Minnesota SLEDS

Minnesota college graduates show positive outcomes a few years into the workforce

We start 2020 taking a deep look into the employment outcomes of Minnesota college graduates a few years after graduation to answer the following questions:

• How many graduates are found employed two years after graduation?
• What are their median wages for part-time and full-time employment?
• Which type of credentials offer graduates higher wages and higher rates of full-time employment?
• Are racial disparities in income and full-time employment persisting with higher degrees?
• What are the prospects for growth in income for each type of degree earned?

SLEDS' latest infographic, titled Jobs and Wages After College, depicts a positive outlook for Minnesota college graduates, both related to employment and wages, showing that earning a higher degree does pay off in time (see "Graduates with higher degrees earn more and have higher rates of full-time employment").

In addition, the infographic highlights statistics on wages to provide a ranking of instructional programs for high wages by type of award (certificate, associate degree, bachelor's degree, and graduate degree) that is based on the highest median full-time annual wages in the second year after graduation (class 2015). Finally, regional data on median hourly wages of graduates in the second year after graduation is displayed to compare how outcomes vary across Minnesota.

Jobs and Wages After College was designed to best display information that may escape the average user of a data tool, from presenting stats that sustain the proposition in favor of pursuing a postsecondary degree to the growth in wages seen at all degree levels. Statistical data used to create the infographic was sourced from the Graduate Employment Outcomes tool available online at https://mn.gov/deed/geo (Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development - DEED), which bridges data from the Minnesota Office of Higher Education (postsecondary graduation records) and wage records from all employers subject to unemployment insurance taxes in Minnesota. Graduation and wage records are linked in the Statewide Longitudinal Education Data System (SLEDS).

Other data sources include employment outlook projections, educational requirements for occupations, occupational employment and wages and cost of living.

We hope the Jobs and Wages After College infographic serves you to spark conversations among your peers around Minnesota college graduate outcomes. If you have any questions about the information and data shared in this infographic, please send an email to sleds.support@state.mn.us. We appreciate your feedback and look forward to learning about your experience with SLEDS.

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New Enrollment Report Reveals Which Minnesota High School Graduates Attend College Outside the State

According to SLEDS Enrollment Report, approximately 20% of Minnesota high school graduates (11,550) enroll annually in college outside Minnesota. With the newly released Out-of-State Enrollment report, SLEDS users can learn more about the population of high school graduates who decided to pursue their postsecondary education out of the State and how successful they were. Using data from the National Student Clearinghouse, the report shows eight years of student data from the time of high school graduation for classes 2010 - 2018 to inform users about the educational outcomes of Minnesota graduates at out-of-state institutions.

The Out-of-State Enrollment report offers users the ability to review demographic information of Minnesota high school graduates studying outside Minnesota, such as gender, race/ethnicity, special characteristics (free/reduced priced meals, special education, English learner), ACT scores, and the 25 top high schools of origin. In addition, outcomes reported include persistence rates during the first and second years and completion rates at the institution of choice.

To look up a specific high school, users should access the filtering options and type in the name of the high school or school district. It is also possible to filter a search by the state in which the college of enrollment is located. For example, if we look up how many Minnesota high school graduates from class of 2018 went to college in Wisconsin (access the filtering options and use the College State filter), the report will show that 2,996 graduates enrolled in postsecondary institutions in that state (59% female; 41% male). We will also learn that a large majority (88%) were White, 5% were Asian, and the remaining 7% were Black or African American and Hispanic or Latino.

More interestingly, we can learn from the report that the largest number of 2018 graduates enrolled in college in Wisconsin graduated from Stillwater Area High School (89 graduates).

Users may also filter results by type of postsecondary institution and/or college. Definitions are provided by selecting the Filter Definitions link at the bottom of the pane.

If you are new to SLEDS, or would like assistance with navigating this new report, we encourage you to contact a regional data coach (RDC) for an in-person demonstration of the Out-of-State Enrollment report or any other report on SLEDS. Go to the Network pane on the Outreach page to find out your assigned RDC.

We care about your experience with SLEDS. Please, share with us your feedback, comments, or questions by sending an email to sleds.support@state.mn.us.

