Districts that are innovating and leading within the postsecondary space are often asked what sounds to be simple questions: “How can we replicate your work? How can our district have a robust strategy and program like yours? We want to take a data-driven approach to our college and career work; where should we start?”
We set out to find the answers to these questions and to determine if there is a common set of enabling conditions and steps a district can take to create an environment in which school leaders are empowered with the data, the tools, and knowledge to best support their students. Research from the RAND American School Leader Panel included questions about access to postsecondary outcomes and found that: “We know that high schools meaningfully impact students’ transition to and through postsecondary institutions. And, when equipped with the right information and support, high school leaders can take actions that significantly increase their students’ postsecondary success.” But what does it look like to be equipped with the right information? What does it look like when school leaders are empowered to take action?
As part of this research, district leaders, school leaders, academic scholars and researchers, college access partners, and change management organizations provided insight into their experience working with districts to build a data-driven postsecondary strategy through a series of interviews. (A full list of those who contributed can be found here.) The common set of steps is outlined in this model. The steps ensure a school district gets to the place in which they are setting goals to increase postsecondary enrollment and completion and where they can begin to use a continuous improvement model to assess their strategies to determine where the district needs to expand current initiatives; pivot away from strategies that don’t work; and/or make further investments into staff, resources, or external partners.
Data-Driven K-12 Districts: Harnessing the Power of Postsecondary Data
The K-12 Postsecondary Framework is a tool for district leaders who want to develop and ingrain a student-focused and data-driven postsecondary culture into their districts. The model builds on the work and best practices of districts that have adopted postsecondary success as a measure of their own success.
Encourage
The model will encourage innovative leaders to consider strategies to evaluate their current postsecondary support model, coalescing organizations and community leaders in support of the effort. Ultimately, the model serves as a blueprint to move the work forward in a thoughtful, student-centered, and data-driven way.
Engage
For those who are working to increase the buy-in of their district leadership, there are opportunities to prepare for when the district leader is ready to engage. A proactive college access organization may begin work to build a coalition or support an evaluation of the current resources available. A university may take the lead on understanding the regional context, and a local chamber of commerce may research the workforce needs for the future of its community.
Collaborate
With that said, district leaders should recognize that they are not in this work alone! Throughout the model, there are references to a number of potential partners to collaborate with and lean on for support. While developing the appropriate network of support is a step to building a coalition, it is the ongoing work to foster a sense of community within the coalition, bring in new voices and partners, and create real opportunities to allow for these individuals and groups to support the district in the work that solidifies it.
Evaluate
Each component is powerful independently, but put together, the steps allow a district to create a student-centered, equitable, data-driven postsecondary support model that fits the needs of their District, region, and — most importantly — their students. Additionally, once a district is at a point where they are setting goals and monitoring progress, the work isn’t complete; there should be ongoing evaluation of initiatives, projects, and efforts to determine if they are meeting the needs of students and continuously working to refine practice.
Curiosity from High-Level District Leadership & Access to Postsecondary Outcome Data
At the core of all districts with a strong K-12 strategy are engaged leaders and strategy that is grounded in the data. Without one of these two components, there will be a leader who is creating a strategy based on anecdotes and assumptions about long-term student outcomes, or there will be a series of reports and elaborate dashboards that sit on a desktop but are never used to drive decisions.
Evidence of these enabling conditions being met include:
Access to the most updated postsecondary data for your state/city, which could include:
National Student Clearinghouse (college enrollment data; available to all districts at $425 per high school)
State-specific data from the state’s higher education oversight body
Certification completion (obtained from individual certifying bodies)
Employment data
Military enlistment data
District leader is seeking to develop a clear strategy to increase postsecondary enrollment and completion and has expressed commitment to the work.
District leader has assigned a senior-level team member to take the lead on postsecondary/college and career work.
Strategic plan that has a high-level goal around college and career preparedness.
