Based on research and the best practices of its 350-plus members, the National College Access Network (NCAN) has developed a recommended set of Common Measures for college access and success programs to guide and assess their work. All measures are associated with the two main outcomes that NCAN members help their students pursue: (1) postsecondary enrollment, and (2) completion of a postsecondary degree or credentials. They include:
(1) Postsecondary enrollment: Six essential indicators, 13 optional indicators, and five core demographic characteristics
(2) Postsecondary completion: Six essential indicators, 12 optional indicators, and six demographic characteristics.
As a companion, NCAN has also released a dashboard tool that NCAN members can use to organize, analyze, and communicate their indicators.
By sharing these common indicators widely, NCAN hopes to:
- Make it easier for college access and success organizations to decide which data to track.
- Increase collection and use of data to guide improvements to student services and demonstrate the effectiveness of the college access-success field.
- Enhance equitable outcomes for subgroups of students.
- Help standardize expectations from funders and other stakeholders about evaluation metrics.
- Lay the groundwork for future benchmarking so that NCAN members can more easily learn about the effective practices of other organizations.
Download the full Common Measures Press Release
Downlad NCAN's full list of Indicators and References
Sample Access Dashboard | Sample Success Dashboard (Available to Members-Only)
NCAN Common Measure Tool (Available to Members-Only)