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A New Year of Data Available on Public and Secure Reports

In August, we finalized the data upload on SLEDS for both the public site and secure reports. If you are currently exploring our reports on the public site, you will access and view data for 2019 high school graduates, fall 2019 enrolled college students, and 2018 college graduates. Take a closer look at what data tells you about Minnesota high school graduates and how they compare to students in your district, county or region. Our reports can help you learn about your students, assess educational shortcomings, and inform possible strategies to support positive outcomes in all students.

• How many 2019 high school graduates in your school district moved onto college?
• Which colleges are they enrolling to?
• What happened to those graduates who did not enroll in college?
• How does your graduate class of 2019 compare to prior years? How does it compare to similar school districts, and statewide data?
• How many 2019 high school graduates who enrolled in college took developmental education courses?

If you have access to SLEDS Secure Reports, make sure to check the newly released data on K-12 Research Data Mart and Postsecondary Research Data Mart.

Additionally, expand your understanding of the educational outcomes of Minnesota students by exploring the latest cohort available on the Graduate Employment Outcomes tool (GEO). This tool shows how many recent Minnesota college graduates found Minnesota jobs one and two years after graduation, with median earned wages and top industries of employment.

If you would like assistance with navigating our reports, don't hesitate to contact a regional data coach (RDC) for an online demonstration. We recently expanded our Regional Coaching Network. Please, visit the Outreach page to find out your assigned RDC or check out the list of counties served by each member.

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Latest Resources and Publications

We Have Expanded Our Regional Coaching Network!

Navigating data on ECLDS and SLEDS is a learning experience for most users. Some of them may need a guided introduction to data analysis for their decision-making. For this reason, the Minnesota P-20W has extended the regional coaching network to better serve ECLDS and SLEDS users. The network works closely with data users to address the technical issues that may arise when accessing, using, and applying data shown on both systems.

Regional Coaching Network members perform the following activities:

• Training state, local, and partnering agency staff
• Coordinating data analysis activities in partnership with the state, school districts, and communities
• Assisting with databased planning and program evaluation
• Developing products and services to improve user experience, as guided by SLEDS coordinators
• Facilitating projects with external partners
• Incorporating feedback to improve products and services
• Overseeing special regional studies about education, college, and career planning
• Coordinating and conducting original education data analysis
• Serving as an expert resource to education stakeholders and partner agencies
• Assessing education research and information resource needs
• Responding to requests for information and analysis
• Representing ECLDS and SLEDS at regional meetings

Our regional data coaches work proactively with local schools, districts, colleges, and workforce agency staff, as they assess their local needs and encourage the use of ECLDS and SLEDS data to inform policymaking and program decisions.

If you are new to SLEDS or would like assistance with data analytics, contact a regional data coach close to you.

Resources to Improve Your Data Navigation

We recently published new resources for beginner SLEDS users to help them explore our data reports and identify what type of data is available to them. Both the High School Graduates Report Cheat Sheet and the College Students Report Cheat Sheet can help users better understand the research questions behind each report, data indicators, and filters available.

Each report is designed to help identify the benchmarks and transition milestones students meet toward high school graduation and into college, and as college students into the workforce, with the goal of providing an understanding of the current pathways that lead students to successful outcomes in higher education and work.

We hope you find these materials useful to your data exploration experience. You may find more resources on the Outreach page.

New Publication: "Trends, Transitions, and Subgroup Differences on the Pathway to a Family-Sustaining Hourly Wage for Minnesota Students"

The University of Minnesota's Center for Applied Research and Educational Improvement (CAREI) recently published a new report on the education pathways Minnesotans take, exploring whether or not these pathways led them to earn a family-sustaining hourly wage as an adult.

Researchers used SLEDS data to examine the educational pathways and economic outcomes of individuals who entered high school (Grade 9) in the 2004-05 school year. The study followed their pathways through 2017 and incorporated data from four additional cohorts who entered high school in 2005-2008, plus wage data through June 2018, in order to answer questions about trends, transitions, and subgroup differences.