Note: External forces can provide support to bolster these enabling conditions. With new state-level ESSA requirements, postsecondary success is becoming a higher priority in districts. (See Education Strategy Group’s report, which examines how states are measuring college and career readiness in their state and federal accountability systems.) College access organizations in some cities have been the backbone of the postsecondary work and have provided the support and/or resources to bolster district leaders in their postsecondary vision. (See Achieve Atlanta’s partnership with the Atlanta Public Schools)
Understand the Regional Context
With the enabling conditions in place, the first step is to develop a strong understanding of the current state of postsecondary education for the district. This is important because a rural district that has just one state college within 100 miles has a very different regional context from an urban district where there are 25 colleges within 25 miles, and 80% of jobs require a postsecondary certification or degree. Thus, it is critical to have a strong understanding of the postsecondary landscape, workforce needs, and current outcomes within the state and regional context.
Evidence of a strong regional context:
Working knowledge of the regional economic growth and employment trends, often provided by the workforce development office. (The Georgetown Center for Education and the Workforce shares excellent resources, and there is a strong example of local research from Metro Denver Economic Development Corp.)
Understanding of regional postsecondary institutions, along with admissions requirements and financial aid.
Evaluation of historic postsecondary outcomes, along with an evaluation of equity gaps in outcomes, specifically considering: gender, race/ethnicity, socio-economic status, college enrollment based on "match", etc. (The Houston ISD team shares incredible research using their new data each year.)
Common understanding of existing regional/district priorities and college and career-related measures (AP, Algebra, In Seat Attendance, etc.) and, when possible, an evaluation of how postsecondary outcomes correlate/connect to those college and career readiness (CCR) measures.
Establish A Coalition
With both the postsecondary data in hand and an understanding of the work, it is critical to arm the community of people who will be the advocates and champions of postsecondary success with this information to create a data-driven postsecondary strategy. There have been many districts that did not properly build a coalition and continued to move forward, only to return to this step when they didn’t have the buy-in to fully implement their strategy. While districts often think of the “usual suspects” — those closely tied to schools or postsecondary institutions — they may not have considered the valuable perspective of adjacent sectors (for example: including those focused on the business case for building a equipped local workforce) to enhance their practices. And, in the end, the postsecondary strategies benefit from and are more effective when many voices are contributing to the conversation.
Evidence of a strong coalition:
District has identified a staff member (or team) who is taking the lead on the postsecondary engagement and partnerships.
Principals have working knowledge and access to student-level and school-specific postsecondary data.
Cross-sector coalition members have been gathered and feel a sense of partnership and engagement. (StriveTogether is a national network focused on improving educational outcomes through collective impact, and its partnerships, such as Thrive Chicago, can provide great starting points.)
Coalition members are considering ways they could use the postsecondary data to evaluate their work.
+ A list of those who should be considered includes (Click to expand):
- Principals and school-based leadership: School leaders should always be the first to see data about their school, and there should be an opportunity for them to dig into the data. Their partnership and buy-in is a necessity.
- District staff across multiple departments: Consider all departments and offices that should be included. Is the academic team included? Data and strategy team? Principal supervisors? Curriculum development team?
- School counseling: School counselors are the front line of postsecondary support in most schools. Any new strategy would likely include their engagement on the implementation side.
- Local postsecondary institutions: Invite local postsecondary institutions into the conversation. These institutions may be able to add additional context to enrollment, persistence, and completion trends and will be critical partners as districts think about strategies.
- Cross-sector partners: Consider what offices, departments, or agencies could be included in the conversation. Examples might include: housing, transit, workforce development, business leaders/chamber of commerce, local philanthropic groups, and more.
- College and career support organizations: In many cities, there are local college and career-supporting nonprofits — from the beginning, they should be brought in as collaborators. Once their services are vetted, consider how their support fits into the larger plan for the district.
- Students and families: The voices of students and families will provide an integral perspective. They are the ultimate beneficiary and should be included in the conversation.
Evaluate current resources and processes to support postsecondary success
A landscape analysis of the postsecondary space is a valuable asset for any city or state to understand the resources currently being deployed to support postsecondary enrollment and completion. It is important to start with an understanding of the resources available within the school through school counselors, support staff, teachers, and from college and career support organizations. In some cities, there are 10-100 different organizations providing postsecondary support outside of the direct school staff, but they are often not coordinated with one another and can send conflicting messages to students and families. Networks such as StriveTogether have examples of cities that have convened those groups to collectively evaluate the supports provided to students.
