Facilitator: Alex Medler,Senior Director, National Charter Schools Resource Center
Presenters:
- Benjamin Feit, Vice President of Strategy and Chief of Staff, Democracy Prep Public Schools
- Matt Niksch, Chief College Officer, Noble Network of Charter Schools
- Richard Whitmire, Education Author
Description: With the education field’s increasing focus on post-secondary and life-outcomes for high school graduates, charter schools and authorizers are interested in gaining more information on how schools are helping students succeed. A number of charter schools and charter networks gather data about their students’ progress after they embark on college and career paths. Tracking students after graduation involves collecting data like college enrollment rates, college completion, career progression, and long-term earning. This webinar explored the data and measures that are expanding the meaning of charter school success and how people are using this data to improve student outcomes dramatically.
Presenters from Democracy Prep Public Schools and Noble Network of Charter Schools shared what their schools are doing to gather and apply data related to post-high school success. Education author Richard Whitmire discussed his latest work assembling and creating a series of stories on highly-successful networks that use data as part of their strategy to support students in completing college at much higher rates than is traditionally the case. Read about the Alumni Project here.
Presenters also discussed how data is collected, analyzed, and disseminated to provide attendees with insight into how a charter school can:
- Track alumni progress and engagement in college life and community;
- Use data to productively work with school leaders at all levels;
- Develop programs to support student success and share best practices; and
- Scale the model to multiple schools.
After discussing various approaches to tracking student outcomes, Ben, Matt, and Richard took questions from the audience. Participants had the opportunity to discuss these issues with the presenters and their peers in a closing Q&A portion.