The National Student Clearinghouse is excited to announce the release of redesigns for the Credit Accumulation Rate (CAR) Benchmarking Dashboard and the Outcomes Benchmarking Dashboard for the Postsecondary Data Partnership (PDP). The redesigned dashboards are now available to all participating PDP institutions and educational organizations.
Both dashboards compare their respective key performance indicator against a list of benchmarking institutions.
- The CAR Benchmarking Dashboard shows the rate of students who complete enough credits in their first academic year for on-time completion.
- The Outcomes Benchmarking Dashboard shows the rates of completion and continued enrollment for students by cohort year.
The PDP team improved two dashboard attributes:
- Look and feel: The dashboards now have a scrollable vertical style, as well as combined visualizations to make it easier for you to do comparisons.
- Functionality: The dashboards now allow for more disaggregation of the data so you can more quickly identify equity gaps. The data in the visualizations can be separated by the following dimensions: Race/ethnicity, Gender, Age, GPA Range, or Credential Type Sought. Once a dimension is selected, the data can be further narrowed by selecting a subgroup within the dimension. For example, if the data is disaggregated by Age and you select the category of 20 and younger, the visualization will show a breakdown of that age group.
PDP users can log in here to use the redesigned dashboards (click the “Dashboard Login” button under “Log In To Your PDP Dashboards”). Guides for using both the CAR benchmarking and Outcomes benchmarking dashboards are available on the PDP Knowledge Base.
Update to Analysis-Ready Files
The PDP team has also updated both the cohort and course analysis-ready (AR) files as follows:
- The optional version 2.0 data elements will now be included in both AR files. Institutions that submit files with version 2.0 data elements will be able to get those values returned in their AR files.
- A set of four new fields will be added to the cohort AR file that indicates the year a student’s first degree was earned. Currently, the student’s latest degree is used to determine the value of the Year Earned Bachelor and Year Earned Associates fields. So, for students who earn more than one degree, only their latest is reflected in the AR file. The four new fields will reflect the earliest credential conferred year; the existing four fields will continue to reflect the most recent credential conferred year.
More information about the additional fields contained in the AR file can be found in the PDP Knowledge Base under “Using the Analysis-Ready Files,” which contains both data dictionaries and sample AR files.
Spring 2023 Submission Window for Fall and Winter 2022 Terms Data
The spring 2023 submission window will begin soon:
- Current/continuing data providers: Current PDP institutions that previously submitted Course and Cohort files for the 2022 spring and summer terms can begin submitting data for the fall and winter terms starting February 1, 2023.
- New data providers: New PDP participating institutions that have not yet completed a historical data submission should continue doing so and include data for the fall and winter 2022 terms.
Please also remember the two upcoming effective dates for this academic year. Effective dates are when the Clearinghouse updates enrollment and degree data, provides updated AR files, and then updates your PDP dashboards. The effective dates are:
- March 3, 2023
- June 23, 2023
