey [Poster presentation]. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, New York, NY, United States.
Franklin, D. W., Yu, E. C. Y., Wesling, P. M., Lui, A. M., Bryer, J., & Cleary, T. J. (2025, April 23–27). Examining the predictive power of the Diagnostic Assessment and Achievement of College Skills [Paper presentation]. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Denver, CO, United States.
Garofalo, J., Wesling, P. M., Lui, A. M., Akhmedjanova, D., Andrade, H. L., & Bryer, J. (2025, April 23–27). Students’ responses to diagnostic feedback on their self-regulated learning skills: A qualitative study [Poster presentation]. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Denver, CO, United States.
Garofalo, J., Wesling, P. M., Lui, A. M., Akhmedjanova, D., Andrade, H. L., & Bryer, J. (2025, April 28). Students’ responses to diagnostic feedback on their self-regulated learning skills: A qualitative study [Poster presentation]. Annual Meeting of SUNY Undergraduate Research Conference.
Garofalo, J., Wesling, P. M., Lui, A. M., Akhmedjanova, D., Andrade, H. L., & Bryer, J. (2025, April). Students’ responses to diagnostic feedback on their self-regulated learning skills: A qualitative study [Poster presentation]. Annual Showcase at the University at Albany, State University of New York, Albany, NY, United States.
Harnett, S., Bryer, J., & Andrade, H. L. (2026). Data availability as a design driver: Lessons from a multi-site RCT [Conference proposal]. American Evaluation Association Annual Conference.
Lui, A. M., Franklin, D. W., Yu, E. C. Y., Andrade, H. L., Bryer, J., Akhmedjanova, D., & Cleary, T. J. (2021). Self-regulated learning and academic achievement in online learning by adult learners [Roundtable presentation]. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Virtual conference.
Lui, A. M., Yu, E. C. Y., & Andrade, H. L. (2024, September 19–20). Support for college readiness: Effects of the Diagnostic Assessment and Achievement of College Skills system on GPA [Paper presentation]. National Council on Measurement in Education Classroom Assessment Conference, Chicago, IL, United States.
Pawlo, E., Cleary, T. J., Slemp, J., Waire, J., Bryer, J., & Gambino, T. (2019). Academic success in online colleges: The role of self-regulated learning profiles [Paper presentation]. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Pawlo, E., Slemp, J., Cleary, T. J., Waire, J., Gambino, T., & Austin, A. (2019, February). Self-regulation in an online classroom: Linking student profiles to success [Paper presentation]. Annual Meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, Atlanta, GA, United States.
Rosca, O. (2024, July 11–12). Assessing college readiness: Validity evidence for students’ scores from DAACS SRL Survey [Poster presentation]. 2024 DAACS Advisory Meeting, Albany, NY, United States.
Rosca, O. (2024, April 30). Assessing college readiness: Fitting IRT Models to Students’ Scores from Diagnostic Assessments [Poster presentation]. UAlbany Showcase Day 2024, Albany, NY, United States. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.21181.99041
Rosca, O., Colvin, K. F., Andrade, H. L., & Bryer, J. (2023, April 13–15). Reliability coefficients for a single-administration linear assessment [eBoard presentation]. NCME 2023 Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, United States. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.22756.45447
Rosca, O., Lui, A. M., Colvin, K. F., Andrade, H. L., & Bryer, J. (2025, April 23–26). Assessing college readiness: Internal structure validity evidence for multistage diagnostic reading assessment [Paper presentation]. NCME 2025 Annual Meeting, Denver, CO, United States.
Slemp, J., Panish, D., Pawlo, E., & Cleary, T. J. (2019, February). Improving interventions: Development of the implementer perception of intervention survey [Poster presentation]. Annual Meeting of the National Association of School Psychologists, Atlanta, GA, United States.
Slemp, J., Pawlo, E., Cleary, T. J., Sharoupim, N., & Gambino, T. (2019, April). Evaluating implementer perceptions of an assessment-to-feedback system through thematic analysis [Paper presentation]. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Wesling, P. M., Lui, A. M., Garofalo, J., Akhmedjanova, D., Andrade, H. L., & Bryer, J. (2026, April 8–12). College students’ responses to feedback from a diagnostic assessment of self-regulated learning [Paper presentation]. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
Wesling, P. M., Lui, A. M., Garofalo, J., Akhmedjanova, D., & Andrade, H. L. (2026, April 9–11). Students’ responses to feedback on a diagnostic assessment of self-regulated learning: A theory of action [eBoard presentation]. Annual Meeting of the National Council on Measurement in Education, Los Angeles, CA, United States.
Yu, E. C. Y., Andrade, H. L., Franklin, D. W., Lui, A. M., & Bryer, J. (2025, April 23–27). Fortunately, talk is cheap: Commitment language is associated with academic success in college [Roundtable session]. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Denver, CO, United States.
Yu, E. C. Y., Andrade, H. L., Lui, A. M., Franklin, D. W., Akhmedjanova, D., Bryer, J., & Garofalo, J. (2024, April 11–14). Strength of commitment to self-regulated learning and first-year college outcomes [Work-in-progress roundtable session]. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Philadelphia, PA, United States.
Yu, E. C. Y., Lui, A. M., Andrade, H. L., Franklin, D. W., Akhmedjanova, D., & Bryer, J. (2023, April 13–16). College students’ responses to automated feedback on self-regulated learning [Paper presentation]. American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Chicago, IL, United States.
Yu, E. C. Y., Rosca, O., & Andrade, H. L. (2022, August 4–6). Predictive validity evidence for machine-scored diagnostic writing assessment [Poster presentation]. APA 2022 Convention, Minneapolis, MN, United States. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.33240.98566/2