Using the National Student Clearinghouse for Outcomes

Data

Mary Ann CoughlinJean Wyld

Joseph R BjerklieRachel Albert

AgendaO National Student Clearinghouse

O What is the Clearinghouse?O What Data is Available Through the Clearinghouse?

O National Discussion -- Measuring Student OutcomesO Traditional Retention / Grad Rates O Non-first Full-time Degree Certificate Seeking Students

O Campus LevelO Common Research Questions

O Admitted/Did not EnrollO Students who leave -- Where did they go

O Other Questions that NSC can shed some light on…O Enrollment in Graduate ProgramsO Student Swirl & Concurrent Enrollment

O Implications for Academic LeadersO National Student Clearinghouse Research Center

Quick FactsO National Student Clearinghouse founded in 1993

O Non-profit organizationO Board of Directors comprised of leaders in postsecondary education,

K-12 education, research and education finance

O National Student Clearinghouse Research Center created in 2010O Non-profit organizationO Board of Directors comprised of research experts from postsecondary

education, K-12 education, and multistate organizationsO National Reports – Hot off the Presses – Signature Report on

“Completing College: A National View of Student Attainment Rates”

O Advisory CommitteesO Data Access Advisory Committee

O Provides guidance on use of data and researchO 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 EnrollmentVerifyO DegreeVerifyO 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 ServicesMore 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 Data IPEDS DataUnit of Analysis Unit of Analysis

Individual Student Records Institutional Level -- Aggregated

Data Available Data AvailableParticipating Institutions All Title IV Institutions

Analyses Supported Analyses SupportedLongitudinal Benchmarking

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 Analysesto 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

2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-120%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%First Time Student Entering Fall 2005

Retained at UMFK

2-year degree from UMFK

4-year degree from UMFK

2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-120%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%First Time Student Entering Fall 2005

Transferred to other 2-year in-stitution

Transferred to other 4-year in-stitution

Retained at UMFK

2-year degree from UMFK

4-year degree from UMFK

2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-120%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%First Time Student Entering Fall 2005

2-year degree from other in-stitution

4-year degree from other in-stitution

Retained at other 2-year institution

Retained at other 4-year institution

Retained at UMFK

2-year degree from UMFK

4-year degree from UMFK

UNIVERSITY OF MAINE, ORONO

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MAINE

UNIVERSITY OF MAINE, PRESQUE ISLE

EASTERN MAINE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

NORTHERN MAINE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

UNIVERSITY OF MAINE, AUGUSTA

HUSSON COLLEGE

SAINT JOSEPH'S COLLEGE OF MAINE

UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND

0.0% 5.0% 10.0% 15.0% 20.0% 25.0%

Fall 2009 Students - Destination of Transfer

UNIVERSITY OF MAINE, AUGUSTA

UNIVERSITY OF MAINE AT MACHIAS

UNIVERSITY OF MAINE, ORONO

UNIVERSITY OF MAINE, PRESQUE ISLE

SAINT JOSEPH'S COLLEGE OF MAINE

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MAINE

SOUTHERN UTAH UNIVERSITY

UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND

WALDEN UNIVERSITY

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

Fall 2009 Students Also Registered at Other Schools

UNIVERSITY OF MAINE, AUGUSTA

UNIVERSITY OF MAINE AT MACHIAS

UNIVERSITY OF MAINE, ORONO

UNIVERSITY OF MAINE, PRESQUE ISLE

SAINT JOSEPH'S COLLEGE OF MAINE

UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MAINE

SOUTHERN UTAH UNIVERSITY

UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND

WALDEN UNIVERSITY

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Fall 2009 Students Also Enrolled at Later Transfer Destination

Benefits of StudentTracker SystemO Institutional-level data are readily

availableO Opens up options for studies on the topic

of access O External data sources, both local and

nationalO 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 educationO Changing demographicsO Value of higher educationO College administrators under greater

pressureO Transitioning from “data-poor” to

“data-rich”O Need to remain competitiveO Data driven decisions 

Implications for Academic Leaders

O Enables enhanced information for decision making

O Provides easy access to informationO Promotes cost-effective analyses O Improves understanding of patterns

that helps to better serve studentsO 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 ReportsO 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 released1. Understanding the Recession's Impact on U.S. College

Enrollment and Persistence Patterns2. Transfer & Mobility: A National View of Pre-Degree Student

Movement in Postsecondary Institutions3. Reverse Transfer: A National View of Student Mobility from

Four-Year to Two-Year Institutions4. Completing College: A National View of Student Attainment

Rates

O Available at:O www.studentclearinghouse.info/signature/

Completing CollegeO 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 http://www.studentclearinghouse.info/snapshot/

Discussion

Questions