View the report

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Introducing the ECLDS + SLEDS Logo

We are thrilled to roll out the new combined logo for Minnesota's Early Childhood Longitudinal Data System and the Statewide Longitudinal Education Data System. You may find the new logo on some of our outreach materials when both data systems are promoted. The logo embraces the complementing role both data systems play in understanding the long-term outcomes related to public investments in human development and education, from early childhood to postsecondary.

We hope you like it.

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ECLDS' Comprehensive Services Map Finds New Users During Pandemic

Ever since the coronavirus pandemic took hold in Minnesota, priorities have shifted to respond appropriately to this public health emergency. Such was the case of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Data System (ECLDS)'s comprehensive services map, which re-imagined its potential use and application towards finding essential services at a local level in Minnesota.

The ECLDS comprehensive services map launched in June 2019 as a geolocation service to help individuals and families visually locate nearby support programs and resources. With the advent of the coronavirus, essential workers were in desperate need to locate and access child care services to be able to go to work daily. More than 4,000 family and center-based child care providers have informed Minnesota Management and Budget that they are currently able to provide care for children of essential workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Using the ECLDS' comprehensive services map, essential workers can find available care providers closest to them on in relation to their home, work, or other address. For the official MMB map of locations, visit the MMB COVID-19 child care page.

Moreover, the map has made possible for school districts to locate emergency child care sites within district boundaries through a simple search on the map. They have put together a flyer with step-by-step instructions for gathering this information. Additionally, COVID-19 testing sites have also been added to the map for quick location in your community.

Finally, by adding layers for essential sites including nursing homes, hospitals, and correctional facilities to the comprehensive services map, ECLDS was able to help Child Care Aware of MN include proximity scoring in its evaluation rubric of thousands of Peacetime Emergency Child Care Grant applications.

We highlight ECLDS' work for repurposing their data tool as a resource in the fight against COVID-19. We invite you to explore it yourself and share with your network.

Please, let them know about your experience by submitting your feedback, comments, or questions via email to eclds.support@state.mn.us.

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Winter Data Upload Completed

This week we finalized the data upload to SLEDS and ECLDS. Take a few minutes to check for yourself the data updates on the following High School Graduates and College Students reports:

The ECLDS+SLEDS 2020 Annual Report

Beyond describing the scope and purpose of both data systems, the 2020 Annual Report recalls the achievements seen in the last two years and lays out the strategies our leadership will focus on in the near future. The Annual Report offers an opportunity for reflection on the efforts that brought ECLDS and SLEDS to their current status, and provides direction for the work in the years to come that will build a sustainable data system. Read the latest report.

As Minnesota faces new and unknown challenges in education and the workforce, we recognize the importance of strengthening our relationship with diverse stakeholder groups and helping them expand their use of data for identifying opportunities for improvement. We are determined to position data use as a valuable asset to their strategic public investments.

Explore the New MCIS Secure Report

With the conclusion of the pilot year of the data-linking project between the Statewide Longitudinal Education Data System (SLEDS) and the Minnesota Career Information System (MCIS), a new secure report has been released that provides insight on the value of planning for career and college outcomes. The MCIS secure report provides rich data from students' portfolios, including their Personal Learning Plan (PLP). The MCIS is a web-based career planning tool for high-school students designed to help them identify viable paths to successful postsecondary education and careers.

Minnesota requires that all high school students develop a PLP to help them set goals, reflect on self-knowledge and career aspirations, identify career pathways, and create reasoned plans for their future. The career development process allows students to save their discoveries and organized them in an embedded portfolio that includes the PLP. Additionally, students' portfolios store search and assessment results and reflections, resulting in dynamic PLPs that can provide information about trends in career aspirations, gaps in student understanding of available options, and other key areas.

The new MCIS secure report is an exciting source of rich information because of the data sources it is built on. The report offers stakeholders the opportunity to better understand, research, and predict early planning actions for the purpose of increasing the likelihood of career and college outcomes.

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Minnesota Participates in National "SLDS and COVID-19" Workshop

The workshop focused on how COVID-19 has presented unprecedented challenges for data collection while simultaneously offering opportunities to demonstrate the critical value of SLDSs. This virtual workshop provided a venue for SLDS teams to learn from one another about how they are responding to COVID-19 data collection, quality, reporting, and analyses challenges.

