Data Meets Practice: Pairing C2C with Other Tools to Measure Student Outcomes

8 MIN READ

The first article of this series, Data Meets Practice: What Student Pathways Data Stories Can Do for Education Leaders, introduced readers to the CA Cradle-to-Career (C2C) Data System’s first dashboard -- the Student Pathways Data Story. 

A beneficial tool in its own right, we can use the dashboard in conjunction with other tools to tell a more complete story about your students’ outcomes and the factors that contribute to them. It’s also a valuable tool for policymakers and legislators.

In this third article of the "Data Meets Practice" series, I will introduce FREE, open-access tools that education leaders can use, with or without the C2C dashboard. I thank the members and partners of the Northern California College Promise Coalition (NCCPC) for vetting these resources and sharing them with the ecosystem.

Explore this article to use the Data Story with these tools:

1. EdTrust-West Data Equity Walk Toolkit
2. California Competes Postsecondary to Prosperity Dashboard
3. California Student Aid Commission Race to Submit Dashboard​

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EdTrust-West Data Equity Walk

Introduced by NCCPC Member
DATA SOURCE: EdTrust-West
DATA LEVEL: Toolkit to explore data like C2C data stories
​DATA FRESHNESS: N/A
DATA ACCESS: No account login is needed
To access the public tool, go to: https://west.edtrust.org/data-equity-walk-toolkit/ ​

What is a Data Equity Walk

​A Data Equity Walk is a 45-90 minute activity for any size audience – high school and college students, teachers, district leaders, community members, or others – to engage with education data and discuss equity issues. Participants delve into data that reveals education outcomes and highlights gaps between students groups. The data usually show district or school performance across different measures like student achievement and school climate.

Participants explore the data individually before collectively discussing implications and identifying solutions to address disparities and improve outcomes.

Data Equity Walk participation does not require prior experience with data and is geared toward all audiences.

​Explore the EdTrust-West’s Data Equity Walk Toolkit to get access to:

• Overview video (1:30)
• Ready-made California state-level data slides
• Do-it-yourself data slides (when you have access to data, like C2C Student Pathways Data Story CVS files)
• Testimonials from Data Equity Walk participants in Central, Northern, and Southern CA
• Access to shared folders with translated instructions, examples, and slides in:
  • Arabic
  • Chinese (Simplified)
  • Chinese (Traditional)
  • Korean
  • Punjabi
  • Spanish
  • Tagalog
  • Vietnamese
• FAQs including:
  • Why does data matter?
  • How can a Data Equity Walk be useful to me or my organization?
  • Why is the Data Equity Walk format impactful?

Source: https://west.edtrust.org/data-equity-walk-toolkit/

​TYPES OF DATA TO EXPLORE
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When you download the Ready Made CA Level Slides, you’ll explore data such as:
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• Smarter Balanced English Language Arts/ Literacy Performance, All Grades, by Student Group 
• Cohort Graduation Rates, by Ethnicity and Gender 
• Suspension, by Ethnicity 
• First-Year Retention Rates, California State University and University of California Systems, by Ethnicity 
• Six-Year Postsecondary Completion Rates, by Ethnicity

INSIGHTS GAINED	WHAT ELSE CAN I DO FROM HERE?
Data Equity Walk participants explore data points while reflecting on guiding questions: What are your general reactions to the data? What questions do these data raise for you? What solutions can you think of to address the issues raised by these data? ​	Use the Do It Yourself Data Slides to plan your Data Equity Walk. Use the Planning Questions handout to familiarize your team with the audience’s background, the goals for your Data Equity Walk, and the experience (live, virtual). Explore C2C and commonly used data sources to narrow down data to explore. Use their Data Quest How-To Guide to put your data together using the slides.

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California Competes Postsecondary to Prosperity Dashboard

Introduced by NCCPC Member
DATA SOURCE: California Competes 
DATA LEVEL: State, Region (e.g. Bay Area), and County
​DATA FRESHNESS: Depends on the data source, learn more in the Technical Appendix 
DATA ACCESS: No account login is needed
To access the public tool, go to:
https://p2p.californiacompetes.org/p2p ​

The Postsecondary to Prosperity (P2P) Dashboard, powered by California Competes, braids together multiple data sources to create an interactive, user-friendly portal with visualizations of the state of opportunity across California. For the most updated files and links, visit https://p2p.californiacompetes.org/ and scroll to the MORE RESOURCES section.
​

• To explore the data on the P2P platform, check out the Technical Appendix. 
• To watch a video, check out their article Harnessing the Power of Data to Address California’s Equity Gaps and watch the video (1:01:00).

To learn how to use the dashboard, refer to A Guide to Using the P2P Dashboard.

