Is Connecting K12 and Postsecondary Student Data Enough?
Posted on Wed, Apr 25, 2012 @ 08:17 AM
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation recently donated $23 million to support a 5-year project called the Strategic Data Project.
The initiative is being coordinated by Harvard University and intends to release “Strategic Performance Indicators” designed to help administrators from K12 schools track graduates’ postsecondary success.
The initiative focuses on tracking college completion as opposed to just college acceptance rates. This change in success metrics is a promising benchmark in a much larger trend to fully understand the impact of college readiness programs. This effort reinforces the connection between K12 and postsecondary institutions, and the ability to improve one based on a learners experience at the other:
“Prior to No Child Left Behind, states weren't even collecting K12 education data at the student level," says Anne Hyslop, an analyst at nonpartisan think tank Education Sector. "Then higher education systems developed their own systems, and the two never talked to each other.”
ConnectEDU understands the power of not just connecting student data collected from K12 and postsecondary institutions, but also from employers as well. By analyzing information from the school-to-college-to-career continuum, we can begin to understand and predict the gaps in our capital development pipeline and start preparing students for the careers that will exist upon their graduation.
Get in touch with a ConnectEDU team member today to learn more.