Karen Millete and Gayra Ostgaard represented Minnesota — presenting about Digital Equity, Safe School data, and P-EBT (distribution of food funds during pandemic).

U.S. Department of Education Highlights Minnesota in Several Recent Publications

The Evolution of P20W Data Linking, MN.IT, OHE, and MDE: This white paper describes the chronological evolution of Minnesota's person-linking engine. The state has moved from linking personal records only in its Statewide Longitudinal Education Data System (SLEDS) to linking personal records across SLEDS and the Early Childhood Longitudinal Data System and, finally, to linking persons and families.

SLDS Issue Brief: Interagency Data Linking and Common Identifiers: This brief offers best practices and strategies from several states related to setting goals for cross-agency data sharing, identifying requirements from data sharing partners, establishing technical solutions and processes to link data in a P-20W+ SLDS, and collaboratively governing interagency data collections. Featured states: Kentucky, Minnesota, Washington

State Spotlight: Minnesota's Early Childhood Longitudinal Data System: This spotlight provides an overview of the Minnesota Early Childhood Longitudinal Data System (ECLDS). It is part of a series of spotlights intended to show how some states have used ECIDS data to create data tools, reports, and other resources to answer specific questions.

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New data for SLEDS is now available

New data for SLEDS for both the public site and secure reports is available. Take a closer look at what data tells you about Minnesota high school graduates and how they compare to students in your district, county or region. Our reports can help you learn about your students, assess educational shortcomings, and inform possible strategies to support positive outcomes in all students.

• How many 2020 high school graduates in your school district moved onto college? Which colleges are they enrolling to?
• How many 2020 high school graduates found work instead of enrolling in college?
• How does your graduating class of 2020 compare to prior years? How does it compare to similar school districts, and statewide data?
• How many 2020 high school graduates in college enrolled in developmental education courses?

If you have access to SLEDS Secure Reports, make sure to check out the newly released data on K-12 Research Data Mart and Postsecondary Research Data Mart.

Additionally, expand your understanding of the employment outcomes of Minnesota students by exploring the Graduate Employment Outcomes tool (GEO). This tool shows how many recent Minnesota college graduates found Minnesota jobs one and two years after graduation, with median earned wages and top industries of employment.

If you would like assistance with navigating our reports, don't hesitate to contact a regional data coach (RDC) for an online demonstration. We recently expanded our Regional Coaching Network. Please, visit the Outreach page to find out your local RDC or check out the list of counties served by each member.

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SLDS Grant Funding Achievements and Other Highlights

An Overview of ECLDS and SLEDS Achievements with SLDS Grant Funding

For the last seven years, the Minnesota Statewide Longitudinal Education Data System (SLEDS) and the Early Childhood Longitudinal Data System (ECLDS) have grown with federal funds awarded by the Statewide Longitudinal Data System (SLDS) Grant Program. With the culmination of the last awarding period on March 31, 2022, we would like to highlight the accomplishments made possible by this program.

With SLDS-15 grant funding, Minnesota has:

• Expanded data partnerships and linkages
• Increased data literacy
• Enabled new data linking processes
• Improved data collection
• Increased engagement among stakeholders
• Increased information available to educators, policymakers, and other leaders at the local, regional, state, and national level

ECLDS Achievements

The SLDS grant funding made possible for ECLDS to develop and complete the following projects:

1. GrEaT - Growing Evaluability Together: This project facilitated local use of ECLDS and built evaluation capacity. Over three years, staff from the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) worked closely with a dozen district-based early childhood programs struggling with problems related to data use, information gathering, measurement, and/or efficiency. This work culminated with a toolkit that has served communities around the state and nation.
2. Video tutorials: We produced a suite of six videos that both explained how to use the ECLDS and how early childhood services work. Recently, we expanded the collection of video tutorials with the help of our Regional Coaching Network.
3. Survey on ECLDS website: This project developed a brief, yet informative, user survey so we better understand how ECLDS is being used. The survey is optional, and only pops up when a user clicks the Export to PDF button in a report.
4. Expanded data: We incorporated more birth record data into our reports through added filter buttons and built new reports using MDE's early childhood screening data. We also built secure reports for our Head Start agency partners.
5. Census Data Tool: This project delivered a data tool that includes American Community Survey data in smaller age bands to help early childhood program administrators in their planning and evaluation.
6. Family ecology pilot: We linked SLEDS OHE Postsecondary Completer data to ECLDS data in order to explore mom's educational changes after giving birth.
7. Economic analysis study: We produced a 20-page analysis that demonstrates the return on investment and economic value of the continued existence of ECLDS.