As a district evaluates the needs of students compared to the resources available, the coalition that has been formed will help to ensure that all partners come to the table as collaborators and not competitors. Additionally, in the case that more resources are needed, the coalition will be able to provide support for budget requests, fundraising, and more.
Evidence a district has an understanding of the resources and support available to schools and students:
District has a process map for how the postsecondary application and enrollment process works, along with staff members who are responsible for ensuring its success.
Job descriptions include postsecondary-related milestones and supports.
District has a common set of postsecondary milestones that are used by all schools and college access organizations.
District has a system in which the milestones are tracked: whether Student Information System (Powerschool, Infinite Campus, etc.), C&C platform (Naviance, SchooLinks, Scoir, etc.), or shared Google Docs.
External college and career support organizations have a formal agreement to provide support to students within the district.
+ When conducting a postsecondary landscape analysis, critical components include (Click to expand):
Postsecondary roles, responsibilities, and process mapping for all those within a school building who provide postsecondary support:
School counselors
College and career support roles
CTE teachers and leadership
Registrar/Administrative support staff
- College and career-related teachers (if the district offers a college and career [C&C] class)
Postsecondary support organizations providing contracted support to the district
See: Atlanta Postsecondary Roles & Responsibilities
Out-of-school postsecondary support, specifically considering:
- What services and supports do students receive outside of school time and structures?
How are students identified to participate in these opportunities?
What are the specific supports, and how does the information they collect get back to the district?
- Standardized resources, support, and systems:
- Postsecondary curricula and accompanying resources
- Postsecondary milestones 9-12, tracked in a standardized format and system
- Common student experiences and exploration of college and career opportunities
- Funding structure that accounts for the postsecondary work
- A great resource is Bellwether Education's 2020 report: Equitable Postsecondary Advising Systems Expanding access to help close the degree divide
Build Capacity
In order for principals to play a leadership role in the postsecondary work, they must know what types of supports students need, who is providing that support, and information about student-specific progress. With that information, principals can empower the staff or organizations with the tools, time, and resources required to provide that support. Districts that have been leading in this work have found that when principals and the appropriate staff or organizations are equipped with real-time, actionable, student-level data, they can create feedback loops to understand the challenges being faced and provide additional support.
Many states and districts now have this type of data for FAFSA completion, which has been a driver of the significant increase in FAFSA completion (See NCAN research on national FAFSA trends).
Evidence of a district whose leaders and staff have the capacity to lead their postsecondary work:
School staff have a postsecondary lesson plan/scope and sequence to provide a framework and common set of expectations for students.
School staff have actionable postsecondary student-level information and understand what to do with that information.
Principals have a clear and full understanding about where and when their support is needed.
District has identified gaps in support, staffing, and funding — and has ensured schools have the tools needed to meet the postsecondary lesson plan/scope and sequence.
Set goals and monitor progress
In collaboration with school leadership, school staff, and college access organizations, the district reviews progress toward milestones, collects feedback on challenges and concerns, and is then equipped to set a challenging but attainable district-wide postsecondary goal. The goal is fully informed by the data, by staff and student experiences, and by budget allocations to enhance further supports.
At this point, a district may be able to adopt a continuous improvement model to their postsecondary work, which will create a process for testing and implementing changes to achieve better long-term results. As previously mentioned, StriveTogether has great resources on different models and strategies for continuous improvement.
Evidence of successful goal setting and progress monitoring includes:
Public postsecondary goals, along with regular updates to data about progress toward goals, which are disaggregated by race, gender, and other vulnerable subgroups.
Adopted practice of a continuous improvement model to evaluate efforts and initiatives that are working in service to the postsecondary goals.
School leadership and staff can clearly articulate how their work connects to the postsecondary goals and outcomes.
District budgeting prioritizes staffing and support needed to meet the postsecondary goals.
Note: Goal-setting and progress monitoring looks different within each district context.
Coming Soon!
Download the Guide to Evidence of Success
