Education to Workforce Indicator Framework

Using data to promote equitable outcomes and economic security for all
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Overview

Why this framework

Equitably improving students’ education and economic outcomes requires that leaders and educators have access to data that is secure and that they need to answer fundamental questions about what’s working, what’s not, and how we can improve student success.

The Education-to-Workforce Indicator Framework (E-W Framework), developed in partnership with leading experts representing more than 15 national and community organizations, is designed to lay the foundation for this vital cross-sector work by promoting the use of a common set of metrics and principles to assess and address disparities along the pre-K-to-workforce continuum.

Based on a review of existing leading frameworks and research, together with significant input from experts and leaders in the field, the E-W Framework offers holistic guidance for translating data into action by encouraging greater cross-sector collaboration and alignment of education-to-workforce data systems, which is critical to achieving systems change that promotes equitable education and workforce outcomes for students.

Through improved data systems and practices, organizations will be better poised to support students and families who are not served well by current education and workforce systems in achieving economic mobility and security.

E-W Indicator Framework at a glance

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A framework to identify and address inequities

The E-W Framework is comprised of five components that offer holistic guidance for translating data into action: essential questions, indicators, disaggregates, evidence-based practices, and data equity principles. Explore each one in detail to better understand how it fits into the framework.

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  • Guidance for ensuring equity across the data lifecycle, including fair and open data access for a diverse set of stakeholders who can help improve student outcomes.

  • Guidance for ensuring equity across the data lifecycle, including fair and open data access for a diverse set of stakeholders who can help improve student outcomes

  • To drive change, E-W data systems must measure how students are performing and progressing toward key outcomes, as well as how underlying system conditions are supporting or impeding students’ chances for success. To develop this holistic understanding the E-W Framework includes three types of indicators:

    Outcomes and milestones: Key outcomes and milestones along the E-W continuum that are strongly associated with individuals achieving economic mobility and security.

    E-W system conditions: Key institutional or systemic environments, policies, and practices within E-W systems that support positive E-W outcomes.

    Adjacent system conditions: Key experiences, situations, and circumstances outside of E-W systems that support positive E-W outcomes.

  • Key student characteristics that E-W systems should use to disaggregate outcomes and conditions to assess and address inequities and better serve all students.
  • Programs, practices, or policies that have been shown to address disparities affecting underserved groups on key education-to-workforce outcomes and milestones.
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Translating Data into Action

Taken together, the framework components offer comprehensive guidance for translating data into action.
  1. Employ the data equity principles to support ethical data use across the life cycle
  2. Determine the essential questions that matter most in your context
  3. Map the indicators that are most relevant to answering your questions
  4. Ensure data has been sufficiently disaggregated to understand disparities in experiences and outcomes
  5. Identify potential interventions to equitably improve student outcomes
Case Studies

Case studies

Hamilton County's Camp K

Camp K is a free kindergarten readiness program serving children from low-income backgrounds in Hamilton County, TN. Fifty percent of Camp K children scored “on target” on their kindergarten screening, higher than the district average of 21 percent for children from low-income  communities.  Camp K was the result of a collective impact initiative around early learning between Hamilton County  Schools and community partners, with parents of enrolled children attending partner-hosted weekly sessions that offer resources to advocate for their child’s learning and development.

KIPP's College Match Strategies Framework

KIPP counselors work with high school seniors to create a college “wish list.” Students and families are given access to a match tool that provides personalized information about “likely,” “match,” and “reach” colleges based on GPA and ACT/SAT scores, along with data on the graduation rate and price. Counselors offer guidance on how to select schools develop strong applications, and apply for financial aid. Using a centralized data system, counselors track students’ applications, admissions, and enrollment and follow up with students at key points. Staff also analyze the data over time help students attend not just any college but one that is a good match.

Elevating social-emotional learning in CORE Districts

The CORE Districts, eight districts in California serving more than 1 million students, serve as an exemplar for elevating the importance of social-emotional learning (SEL). CORE Districts engaged school administrators, educators, data leads, and other experts to determine what SEL competencies should be included in the accountability index. Competencies were also evaluated against research to determine whether they were meaningful, measurable, and malleable (that is, could be improved by school systems). The districts developed student surveys for the four selected competencies —growth mindset, self-efficacy, self-management, and social awareness — which are currently administered annually to students in grades 5–12.

National Student Clearinghouse Postsecondary Data Partnership

NSC launched the Postsecondary Data Partnership (PDP) to improve institutional decision making by equipping postsecondary institutions with more timely access to effective data. Current federal data can be costly to access, as well as delayed and incomplete. As an alternative, PDP highlights college outcomes for all students and leading PDP metrics include enrollment, credit accumulation, gateway course completion, term-to-term retention, transfer rates and transfer completions, and credential attainment rates. Participating states and institutions also access data dashboards, enabling timely analysis, cross-institution comparison, and state-level comparison which provide leaders with the information they need to make informed decisions to improve student outcomes.

The Credential Engine data initiative

Credential Engine is building a registry of credentials in a linked, open-data format that allows users to compare information about different credentials, including requirements, costs, quality, and value. This information is published in a Credential Finder which includes information on more than 30,000 credentials (spanning degrees, certificates, licenses, certifications, apprenticeships, badges, and more). Indiana is now working to add data on secondary school credentials , median wages, and employment rates to understand how each credential links to other education and training opportunities and labor market outcomes. The data infrastructure generated by the Credential Registry can also help states standardize their collection of individual-level credential attainment data.

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Explore a full copy of the E-W Report and Framework
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