SLEDS Achievements

The SLDS grant funding made possible for SLEDS to develop and complete the following College and Career Readiness projects:

1. Regional Coaching Network: Established as a pilot under the SLDS 2015 Grant and expanded in 2019 with state funding, the Network has increased our capacity to engage with local leaders. It currently has 23 individual staff working part-time and integrating ECLDS and SLEDS data into regional/local education, workforce, and community development planning.
2. Testing 1-2-3: This website provides teachers and educators with reliable data use it to eliminate learning barriers and evaluate classroom instruction.
3. Dual Credit Reporting: The project collected and integrated dual credit data into SLEDS reports.
4. Reporting on At-Risk Student Transitions: The project focuses on pathways and outcomes for non-high school graduates, providing data to local Adult Basic Education programs for evaluation, grants, and reporting.
5. MCIS Data Linking and Reporting: The Minnesota Career Information System (MCIS) Data Mart files provide graduate outcome data for schools in the SLEDS-MCIS project. These de-identified data are pulled from saved information in a user's MCIS portfolio and from relevant data available in SLEDS to allow schools to measure the impact of planning on career and college outcomes. Schools can use the data to better understand, research, and plan for the increased likelihood of career and college outcomes.
6. Health Care Licensure Data Integration: Collected from a multitude of licensing boards, the project allows us to measure employment in areas that are not included in unemployment insurance wage detail records. The project provides a means for evaluation of state programs and policies implemented to increase health care employment for specific occupations and locations.
7. Workforce Alignment Tool: The project developed a data tool that matches education programs to occupations to help users identify insights (and data) regarding occupational pathways as they related to fields of study for bachelor's degree completers. The tool provides proof of the value of integrating occupation data into unemployment insurance wage detail records.

We are proud of these accomplishments and grateful to our partners who contributed to and supported the work.

Updated Resources for Your Data Exploration: Video Tutorials

For the past months, we have been updating some of the video tutorials on the website. SLEDS video tutorials can teach you how navigate the website and the online reports by offering step-by-step guidance through specific sections and reports, at your own pace, to build your data skills and proficiency. We recently updated the tutorial titled Completing College. This tutorial explains how to interpret the data shown about students continuing in and persisting through college. Viewers can learn the steps to filter data for a customized view for selected reports, such as Highest Undergraduate Credential Completed, and how to compare schools over time and to each other.

Additionally, we posted the updated tutorial for navigating the SLEDS report Entering the Workforce. By watching this tutorial, beginner SLEDS users can learn the steps to filter data for a customized view of the number of high school graduates -in a school district or region- who are working, their hours and wages, and industry of employment.

If you want to check out other video tutorials available to users, visit the Outreach page, and scroll down to the pane titled Video Tutorials. If you find these videos helpful, please consider sharing them with your colleagues to spark conversation about data exploration, expand their knowledge of SLEDS reports, and apply the latest data available in their reporting.

SLDS Spotlight: State Approaches to Engaging and Sustaining Postsecondary and Workforce Partners

The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) recently released their latest case study "State Approaches to Engaging and Sustaining Postsecondary and Workforce Partners". The document highlights the different approaches for sharing postsecondary and workforce data taken by selected SLDS programs, including Minnesota's. Discussion centers in the work done by state agencies in regards to data sharing, data integration, and data management in support of education and workforce initiatives at each state.

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Request for Proposals: Research Services for Credentials of Value Report

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Announcement
SLEDS Proposal Granted $4M to Expand Data-Based Analysis on Students' Progression from High School to Postsecondary and Workforce

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In Case You Missed it: Summer Data Recap

A New School Year, A New Year of Data for Your Exploration

During the summer, a data upload was completed to SLEDS and ECLDS. Take a few minutes to check your favorite public reports and customize your reporting to include comparisons between graduation years, school districts, regions, and specific demographics.

