Using the National Student Clearinghouse for Outcomes Data Mary Ann Coughlin Jean Wyld Joseph R Bjerklie Rachel Albert

Agenda O National Student Clearinghouse O What is the Clearinghouse? O What Data is Available Through the Clearinghouse? O National Discussion -- Measuring Student Outcomes O Traditional Retention / Grad Rates O Non-first Full-time Degree Certificate Seeking Students O Campus Level O Common Research Questions O Admitted/Did not Enroll O Students who leave -- Where did they go O Other Questions that NSC can shed some light on… O Enrollment in Graduate Programs O Student Swirl & Concurrent Enrollment O Implications for Academic Leaders O National Student Clearinghouse Research Center

Quick Facts O National Student Clearinghouse founded in 1993 O Non-profit organization O Board of Directors comprised of leaders in postsecondary education, K-12 education, research and education finance O National Student Clearinghouse Research Center created in 2010 O Non-profit organization O Board of Directors comprised of research experts from postsecondary education, K-12 education, and multistate organizations O National Reports – Hot off the Presses – Signature Report on “Completing College: A National View of Student Attainment Rates” O Advisory Committees O Data Access Advisory Committee O Provides guidance on use of data and research O Clearinghouse Advisory Committee O Provides guidance on institutional burdens and how NSC can help

What Services? O NSC offers a wide range of services to both K-12 and postsecondary institutions. O Services range from enrollment verification to degree verification to transcript ordering, to student tracking to gainful employment reporting. O Three main services: O EnrollmentVerify O DegreeVerify O Student Tracker O Services are most well known to Registrars and Financial Aid Officers. O Also many Institutional Researchers familiar with Student Tracker.

Scope of Services More than 3,300 colleges and universities use NSC services; enrolling over 96% of all students in public and private U.S. institutions DegreeVerify, represents over 80% of U.S. four-year degrees. Over two million degrees are confirmed through DegreeVerify each year. More than 2,600 institutions use enrollment verification service. More than 1.7 million enrollment verifications are performed through EnrollmentVerify each year. Transcripts are requested for more than one million recipients each year via Transcript Ordering service. Student Self-Service program is used by more than 2.5 million students each year.

Clearinghouse -- IPEDS O It is important to note the differences between NSC data and IPEDS data. NSC DataIPEDS Data Unit of Analysis Individual Student RecordsInstitutional Level -- Aggregated Data Available Participating InstitutionsAll Title IV Institutions Analyses Supported LongitudinalBenchmarking

Measuring Student Success Outcomes: A National Discussion Traditional Metrics IPEDS Data Graduation Rates Retention Rates Cohort Based First-time Full- time (FTFT) Degree & Certificate Seeking (D&SC) Main Factors Defining student success outcomes Retention Persistence Graduation For which students? FTFT D&SC? Non-First Time All Students? Recent Initiatives Access to Success Complete College America Transparency by Design Student Learning Progress Model – University of Alaska Anchorage Voluntary Framework of Accountability Voluntary System of Accountability

Recent Initiatives

Accessing NSC Data – Student Tracker

Campus Analyses to Support Program Review Admitted Students Did not Enroll – Where are they now? Students who graduate – Do they enroll in Graduate School?

Enrollment in Graduate Programs

Matriculated students who left your institution – Where are they now Did they transfer? Did they graduate

Benefits of StudentTracker System O Institutional-level data are readily available O Opens up options for studies on the topic of access O External data sources, both local and national O Inform the discussion of postsecondary access for students O Inform decisions regarding college access and student success

Importance of NSC StudentTracker Data Today O Fast-paced change in education O Changing demographics O Value of higher education O College administrators under greater pressure O Transitioning from “data-poor” to “data- rich” O Need to remain competitive O Data driven decisions

Implications for Academic Leaders O Enables enhanced information for decision making O Provides easy access to information O Promotes cost-effective analyses O Improves understanding of patterns that helps to better serve students O Assists in answering key questions

Potential Value-Added for Academic Leaders O Provides a more complete picture of student success outcomes O Only source of data that can be used to track students longitudinally across state lines and across sectors O Data can also be analyzed at the program level O Raise student achievement and success

Recommended Actions to Effectively Use Data O Establish a clear vision for institutional data use O Provide support that promotes a data- driven culture within your institution O Make data an ongoing part of instructional improvement - ask the questions O Use data to promote student achievement and success O Focus on efforts that support students’ paths to graduation

National Student Clearinghouse Research Center O Purpose: O The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center collaborates with higher education institutions, states, school districts, individual high schools, educational organizations and the U.S. Department of Education as part of a national effort to better inform education leaders and policymakers. O Goal: O Through accurate longitudinal data outcomes reporting, the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center enables better educational policy decisions leading to improved student outcomes. O Products: O Signature Reports O Snapshots

O Signature Reports provide comparison data that reveal patterns and valuable insight on students' postsecondary access, persistence, and other success outcomes. O Four Reports have been released 1. Understanding the Recession's Impact on U.S. College Enrollment and Persistence Patterns 2. Transfer & Mobility: A National View of Pre-Degree Student Movement in Postsecondary Institutions 3. Reverse Transfer: A National View of Student Mobility from Four-Year to Two-Year Institutions 4. Completing College: A National View of Student Attainment Rates O Available at: O

Completing College O Report explores the six-year outcomes of a cohort of first-time-in- college degree-seeking students who started in fall 2006 (N=1,878,484). O It enhances the traditional graduation rate by reporting in four key ways: 1. Student completion anywhere, beyond institutional boundaries, across state lines, and over time; 2. Persistence anywhere, not just at the starting institution, for those who have not yet completed but are still pursuing a degree; 3. College outcomes broken out by student age at first entry and enrollment intensity, thus addressing questions about the role of students’ varied postsecondary pathways in progress toward national completion goals; 4. Enrollment intensity based on the enrollment status in all terms of enrollment, and not just the first term.

Completing College: Interesting Finding Within six years, 12 percent of first-time students completed a degree or certificate at an institution other than the one where they started, raising the overall completion rate from 42 to 54 percent.

Transfer & Mobility: Interesting Findings O One third of all students transferred at least once within five years. O Part- and full-time students had similar transfer rates over five years. O Over one quarter of all transfers crossed state lines.

. O Snapshot Reports exam national enrollment trends O The report data come from student-level college enrollment data and present unique snapshots in time that reveal college enrollment patterns and student pathways to student outcomes O Reports are organized into five categories: persistence, mobility, concurrent enrollment, adult learners, degree attainment. O Available at: O

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