Demonstrating Success: A Technical Assistance Guide for Collecting Postexit Indicators

Overview of the Guide

This guide serves as a technical assistance resource for state and local staff to understand the postexit indicators and suggests ways to improve the quality of these data. It explains the indicators and how they are collected and calculated and provides guidance to help states and programs overcome the many challenges they face in collecting these data. The guide provides approaches to enhance the completeness and quality of data in each step of the data collection process.

Section 2 of the guide defines each indicator, explains how each is calculated for reporting and performance accountability, and discusses the impact of missing data. Section 3 details four major steps involved in collecting the indicators: creating the pool of participants to whom the indicators apply, determining the time periods when the data need to be collected, applying the data collection procedures, and reporting the indicator data to the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE). In Section 4, we offer strategies for improving data quality.

This section suggests ways to improve the process of obtaining SSNs from participants, strategies for maintaining contact with participants after their exit for tracking, data sources for employment and postsecondary data matching, and how to minimize burden when conducting follow-up surveys, including through the use of technology. Section 4 also reviews sources and databases for postsecondary credential data matching and other supplemental data collection methods. The guide includes a sample follow-up survey in an Appendix.