District leaders know that students’ success isn’t defined by graduation day; it’s defined by what comes after for them and whether they’re well-prepared to take their next step.
Did my students enroll in college? Stay enrolled? Finish a credential? Most district leaders (and the principals and school counselors working with them) want these answers, but too few have access to the data.
Most states already contract with the National Student Clearinghouse, a nonprofit that collects enrollment, persistence and completion data from over 97% of U.S. postsecondary institutions. These data are indispensable for understanding whether students enroll in college or other postsecondary programs, stay enrolled and complete a degree or credential.
But far too often, that data doesn’t make it into the hands of K12 leaders and staff. Nearly 40% of school leaders report not having postsecondary enrollment data in an electronic management system, and 30% report having no plans to use this data.
That means that too many professionals don’t have access to information about what happens to their students after they walk across the graduation stage.
By the National College Attainment Network’s assessment, only 22 states currently share postsecondary outcomes data in a meaningful way with local education agencies. Even fewer provide student-level access.
The result: staff end up flying blind while trying to support students’ postsecondary success. After all, how can advisors meaningfully inform present and future classes’ pathways without a full understanding of previous classes’ outcomes?
Adjusting your advising programs
Why the lack of access? Sometimes, states only use postsecondary outcomes data for accountability or federal reporting. Sometimes it’s shared only in aggregate.
Sometimes it’s shared on a database you have to seek out and visit. Sometimes data access requires a request process no one tells you about. Sometimes it’s just not shared at all.
But here’s what we know: district leaders need postsecondary data to improve outcomes for future classes. You can’t improve what you don’t measure. When you know how your alumni fare after graduation, you can:
- Adjust college advising programs based on enrollment and persistence data that can help students matriculate to institutions that will give them a better chance at completion.
- Compare outcomes for different student groups and address gaps in access to education and training after high school.
- Partner more effectively with local higher education institutions, college access programs, or local employers to provide more meaningful support and opportunities for students.
Ask these postsecondary outcome questions
If you don’t currently (and regularly) get access to postsecondary outcomes data, ask your state agency (or your peers):
- Does our state have a contract with the National Student Clearinghouse or other sources of postsecondary outcomes data?
- Is our district getting student-level or aggregate data? Can I see it for each of the high schools in my district?
- Is the data part of a secure portal my school can access or a public-facing dashboard
- Are there reports my staff can access? How do they go about doing so? Are those reports recent, relevant, and reliable relative to the questions I want answered?
If you’re in North Carolina, Michigan or Minnesota, the answer might be yes. These states, in particular, are helping school leaders understand how students fare after graduation and how to use that knowledge to improve. For example:
- North Carolina offers custom reports to districts and technical assistance on how to interpret them.
- Michigan’s MI School Data portal combines Clearinghouse data with in-state information to create accessible reports.
- Minnesota supports regional coaching networks to build district capacity to interpret and act on the data.
These states don’t have a monopoly on doing this right, but they are examples their peers can look to on what to build toward.
Better support for the next class
- Team up with your counseling team to review Clearinghouse or other postsecondary outcomes data, if available.
- Advocate at the county or state level for better access, highlighting the critical postsecondary outcomes questions you can’t easily or completely answer. It will almost certainly surprise or shock policymakers to hear that students’ postsecondary outcomes are a blind spot in many systems.
- Use any available alumni outcomes data as a conversation starter with students and staff.
The bottom line is that district leaders deserve to know what happens to your graduates, and you deserve to have the data that helps you support the next class even better. The tools to do so are out there; let’s get them into your hands.
