The Retention and Persistence Benchmarking dashboard provides a view of first-to-second-year retention and persistence rates for students who attended your institution as first-time or transfer-in students by cohort year as compared to benchmarking institutions. The dashboard displays first-to-second-year retention and persistence rates for up to eight consecutive student cohorts.

How It Works

• Retention = How many students are still enrolled or earned a degree from your institution before the end of their second academic year
• Persistence = How many students are still enrolled in their second academic year or completed a credential at another institution

The dashboard first checks whether a student attempted credits at the cohort institution in their second year using the data submitted in your institution’s course data file. If you did not submit the student in your institution’s course data file during their second year, the dashboard then checks the Clearinghouse’s other enrollment and degree reporting services. If the student was submitted through another Clearinghouse service as having been enrolled at your institution during their second year, the dashboard will classify the student as retained. If another institution submitted an enrollment record for the student, the dashboard will classify the student as persisted.

Since retention and persistence are measured over a student’s entire second year, a student could be retained in the first term of their second year and persisted at another institution during their second term. In this case, the dashboard would classify the student as retained.

Dashboard Sections

Benchmarking dashboard visualizations will not load until the Data Source selections are made.

Chart Settings cannot be edited until the Data Sources are applied. See Benchmarking Data Sources for details.

Summary

The summary at the top of the dashboard displays the retention and persistence rates of the cohort institution compared to the benchmarking institutions.

Total Retention/Persistence Year-Over-Year by Dimension

You can use this section to compare your institution’s overall retained or persisted, persisted only, or retained only rate against benchmarking institutions. Click one of the boxes above the graph to select a dimension.

You can also disaggregate the rate across different student dimensions. Select a dimension from the  Dimension drop-down in Chart Settings. Dimensions only apply to the Total Retention/Persistence Year-Over-Year by Dimension section of the dashboard. To clear a dimension, select Overall from the  Dimension drop-down.

When you select a dimension, you’ll see multiple rows in the graph, each with two lines representing the cohort institution and benchmarking institutions. For example, if you select the GPA Range dimension, the graph will show retention/persistence rates for each GPA range.

You can also click a category on the left side of the graph to view more detailed information in the Retained, Persisted, and Not Enrolled sections below.

Retained, Persisted, & Not Enrolled

You can use this section to compare the percent retained, persisted, and not enrolled at the cohort institution versus the benchmarking institutions for the available cohorts.

Chart Settings

You can use Chart Settings to select the cohort and refine the students included in the dashboard. Chart Settings are global and apply to the entire dashboard.

Click the Chart Settings Edit button to make or modify the filter selections and the dimension breakdown. See Using the Dashboard for more information.

Benchmarking Data Sources

You can use this section to refine the list of institutions the dashboard uses for benchmarking. These selections apply to the entire dashboard. When you first open the dashboard, you must select benchmarking data sources in order for the data to show.

1. Click Edit on the Data Sources menu.
   
2. If your account is part of a system of institutions or a third-party organization, select a cohort institution from the Institution drop-down.
   
3. Select your benchmarking institutions from the participating PDP institutions by filtering and/or searching. See below for details.

   You can use filtering in combination with searching. For example, if you find a few institutions by searching and want to add more with similar institutional characteristics, you can use filters to find and select them.

4. To add a single institution to your benchmarking institutions list, click the Add button. To add all of the filtered institutions to your list, click the Add All button.
5. To remove a single institution from your benchmarking institutions list, click the Remove button. To remove all institutions from your list, click the Remove All button.
6. When finished, click Apply Settings.
   

Searching for Benchmarking Institutions

You can search for an institution by name or OPEID.

1. Click in the Search box. If you did not apply any filters, you will see a list of all available participating PDP institutions.
   
2. Start typing an institution name or OPEID to narrow down the list.
3. Select the institution(s) you would like to add to your benchmarking institutions list.

Filtering Benchmarking Institutions

You can use the benchmarking filters to select institution(s) that meet certain criteria by selecting or deselecting values from Filters menu. The filters will be applied to the list of filtered institutions as you select them.

Filter Options

• State: State in which the institution(s) are located
• Carnegie: Institution(s) classified by the Carnegie Classification system – rolled up
• HBCU: Historically black colleges and universities
• HSI: Hispanic-serving institutions
• Institution Type: 4-Year, 2-Year, or All
• Public/Private: Public, Private, or All

Troubleshooting No Data

There are two reasons why the Retention and Persistence Benchmarking dashboard might not show any data:

• Low Cell Size Suppression: Low cell size suppression or missing and/or incomplete data can cause the graph to display zero percent or missing data points. Remove one or more filters.
• Not Enough Cohort Students: The dashboard requires at least 11 students before it shows student outcomes data. You may have filtered the students in the selected cohorts down to fewer than 11. Remove one or more global filters.