Future of Higher Ed Depends on Comprehensive Data Collection: Complete College America Joins Forces with National Governors Association, Others to Urge Postsecondary Data Partnership Adoption at Scale

In response to the impact of COVID-19 on higher education, new campaign will help more institutions adopt National Student Clearinghouse’s Postsecondary Data Partnership (PDP).

November 9, 2020. Indianapolis, IN – National non-profit, Complete College America (CCA), launched a campaign to increase the number of colleges and universities joining the Postsecondary Data Partnership (PDP). The partnership supports institutions in adopting a standard way to track common measures of student success. Alongside partners including the National Governors Association, CCA will offer new and expanded resources to institutional and state higher education leaders to encourage greater PDP adoption nationally.

With a goal to secure PDP adoption commitments from up to 750 institutions by 2022, CCA’s announcement coincides with the release of its latest publication – Better Data, Better Decisions – which outlines the connection between timely data on student success and efforts to close equity gaps and support historically under-served student populations.

“Without a strong data framework, it’s impossible for higher ed leaders to be responsive to student needs,” said Yolanda Watson Spiva, president of Complete College America. “The pandemic has already made budgets unbearably tight, and tight budgets demand knowing which reforms require what levels of resourcing to continue to increase on-time graduation rates. So at CCA, we’re working with the National Student Clearinghouse on the PDP to close institutional performance gaps.”

The urgent economic situation and budget pressures facing public higher education makes high quality and comprehensive data analysis more essential to equip states and institutions to prioritize resources and respond to student needs. It also allows the same institutions to have the information they need to advocate at municipal and state levels for public funding. CCA officials also highlighted new challenges to student persistence driven by increasing numbers of students transferring between institutions due to the pandemic and argued that strong postsecondary achievement will be integral to economic recovery post-COVID. Those with some postsecondary education were significantly less likely to lose their job amid the COVID-19 pandemic[1], and even before the pandemic, 56 percent of all jobs that pay at least $35,000 per year required a BA.[2]

The PDP is the keystone for effective data analysis in higher education and, CCA – and its partners – are offering new resources and a new push to encourage state and institution-level adoption nationwide.

“Across the board, Governors understand that equitable talent development is key to a thriving economic future for states and communities,” said Amanda Winters of the National Governors Association. “Through collaborations on data innovations like the Postsecondary Data Partnership, states can work toward greater data-sharing and analysis of postsecondary impacts and outcomes. We’re proud to be a part of this effort and look forward to collaborating with CCA and its partners to not only improve PDP adoption, but also to highlight ways in which data-driven policymaking can maximize student achievement and success.”

As part of this new effort, Complete College America will:

  • Provide strategic counsel – including a dedicated strategy director – to support institutions and higher ed leaders as they navigate the PDP enrollment process;
  • Equip institutions to evaluate and analyze data housed in the PDP to distill key trends, challenges and solutions that improve student persistence, retention and completion rates;
  • Work with state, local and intuitional leaders to help craft policies at scale that are informed by the data in the PDP;
  • Deliver robust reports that benchmark an institution’s performance against peers in the state, region and nation – and share knowledge to inform future strategies and reform efforts.

This campaign will begin by targeting CCA Alliance members, specifically states, territories and institutions with the largest populations of under-represented and historically marginalized students – with the goal of expanding on the number of Alliance member-institutions who have adopted the PDP thus far. CCA officials have set a target of receiving PDP adoption commitments from 750 institutions within 47 member states, regions, and U.S. territories by 2022.

Learn more about our work here.

[1] https://cew.georgetown.edu/cew-reports/jobtracker/
[2] https://cew.georgetown.edu/cew-reports/3pathways/