Postsecondary Student Success Data System

The act requires the Colorado commission on higher education (commission) to enact a policy directing the department of higher education (department) to develop student success measures that measure the progression of students through postsecondary education and the impact of postsecondary pathways on a student's career opportunities and success. The student success measures must include postsecondary success measures and workforce success measures. The act requires the department to create and maintain a statewide student success data system that includes institution-specific interfaces and a public interface. An institution interface includes student success data that may be more timely, more granular, appears in a different format, or include functionality that is different from information provided on the public interface. The public interface includes student success information that is aligned with the student success measures and must allow a user to view and compare student workforce success information for specific institutions of higher education in Colorado. The commission determines the information included in the public interface and how that information is disaggregated by various student populations, such as populations identified by race, ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic factors. The department may include in the statewide data system employment and wage outcome data of a workforce development or training program that joins the data system. The act requires the commission to use the data included in the institution and statewide data system to examine educational and workforce success disparities among various student populations. The act requires the commission to facilitate information sharing among institutions about practices implemented by an institution based on data learned from the data system. The department may enter into an agreement with a third party to create and maintain the data system. The act requires the department to update and modernize its data collection systems to facilitate the collection of student success data. The act appropriates $3 million from the workers, employers, and workforce centers cash fund to the department for the data system. The appropriation is from the money in the cash fund that originated from the general fund. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)