Last month, Advance CTE hosted the National Summit on Advancing Postsecondary CTE Data Quality & Use (Summit). The convening was the capstone of a two-year initiative, supported by ECMC Foundation, to support leaders in five states in cultivating postsecondary data ecosystems that assist institutions in offering career pathways that meet learner interests and are aligned to good careers. This post shares some of the main takeaways and themes from the Summit.

Individuals from twenty states and territories, as well as national partner organizations, attended the Summit to hear lessons learned from the Advancing Postsecondary C Data Quality & Use Initiative (PDI), explore promising practices to improve the quality and use of postsecondary CTE data and discuss strategies to sustain the work into the future.

The agenda of the Summit followed the unique approaches the PDI grantees took to improve postsecondary Career Technical Education (CTE) data quality and use, from aligning non-credit courses to credit, improving data visualizations and creating new data elements to capture work-based learning or learners’ needs. 

The Summit also celebrated high-quality data system achievements outside of the PDI cohort. The first plenary featured a panel of Anna Fontus, Program Officer, ECMC Foundation; Su Jin Jez, Executive Director, California Competes; and Paige Kowalski, Executive Vice President, Data Quality Campaign. The panelists spoke on effective strategies to build support for  California’s P20 Cradle-to-Career Data System, including:

• Cultivating buy-in from the governor;
• Building coalitions among the public to advocate for a state longitudinal data system;
• Creating an inclusive governance structure, and;
• Grounding the data system in the state’s key needs.

Overall, the panelists made clear that extensive planning and legislation enabled the state’s implementation to go relatively smoothly. 

The second plenary session was delivered by Delaware’s State CTE Director, Jonathan Wickert. Jon spoke to the change management that enabled major shifts in the state’s postsecondary CTE data practices and system. At the center, Delaware prioritized building buy-in among staff and institution-level leaders and practitioners through many rounds of listening and feedback sessions. The state put itself in the seat of convener and let its stakeholders guide the principles and questions that would be addressed by new data routines and system requirements. This work resulted in a shared mission statement, principles and research agenda that ensures stakeholders and users needs are met by data system improvements. 

Over the course of the two-day convening, common themes emerged across the plenary, concurrent and interactive sessions:

• State legislation has enabled states including Maryland, Kentucky, Florida and California to quickly build buy-in and sustain momentum for developing statewide data systems.
• Inclusive, collaborative working groups convened by states including California and Delaware are powerful for ensuring states’ key priorities are identified early on.
• Professional development for state and institutional leaders and practitioners is crucial to change beliefs and expectations around postsecondary CTE data quality and use.

Through the PDI, Advance CTE has worked with the Alabama Community College System, Delaware Department of Education, University of the District of Columbia Community College, Florida Department of Education and Oregon Higher Education Coordinating Commission to develop and implement comprehensive action plans to improve the quality and use of postsecondary CTE data. 

Learn more about the PDI grantees’ work and lessons learned through the initiative’s series of mini briefs here. 

Candace Williams, Data & Research Manager