P-20 Data Alignment

P-20 Resources

State P-20 Policies

Policy Briefs and Reports on P-20 Alignment

As states and school systems work to align expectations in high school with the demands of postsecondary education, they need better data on student success when they leave the P–12 system and enter college. Most states today do not have data systems that enable this two-way communication. There are often two separate data systems, and they rarely can exchange information.

In fact, in a survey conducted in spring 2006 by the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS), the disconnect between P–12 and postsecondary systems was evident. Although 22 state education agency data managers responded to the 2007 DQC survey that the state has the ability to connect these two data systems, postsecondary data managers reported on the NCHEMS survey that 11 states actually have linked student postsecondary data with high school records to conduct studies.

States must move toward a more integrated system. Postsecondary institutions should provide annual feedback reports to individual high schools on the success of their graduates in their first year of college-credit coursework. (The NCHEMS survey found that only 10 states use their higher education student unit record systems to regularly produce feedback reports to high schools by district on such topics as need for remediation, credits enrolled for and grade performance.) These data would give high schools valuable information for improving the rigor and effectiveness of high school curricula and instruction."

Click to learn more about Creating a Longitudinal Data System: Using Data to Improve Student Achievement

There is a growing number of policy briefs and resources discussing the need and status of aligned P-20 longitudinal data systems. This Web site will continue to serve as a library of these documents.

Please send anything you would like posted in this clearinghouse to elizabeth@dataqualitycampaign.org.