Postsecondary readiness data now available

The creators of Iowa AEA PREP, a collaborative between Iowa’s AEAs and the Iowa Department of Education, recently released a new tool designed to help educators better understand how prepared Iowa high school graduates are for success in postsecondary education and training. The dashboards are intended to help guide school and district school improvement efforts using statewide, AEA, district and building level data.  Schools can use their local information to benchmark and monitor progress toward locally defined goals as they relate to postsecondary readiness and success, including enrollment, persistence, and completion of postsecondary programs. The AEA PREP Dashboards are highly interactive and allow schools to examine the postsecondary success of their students through a variety of postsecondary readiness and demographic filters.  The dashboards are housed within EdInsight; if you desire access to these dashboards and currently do not have an EdInsight (also known as an “A & A” account), please see these instructions for creating a user account and/or requesting access.

What can I find at AEA PREP?

Data included: PREP Dashboards include postsecondary readiness and demographic data provided by Iowa school districts through State Reporting in Iowa (SRI). In addition, postsecondary enrollment and award data are provided through three sources: Iowa Board of Regents (for public Regent universities in Iowa); Iowa Division of Community Colleges & Workforce Preparation (for public community colleges in Iowa); and the National Student Clearinghouse (for in-state private colleges and universities and all out-of-state colleges and universities).  

Data excluded: Postsecondary enrollment data is considered directory-level data and thus does not include any postsecondary performance data, including but not limited to college GPA, college credit accrual, financial aid information, or other course-specific performance data.

How can I interpret the results?

Specifically, AEA PREP Dashboards are intended to help guide districts in establishing and monitoring postsecondary readiness goals aligned with both the Iowa College and Career Readiness definition and overall school improvement efforts.  The information contained in the dashboards can be used to identify programmatic areas of success in relation to increasing postsecondary enrollment and award/completion. These reports are intended to support the entire school improvement process in conjunction with the other data sources already in use (i.e. ESSA reporting, school report cards, and DA/Healthy Indicators). Please note: AEA PREP Dashboards are intended for in-district use only and are not intended for public distribution due to their inclusion of small cell size data.

Please contact your Regional Administrator for more information and supports!