Mary Ann Bates headshot
from the field
By Mary Ann Bates
Data-driven insights forge paths toward brighter futures
A

guidance counselor in the Central Valley wonders what academic or career paths her students take after graduation day. A high school student wants to learn more about his earnings potential after completing a certification program versus an associate’s degree.

abstract image of a ball branching off into other balls
In the quest for a brighter future, Californians find themselves at a crossroads when making major life decisions. The guidance counselor wants to ensure she’s driving her students toward a successful path. Students and families want to know if they’re making a choice that can lead to well-paying jobs. They all grapple with questions about available education and training programs that lead to sustainable livelihoods.

Right now, answers to these questions remain elusive. Counselors lack information that shows students’ paths from high school to career in one place. Students and families must navigate the complex web of the college application and financial aid processes.

Later in 2024, the California Cradle-to-Career Data System will help Californians access information that has been siloed in the state’s K-12, higher education and workforce systems.

What is the Cradle-to-Career Data System?
The California Cradle-to-Career Data System was called for via legislation in 2019. The legislation required the establishment of a statewide longitudinal data system that provides trusted information on education and workforce outcomes. The data system brings together existing and verified state-level data from education, social services and workforce entities to shed light on opportunity gaps and help Californians make better-informed decisions about their academic and career goals.

From 2020 to 2021, more than 200 people from 15 state agencies and educational institutions, research and policy organizations, and community groups worked together over the course of 100 meetings to design a blueprint for the California Cradle-to-Career Data System.

The system was established in 2021, and since then, we have made strides in developing the most inclusive data system in the nation. In its first year, the Cradle-to-Career Data System achieved early milestones for finalizing legal agreements with 16 entities across the state. In its second year, it built the data infrastructure to receive information from its partners. In its third year, the system ingested the first batch of data from its partners to begin the intricate work of data linking.

How to use the system
How did early intervention for special education students in one district impact student outcomes in five years or 10 years down the line? What are the circumstances that affected success rates in one area of the state versus another region?

These questions are hard to answer without a state longitudinal data system that connects data across sectors and over time. Imagine a future where California’s school board members and lawmakers can make informed decisions when creating and changing policy. The state’s longitudinal data system can also improve program planning and implementation at the district level.

As a district leader, picture yourself using the California Cradle-to-Career Data System to determine how well your district is preparing its students for college and careers. You use California’s Student Pathways dashboard (currently being created) to visualize what percentage of your students are going to community college or a four-year college. You filter the student population by race and ethnicity to better understand how to support all of your students. Out of those college-going cohorts, what percentage go on to complete their degrees? How much are they making after graduation?

In using the Student Pathways dashboard, you’ve equipped yourself with the information you need to implement changes to your district. You propose a plan that includes building staff capacity to improve graduation rates through credit recovery, academic support/intervention and student outreach. You also focus on bolstering college and career readiness by strengthening supports for advanced placement and dual enrollment students.

The state data system helped you understand how well your district was preparing its students for college and career after graduating high school. It unlocked information and empowered you to take action, driven by data. That’s what the California Cradle-to-Career Data System aims to do — empower our communities to make informed decisions to improve students’ futures.

Student Pathways tool
The Cradle-to-Career Data System is currently building the data tool previously described, which will focus on the student journey from public high school to public colleges and universities and into the workforce.

The Student Pathways data tool will display a set of data visualizations and research questions that will highlight the different paths students take on their education and career journeys. The dashboard will be interactive and easily accessible to Californians, demonstrating outcomes for various student populations.

Users will be able to filter the data by key student characteristics such as gender, race/ethnicity or foster youth status. The data can be disaggregated by school district, so people can see their own community.

What’s next?
Over the course of the next few years, and as the system expands its data, it will release other data dashboards that focus on different topics, such as transfer outcomes, teachers, financial aid and more. Cradle-to-Career will also release additional resources for people to interact with the data through query builders and a data request process for researchers.

Community engagement is central to the system’s mission. After the initial launch of the Student Pathways data dashboard, Cradle-to-Career will host a series of in-person and virtual events to provide equitable access to its data tools. The Cradle-to-Career team invites district leaders to engage with its work and partner with us to host a virtual or in-person training session catered to your region’s unique needs.

To partner with Cradle-to-Career, reach out via email: info@c2c.ca.gov.

Mary Ann Bates is the executive director of the California Cradle-to-Career Data System. She previously served as a senior fellow at the White House Office of Management and Budget and as the executive director of J-PAL North America at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She began her life in Ohio’s Amish community and started her college experience via dual enrollment at Kent State University Tuscarawas, and holds a masters degree inpublic policy from the University of California, Berkeley.
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