Source: https://p2p.californiacompetes.org/p2p/regions?region=santa-clara-county

​According to the Technical Appendix, The Postsecondary to Prosperity (P2P) Dashboard divides the state into twelve (12) regions, each of which is made up of one or more counties:
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1. Bay Area consists of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma Counties. (An earlier version of P2P placed Santa Cruz County in the Bay Area. The change was prompted by user feedback and to match other organizations’ definitions of the Bay Area.)
2. Central Sierra consists of Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, Inyo, Mariposa, Mono, and Tuolumne Counties.
3. Central Coast consists of Monterey, San Benito, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Santa Cruz, and Ventura Counties. (An earlier version of P2P placed Santa Cruz County in the Bay Area.)
4. Inland Empire consists of Riverside and San Bernardino Counties.
5. Los Angeles consists of Los Angeles County.
6. North-Far North consists of Del Norte, Humboldt, Lake, Lassen, Mendocino, Modoc, Nevada, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, and Siskiyou Counties.
7. Orange consists of Orange County.
8. Sacramento-Tahoe consists of El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo, and Yuba Counties.
9. San Diego consists of San Diego County.
10. Imperial consists of Imperial County.
11. San Joaquin Valley consists of Fresno, Kern, Kings, Madera, Merced, San Joaquin, Stanislaus, and Tulare Counties.
12. Upper Sacramento Valley consists of Butte, Colusa, Glenn, Tehama, and Trinity Counties.

INSIGHTS GAINED

WHAT ELSE CAN I DO FROM HERE?

For Santa Clara County: 21.1% did not pursue college, 19.2% achieved some college or an Associate’s, and 59.7% received a Bachelor’s degree. The college premium is $60,000. This is how much college graduates earn with a Bachelor’s or graduate degree compared to those without. 86.2% of high school students graduate while only 56.3% complete A-G requirements. 6.96% of adults age 25-40 are currently enrolled in college and 32% of undergraduates are of color. 21.9% of community college students transfer within three (3) years and 68.0% of undergraduates complete within five (5) years. 96.7% of adults age 25-64 are employed. The median annual income for individuals is $42,600 while for households it is $131,000. Only 102 job openings per 1,000 residents pay a living wage. The gender wage gap is $16,000. 74.0% of households earn a living wage and 55.2% own their homes. Associate’s degree completers owe $9,000 in federal student debt compared to $15,526 for Bachelor’s degree earners. Average monthly childcare costs $5,300/$63,600 annually and 31% of families have affordable childcare. 27.8% of people from middle-income families outearn their parents.

School or legislative districts can look at their C2C data and compare it to the county. Use the P2P county data to tell stories about the county then compare to the school or legislative district. Use P2P’s Postsecondary data to set targets for the school or legislative district (e.g., reach county if higher). Use P2P’s Workforce data to demonstrate how college students are part of the workforce. Use P2P’s Prosperity data to highlight the impact of societal and economic factors on student persistence and degree attainment, such as: Affordable housing Affordable childcare Gender wage gap Student loan debt High-speed internet SNAP food benefits Justice-involvement Access to essentials: Health insurance Grocery stores, gas stations, and banks Doctors and dentists For policy discussions, use P2P and C2C data to tell highlight statewide impact: Equitable education policies reduce gaps in wages and degree attainment. Provision and expansion of basic needs services improves college and career outcomes.

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California Student Aid Commission Race to Submit Dashboard

Introduced by NCCPC Partner
DATA SOURCE: California Student Aid Commission
DATA LEVEL: Aggregate by school and school district
​DATA FRESHNESS: June 6, 2025 
DATA ACCESS: No account login is needed
To access the public tool, go to:
https://www.csac.ca.gov/race-submit ​

The Race to Submit is a statewide campaign designed to increase the number of financial aid applications submitted by California high school seniors who complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and the California Dream Act Application (CADAA). Completing these financial aid applications is the first step toward college success and helps students qualify for federal and state aid to help cover the costs of college. The Race to Submit encourages all California high schools and districts to view and track their FAFSA and CADAA numbers. The online tool helps measure the number of submitted and completed applications. This initiative aims to motivate California high schools and districts to increase the number of completed applications by supporting their students with FAFSA and CADAA submissions.

Source: https://webutil.csac.ca.gov/dashboard/

INSIGHTS GAINED

WHAT ELSE CAN I DO FROM HERE?

For ESUHSD and the 2025-2026 application year: 3,987 high school seniors submitted FAFSA or CA Dream Act applications which is 63.9% of all seniors.  96% of high school seniors completed their applications successfully, 61.6% of all seniors. 3,674 high school seniors completed the GPA request to qualify for Cal Grant Awards and 46% were awarded a Cal Grant.

When discussion financial aid and its importance with stakeholders: Use the Data Equity Walk toolkit to discuss how to strengthen college affordability by improving financial aid application submissions. Use Race to Submit data to highlight how many can benefit from financial aid by completing applications. Use the P2P college premium data for the county to remind stakeholders of the value of a college degree.

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To close, I hope that no matter who you are in California's cradle-to-career ecosystem, I hope you will explore the Student Pathways Dashboard AND the tools in this article to gain a better understanding of what happens to your community and stakeholders.
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For the prior articles in the "Data Meets Practice" series, check out:

• What Student Pathways Data Stories Can Do for Education Leaders
  
• ​Drawing Pathways for my Legislative District

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The fourth article will share how to leverage the student-facing, open access tool CaliforniaColleges.edu and it's role in C2C.

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AdvancED Tips

Want to learn more about NCCPC and its members?

Check out the following resources from NCCPC:
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• Learn about the Coalition's Purpose.
• Meet NCCPC's 70+ organization and individual Members.
• Meet NCCPC's postsecondary, employer, and advocacy Partners.
• Explore NCCPC's Policy agenda and activities.
• Share NCCPC's FREE College Financial Literacy Toolkit with students, families, and colleagues.
• Share NCCPC's FREE Scholarship Displacement Know Your Rights Toolkits with students, scholarship providers, and colleges.