Following the successful launch of the Student Pathways Data Story in April 2025, data enthusiasts expressed interest in accessing the data powering the tool. Staying true to our commitment to centering users, we developed this first step towards our Query Builder project to provide an accessible format for researchers and analysts to dive into the data. 

The purpose of this release is to make the underlying data more transparent and flexible. By offering the flat files, we’re enabling users to go beyond the preset visualizations, compare groups, link to other datasets, and uncover patterns that matter to their work. It’s about giving the research and education community the tools they need to generate new insights and inform decision-making.

This resource is designed with intermediate to advanced data users in mind. This group includes people who regularly use data in their work, such as researchers, policy analysts, advocates, and practitioners. We hope that this resource will allow data-curious users to explore the Student Pathways Data Story in their own environments. 

To open a file, click on either the ‘XLS’ or ‘CSV’ button to initiate downloading the file on your device. Locate the file in your downloads and open via Excel or your preferred data analysis program.

The documentation is meant to help users understand the fields included in the cells of the downloadable data files. The documentation includes what data is available, how it is defined, and where it comes from. The documentation also includes the local educational agency (LEA) code to easily connect to other existing datasets.

This resource includes two new features:

• The combination of school district, legislative district, and demographic data into a single file (the Student Pathways Dashboard only provides filtered versions of these files)
• The inclusion of local educational agency (LEA) code (to connect to other existing datasets)

The Student Pathways Data Story provides a guided approach to understanding educational and economic outcomes for California students. Structured visualizations and helpful context create a narrative for users to follow. We want the Data Story to be accessible for all users, regardless of their experience with data.

This resource is a companion to the Data Story because it contains the same underlying data, organized in the same research questions, but it allows users to interact with the data in more flexible ways. We put the data into our users’ hands, so that curious users can find the answers to their own questions. We combine school district, legislative district, and demographic data into one file, whereas the Data Story only allows for filtered versions of these files. We also include K-12 local educational agency (LEA) code to enable users to connect to other existing datasets.

Yes, C2C prioritizes protecting individuals and small groups of students across all our data tools. We’ve been intentional in balancing these protections with our commitment to transparency. By applying consistent privacy safeguards while still making broad trends accessible, we aim to give users meaningful insight into student pathways without compromising individual confidentiality.

If you’re new to data, you’re in the right place. A good first step is to explore the Student Pathways Data Story, which offers interactive visualizations without requiring advanced skills. Once you’re comfortable there, you can try downloading one of the flat files to see how the data looks in Excel or another program you’re familiar with. 

We also provide documentation to guide you through what each field means. And remember, you don’t need to learn it all at once. Start with one question you’re curious about and let that guide your exploration.

To protect student privacy, data may be suppressed (or appear blank) on the downloadable files based on the number of individuals at certain aggregation levels and within selected student populations that are 10 or fewer. For more information about the suppression policies applied to these data, please refer to the Cradle-to-Career System Data Suppression Protocol for Summary Data.

A comma-separated values (CSV) file is a plain text file format used to store data, where each line represents a data record and each field within a record is separated by a comma.