How Can Schools Advise Students When They Don’t Know How Their Grads Are Doing?

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Imagine a principal tasked with reducing chronic absenteeism for her senior class. She relies on student data systems to analyze attendance numbers, broken down by demographics. Now imagine that the most recent data is two years old. How can she address current challenges with stats from when the seniors were sophomores?

Fortunately, real-time attendance data is standard in most districts. Yet when it comes to understanding what happens to students after high school — trade school or college enrollment, persistence and completion — many schools are left with years-old, incomplete or nonexistent information. Without timely insights, schools cannot meaningfully evaluate or improve practices, interventions or partnerships.

Nationwide, schools are making concerted efforts to improve college and career outcomes, but they are hamstrung by data limitations. School and district leaders often turn to publicly available state report cards which provide a snapshot of postsecondary enrollment information. At best, these report cards include data from the previous year’s graduating class — though, in many cases, the snapshots are even older. This gap is a serious issue. School and district leaders, as well as the public, need timely access to this data to make informed decisions and improve college and career advising practices. 

The National Student Clearinghouse database, containing enrollment and completion data from over 3,500 colleges nationwide, is shared with the vast majority of states three times a year and includes updates on the most recent graduating class. States could combine these statistics with, for example, employment data from their department of labor to offer school districts a comprehensive view of student outcomes after high school. However, most states fail to make clearinghouse data accessible in their publicly available report cards and, based on OneGoal’s experiences in seven states — Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan,  Texas and Wisconsin — this information is also not shared directly with districts.

Our district partners in those seven states report that none received the most recent clearinghouse data release from Nov. 27, which includes enrollment information for the class of 2024’s first fall semester. In a separate, 50-state analysis of publicly available state reports and postsecondary enrollment data, we found that just 23  states made available college enrollment data from the high school  class of 2022, while nine offered only older data. For researchers interested in general postsecondary enrollment trends, this might suffice. But it’s not enough for school and district leaders who need timely information to guide their work. 

While some districts with adequate resources buy a StudentTracker subscription directly from the clearinghouse, this option is often unknown or unaffordable. It’s also unnecessary — states already purchase this data on behalf of districts. But if it’s not passed on, school and district leaders can’t improve their advising practices for the next graduating class, as they won’t understand what happened to the graduating class that just walked across their stage.

Still, in the last several years, school districts nationwide have established novel solutions to build bridges from high school to college, supported by data sharing at the state level:

• Wisconsin published class of 2023 enrollment outcomes for the 2023-24 school year in a publicly available portal that offers interactive visualizations of trends over time and disaggregates data by student subgroups. School leaders can securely access individual student-level data to inform their practices.
  
• Vermont displayed an “equity index” on its state report card to help school and district leaders analyze the difference in postsecondary performance between students who have been historically underserved in schools and their wealthier peers.
  
• Mississippi shares real-time clearinghouse data directly with districts through its state student information system and is training school and district leaders to use it.
  
• Indiana combines two- and four-year enrollment statistics with employment data through its GPS (Graduates Prepared to Succeed) dashboard to paint a holistic picture of what happens to students after high school graduation, including non-degree pathways.

These efforts are a good start. But as every teacher, counselor or leader knows, real-time, disaggregated data is needed to meaningfully inform advising practices and interventions.

• School leaders should advocate for access to their state’s most recent student data. Almost every state has a direct contract with the clearinghouse. If feasible, they can also consider purchasing a StudentTracker subscription.
  
• State education agencies nationwide need to follow the lead of states like Wisconsin and create better systems for sharing data as soon as they receive it. They should also form collaboratives with other state agencies like the department of labor to obtain data on students who enter the workforce directly after graduation. These agencies also need to join a coalition organized by the Council of Chief State Schools Officers, which is working with the Department of Defense to help standardize the process of sharing military enlistment data with school districts.
  
• Partnerships with organizations like OneGoal, Education Strategy Group and the National College Attainment Network can complement school district efforts by providing robust data analysis expertise.

Developing a shared understanding of postsecondary enrollment patterns can inform schools’ advising practices, course sequences and partnerships with local organizations, colleges and universities, community colleges and employers. More access to data means a more inclusive approach to postsecondary preparation and better access to pathways aligned with students’ interests and workforce needs.

Disclosure: The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies and Heckscher Foundation for Children provide financial support to OneGoal and The 74.

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