Why this matters
Access to transparent, verified and centralized information about education and workforce outcomes is needed to understand whether efforts to improve student success are working as intended. Students and families often make decisions about education and career pathways with limited and disconnected information about outcomes. The Student Pathways dashboard addresses this information gap.
“In my quest to find basic information on college-going rates, outcomes or employment prospects, it felt like trying to find a needle in a haystack because of all the different resources. With this tool, I feel that students like me will have the chance to have everything available at their fingers,” said Mike Nguyen, student, University of California Berkeley and Cradle-to-Career Advisory Board Member.
The Student Pathways dashboard connects the dots between K-12 education to the state’s public college and earnings information to help users like guidance counselors identify the best education options based on the learners’ needs and goals. The resource combines a series of data visualizations and guiding questions to help users understand how Californians are navigating to and through college.
Through Student Pathways, Californians can analyze:
How California students navigate to and through college
Who enrolls in college
What types of degrees students earn
How long it takes students to graduate
How much working students earn while enrolled in college
How much individuals earn after they graduate
“In today’s information-driven world, it’s never been more crucial to provide our students, school district leaders and the community with timely, accurate and reliable information to help make informed decisions to improve futures,” said Government Operations Agency Secretary Nick Maduros. “The Cradle-to-Career initiative gives the decision-making power to ALL Californians.”
“The Student Pathways dashboard combines data-driven insights and thoughtful story telling. Our goal for this tool is to empower individuals to make informed decisions about their lives,” said Mary Ann Bates, executive director at the Office of Cradle-to-Career Data. “We know that stories have the ability to connect, inspire and help us better understand each other. And that’s what Student Pathways does: connect, inspire and understand.”
A Useful Tool Built by, and for Californians
Cradle-to-Career heard directly from California’s educators, counselors, students, families, and policymakers. From its creation in 2021, Cradle-to-Career has utilized user-centered design to develop the data system. This approach allows Californians to share their feedback at each phase of the system build. Input from Californians shape Cradle-to-Career’s design and decision making. For example, the dashboard lets users explore information based on school or legislative district. Users can also filter by characteristics like race/ethnicity, gender, or foster youth status. These key features were a direct result of Californians voicing what was important for them.
Student Pathways is one of eight planned dashboards from Cradle-to-Career. Future iterations of Student Pathways will expand on educational journeys and employment outcomes in both directions, including earlier stages of the K-12 experience and better understanding of workforce training programs. In addition to the dashboards, Cradle-to-Career is developing a query builder and a research request process to provide different levels of user-experience to the dataset.
Learn more about Student Pathways HERE.
Commitment to security and privacy
The California Cradle-to-Career Data System is the state’s official source of actionable data and research on education, economic, and health outcomes. Cradle-to-Career is committed to protecting and securing confidential records of Californians and follows stringent state, federal and industry standards to ensure data system security and privacy. Learn more about Cradle-to-Career’s security and privacy.
About the Cradle-to-Career Data System
Before the Cradle-to-Career Act was signed into law in 2021, California was one of the only states without a longitudinal data system capable of identifying progress over time through multiple stages in individuals’ educational and career journeys. Through an 18-month long public planning process with over 200 individuals representing state entities, community leaders, educators, and members of the public, the blueprint for the state’s longitudinal data system was created.
The California Cradle-to-Career initiative is a major milestone for the state, uniting existing and verified information across education, social services, and workforce sectors for the first time to help Californians understand their options to build brighter futures.
The Student Pathways dashboard is powered by existing but previously disconnected data from the California Department of Education, California Community Colleges, California State University, the University of California, and the Employment Development Department.