National Student Clearinghouse and National College Attainment Network Collaborate to Improve College and Career Readiness

The National College Attainment Network (NCAN) and the National Student Clearinghouse have agreed to collaborate to expand the use of postsecondary outcomes data for improving students’ college and career readiness.

The agreement will center on increasing the number and percentage of K-12 districts and high schools using the Clearinghouse’s StudentTracker service, a cost-effective tool, and on increasing the number of states with policies and practices to share postsecondary outcomes data directly with K-12 districts and schools.

“The Clearinghouse and NCAN will work together to increase StudentTracker for High School utilization rates, especially among low-income and high-minority high schools,” said National Student Clearinghouse President and CEO Rick Torres. “Our collaboration will provide schools and states technical assistance and professional services to understand the impacts of their college and career readiness efforts and their students’ postsecondary pathways.”

“NCAN and the Clearinghouse have partnered for years to improve practitioners’ understanding of how their use of data can expand the number of students they serve effectively and improve students’ outcomes,” said NCAN CEO Kim Cook. “This formal partnership reinforces our existing collaborations and paves the way for some exciting new ones.”

The StudentTracker platform has offered states, districts, schools, and community organizations the opportunity to track students’ postsecondary outcomes for years. In 2023, the Clearinghouse will launch the next iteration of the platform, dubbed StudentTracker 3.0. NCAN will assist with the rollout and make sure that NCAN members, and the broader college access and attainment field, know how to use the platform for students’ benefit.

Other activities the partners will engage in include shining a spotlight on best practices for using Clearinghouse data, producing blog posts, webinars, and other engagement opportunities for practitioners, revising StudentTracker training materials, and engaging states on how they use and share postsecondary outcomes data.

In addition, Dr. Doug Shapiro, Executive Research Director of the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, joined the NCAN board in September. Dr. Shapiro joined the Clearinghouse in 2010 and has been advancing student success by conducting research on higher education at the institution, state, and national levels for more than 20 years.

“Our collaboration will provide schools technical assistance and professional services to provide institutions insights to understand the impacts of their college and career readiness efforts and their students’ postsecondary pathways.”

Rick Torres
President and CEO, National Student Clearinghouse

Additional Resources:

• Learn about StudentTracker

• ​Review Case Studies