Student Pathways Fact Sheet for School Districts

The Student Pathways Data Story is the first dashboard release from the California Cradle-to-Career Data System (c2c.ca.gov). The Data Story provides a broad view of students’ educational journeys from high school graduation to college and the workforce, offering valuable insights for educators, policymakers, researchers, and the public.

Delve into the rich insights provided by the Student Pathways Data Story focusing on students who go to public high schools and public colleges. Discover how students in California have navigated to and through college over time, as well as information about who enrolls in college, what types of degrees or awards students earn, and how long it takes them to graduate. You can also learn more about students who work during college and how much students earn after graduation.

How to Use the Student Pathways Data Story 

The Student Pathways Data Story offers filters that allow users to search for information by their local high school or legislative district, as well as by student characteristics such as race and ethnicity, gender, or foster youth status.

The Data Story also includes helpful guides on how to interpret information by data visualization. To learn more, click “How to Read this Chart” in the bottom right hand of each dashboard. 

For more on how to use the dashboard to complete tasks such as comparing outcomes across groups or institution types see C2C’s Student Pathways tutorials.

Who’s Included in the Student Pathways Data Story

The Student Pathways Data Story shares insights of students in California by public high school district. The visualizations in the Data Story show education and earnings outcomes for students who graduate from California public high schools and attend California public colleges. Future expansions to C2C’s data system will allow us to include outcomes for students who attend private or out-of-state colleges.

Who’s not included in the Student Pathways Data Story

The Student Pathways Data Story does not include information about students who graduate from a private high school. Students who attend a private college in California or college outside of California are also not included.

About the Data

Cradle-to-Career receives certified data from our data providers. 

The data sources that power the Student Pathways Data come from the following Data Providers: CDE (California Department of Education), CDSS (California Department of Social Services), CCC (California Community Colleges), CSU (California State University), UC (University of California), and EDD (Employment Development Department). 

If you have questions about your districts’ data, please follow the data provider’s procedures. However, C2C staff are available to help you understand the issues and any next steps you can  take. Please contact the C2C team at info@c2c.gov.

Why can’t I see data about my district? 
Some districts in the state primarily serve elementary age students. The first version of the Student Pathways Data Story starts at high school graduation. As the C2C data system grows, future versions of the Student Pathways tool will expand, incorporating earlier experiences of the K-12 journey.  

Is the data for your district hidden? 
Some combinations of school districts, student populations, and cohort years will result in small numbers of student data. In these cases, C2C hides (or “suppresses”) the data so that these groups of students are protected from being re-identified. Learn more about C2C’s Data Suppression Protocols. 

C2C knows that some school districts have fewer students than others, which means that some school districts may have their data hidden more often. Future versions of C2C’s tools will explore options for regional disaggregation that strike a balance between allowing users to understand student outcomes in their local communities while also protecting student privacy.

Frequently Asked Questions

The Student Pathways Data Story features Frequently Asked Questions to address questions users may have regarding the recency and breadth of the data, including which data points are included, how they are constructed, how current the information is, how many people are not included in the data set, and which data sets may have data quality concerns, as well as information on how to alert the managing entity about information that appears to be problematic.

For more information about the data points included in the Student Pathways Data Story, including how these data points are defined, please read the FAQ.

Feedback

We value our engagement with Californians to develop and build the Data Story, and are glad to hear from you. The Student Pathways Data Story is the first release of C2C’s public tools, and we look forward to learning and growing with you. If you notice a bug or want you to share your feedback, please visit c2c.ca.gov/student-pathways-feedback/.