To and Through Data Methodology

DATA SOURCES AND CALCULATIONS

The de-identified student-level data from HESC included:

  • Pell eligibility; and
  • National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) high school code and name.

Matched student-level NSC data included:

  • Institutional enrollment—including, but not limited to, institutional sector, enrollment begin and end date; and
  • Graduation/certificate completion—including, but not limited to, institutional sector, date of graduation/certification, and degree/credential earned.

School- and district-level data on the share of students who are low-income in 2011-12 2012-13, and 2013-14 are from New York State Education Department’s (NYSED) publicly available Enrollment Data Archive.

School- and district-level data on the share of students who are low-income in 2011-12, and 2012-13, and 2013-2014 are from New York State Education Department’s (NYSED) publicly available Enrollment Data Archive.

School-level data on total graduates for the 2011-12, 2012-13, and 2013-14 schoolyears are from NYSED’s publicly available Report Card Databases. School-level data on total graduates for the combined 2011-12 and 2012-13 years reflect the aggregate sum for each year. District- and statewide-level data reflect the aggregate sum of all schools in the district/state.

School-level geolocation data are from New York State GIS data files. There were four schools whose geolocation data was not found in the data file. For those schools, the geolocation data of its school district was used in its place.

Estimated 2012, 2013 and 2014 college outcomes:

In our analysis, “high school graduates” are 2011-2012, 2012-13 and 2013-14 first-time TAP recipients aged 19 or younger as of July 1 of the respective academic year, who reported either never attending college or attending some college, whose HESC-provided NCES high school code and/or name were successfully matched to a NYSED public school Basic Education Data System (BEDS) code, and who enrolled in a higher education institution in the following fall.

High school graduates who enroll later than fall, attend college out-of-state, attend college in New York without receiving TAP grants, enter the military, or directly enter the workforce are not captured in the data set. High school graduates who were not able to be matched to a New York high school because of data limitations are not captured in the data set.

“Return for spring” is based on the number of TAP recipients that were matched to a New York State public high school based on their NCES high school code or name, enrolled in a higher education institution in fall of 2012, 2013, or 2014, and returned for the following spring.

“Return for second year” is based on the number of TAP recipients that were matched to a New York State public high school based on their NCES high school code or name, enrolled in a higher education institution in the fall 2012, 2013, or 2014, and returned the following fall.

“On-time graduation rate” is defined depending on the type of degree(s) earned, as follows: within two years of initial enrollment for associate degrees and within four years of initial enrollment for bachelor’s degrees. Degrees other than associate and bachelor’s degrees are not included in this data set. A student earning multiple degrees is counted as an on-time graduate if any of their associate or bachelor’s degrees meet the on-time definition.

“150% graduation rate” is defined depending on the type of degree(s) earned, as follows: within three years of initial enrollment for associate degrees/certifications and within six years of initial enrollment for bachelor’s degrees. Degrees other than associate degrees and bachelor’s degrees are not included in this data set. A student who graduated on-time is counted in the 150% graduation rate. A student earning multiple degrees is counted in the 150% graduation rate if any of their associate or bachelor’s degrees meet the 150% definition.

“Graduate in six years” is based on completion of an associate degree or a bachelor’s degree within six academic years of initial enrollment.

Similar schools and high performers:

The college outcomes for “similar schools” reflect the weighted average of public high schools within five groupings based on the percent of students who are low-income: 0% to 20%, more than 20% to 40%, more than 40% to 60%, more than 60% to 80%, and more than 80%.

The percent of students who are low-income at each public high school was calculated using NYSED’s school-level data on the total enrollment of “economically disadvantaged” students and total school-wide enrollment. Schools not meeting the minimum n-size threshold of at least 10 students enrolling in a higher education institution or whose share of students who are low-income could not be calculated were excluded from the analysis.

The college outcomes for “high performers” is based on the weighted average of all schools meeting the minimum n-size threshold of at least 10 students enrolling in a higher education institution that are in the top 10% for on-time college graduation.

DATA EXCLUSIONS

For the purposes of this analysis, our universe of schools was any New York State public school that reported graduates for the 2011-12, 2012-13, or 2013-14 school year according to the NYSED’s Public School Enrollment Data Archive and/or public schools that were included in HESC’s TAP recipient data and were successfully matched to a NYSED BEDS code based on NCES name and/or code.

For the 2011-12 analysis, the total public school universe was 1,197 schools with at least one student enrolled in Grade 12 that were found in the NYSED Public School Enrollment Data Archive. that were found in the NYSED Public School Enrollment Data Archive. Of those 1,197 schools, 993 (83%) were also found in our data set and included in our analysis. The following schools were excluded from the analysis:

  • 98 schools that are no longer open;
  • 13 Special Act schools; and
  • 1 District 75 school.

Additionally, our initial universe was 68,618 first-time TAP recipients aged 19 or younger as of July 1, 2012, who reported either never attending college or attending some college and who enrolled in a higher education institution in the fall. Of those 68,618 TAP recipients, 56,952 (83%) were successfully matched to a New York State public high school based on their NCES school code/name and were included in our analysis.

For the 2012-13 analysis, the total public school universe was 1,242 schools with at least one student enrolled in Grade 12 that were found in the NYSED Public School Enrollment Data Archive. Of those 1,242 schools, 1,119 (90%) were also found in our data set and included in our analysis. The following schools were excluded from the analysis:

  • 88 schools that are no longer open;
  • 4 Special Act schools; and
  • 2 schools who were missing data on total graduates as reported by NYSED.

Additionally, our initial universe was 68,717 first-time TAP recipients age 19 or younger as of July 1, 2013, who reported either never attending college or attending some college and who enrolled in a higher education institution in the fall. Of those 68,717 TAP recipients, 58,535 (85%) were successfully matched to a New York State public high school based on their NCES school code/name and were included in our analysis.

For the 2013-14 analysis, the total public school universe was 1,257 schools with at least one student enrolled in Grade 12 that were found in the NYSED Public School Enrollment Data Archive. Of those 1,257 schools, 1,202 (96%) were also found in our data set and included in our analysis. The following schools were excluded from the analysis:

  • 43 schools that are no longer open;
  • 4 Special Act schools; and
  • 23 schools whose schools who were missing graduation data and/or income data as reported by NYSED.

Additionally, our initial universe was 68,350 first-time TAP recipients age 19 or younger as of July 1, 2014, who reported either never attending college or attending some college and who enrolled in a higher education institution in the fall. Of those 68,350 TAP recipients, 57,700 (84%) were successfully matched to a New York State public high school based on their NCES school code/name and were included in our analysis.

Finally, some schools failed to meet the n-size threshold of at least 10 graduates enrolling in a higher education institution. Those schools were excluded from the data tool, but still included in district and statewide aggregates.