The National Student Clearinghouse provides a nationwide, central repository of information on the enrollment status and educational achievements of post-secondary students.  Palm Beach County would retain the National Student Clearinghouse to obtain data to conduct research on the enrollment status and educational achievement at post-secondary educational institutions of students who have graduated from or attended a high school in Palm Beach County.

By participating in an Agreement with the National Student Clearinghouse, Palm Beach County will:

• submit and receive data enabling the District to track post-secondary student data for research and reporting purposes;
• gain information from the research to use in developing a college readiness pathway; and,
• document effectiveness of college readiness strategies used by schools and programs within the District.

Currently, the School District of Palm Beach County is only able to determine the post-secondary status of its graduates who enrolled in a Florida public post-secondary institution, in FY10, it was approximately 57%.  With this data sharing Agreement, the District will now be able to determine the post-secondary status of its graduates enrolled in Florida public and private institutions, as well as out-of-state public or private institutions.  As a result, the School District should be able to track the post-secondary education status of almost all of our graduates attending a post-secondary institution.

Special Note:

This agreement contains an exhibit which will allow National Student Clearinghouse to share information with MPR Associates Inc. in order to conduct an analyses of post-secondary enrollment rates for The 2012 Broad Prize for Urban Education.  

I recommend that the School Board approve the Student Tracker Research Agreement for Educational Organizations and Agencies from May 10, 2012 through May 9, 2013, and authorize the Superintendent or designee to sign all documents and release or request data related to the Agreement.

Janis Andrews (janis.andrews@palmbeachschools.org)

Keith Oswald (keith.oswald@palmbeachschools.org)

The financial impact for 25 high schools is $10,625.00 from the following funding sources:

$4,250 from Safe School's Special Revenue

$6,375 from Operating Budget