SLEDS reports can help you learn about students, their educational pathways, progress, and outcomes. Filters can help you disaggregate data to gather information that is most useful to you. In our efforts to provide more flexibility and quick access to customized data, SLEDS now features more geography filters in most public reports: Minnesota's thirteen Economic Development Regions (EDRs).

Access the new filters by selecting the magnifying glass icon on the right corner of a report, select the region drop-down options, and choose the EDR of your preference.

Finally, if you would like assistance with navigating any of the SLEDS reports, don't hesitate to contact our Regional Coaching Network for an online demonstration.

Explore SLEDS Reports

Legislative Update

The Minnesota Legislature session ended with positive news approving the budget for both SLEDS and ECLDS. We are grateful to the Minnesota Legislature for their generous support of Minnesota's longitudinal education data systems.

The Minnesota Office of Higher Education (OHE) has administrative responsibility for both SLEDS and ECLDS, which together are recognized as Minnesota's P-20W (preschool through workforce) data system, under the direction of the P-20 Education Partnership. The latest budget approval ensures that SLEDS and ECLDS will receive continued and expanded state funding for state fiscal years 2024 and 2025 that will allow for strong administrative and technological support, and a more robust ECLDS+SLEDS Regional Coaching Network, a team of experts who can assist you in navigating ECLDS and SLEDS data reports, as well as accessing and analyzing data.

Tips and Tools

Do you know about MCIS? The Minnesota Career Information System (MCIS) is a web-based career planning tool that helps high school students determine their postsecondary path and career. Minnesota requires that all students develop a Personal Learning Plan to set goals, explore career aspirations, identify career pathways, and plan their next steps.

The SLEDS-MCIS project is now open to any school with an MCIS license who wants to see longitudinal data for their graduates. This information can help you assist your students in their career planning efforts and finding purpose and a path to success. Data points include:

Career goals

1. Favorite occupations, programs of study, colleges or universities
2. Student plan after high school
3. Postsecondary enrollment (United States and territories)
4. Employment and wages by industry sector

If you would like to learn more about MCIS, please contact Traci Valentino at traci.valentino@state.mn.us. You may also download the flier and share it with your network.

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SLEDS Data Partnership Granted Access to AISP Community

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Data Insights on the Road

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Suggested Reading and Data Exploration

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SLDS Spotlight: Supporting Data Use Through an Online Learning Hub

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Check Out the New Data Upload on Selected Reports

We recently completed the review of the latest data upload to SLEDS and ECLDS. Take a few minutes to check your favorite public reports among the following ones showing new data:

1. High School Graduates Reports:
   • Enrollment
   • Completing College
   • Developmental Education
   • Out-of-State Enrollment
   • Course Taking
   • Entering the Workforce
2. College Students Reports:
   • New Student Demographics
   • New Students Enrollment
   • College Graduates
   • Employment
3. Adult Basic Education

For a deeper data exploration, visit our website to access and view college enrollment data for 2021 high school graduates in Minnesota and analyze how they compare to students in your district, county, or region. Our reports can help you learn about students, assess educational shortcomings, and inform possible strategies to support positive outcomes in all students. Take the following questions as an initial quest to your data venture:

• How many 2021 high school graduates in your school district enrolled in college the fall after graduation and where did they enroll in Minnesota and out of the state?
• What percent of 2021 high school graduates were required to take developmental courses upon entering college and at which type of institution?
• What percent of 2021 Minnesota high school graduates entered the workforce the fall after graduation and in which industries were they found working?
• How does your graduate class of 2021 compare to prior years? How does it compare to similar school districts and statewide data?

Next, jump onto the College Students reports to look at the updated new college students demographics and enrollment data for entering year 2021-2022. Additionally get the latest data available for the college graduates (awards by race/ethnicity, gender, age, and top ten majors), and employment reports.

If you have access to SLEDS Secure Reports, make sure to check the newly released data on the Postsecondary Research Data Mart for enrollments and completions and the Adult Basic Education report.

Finally, if you would like assistance with navigating any of the SLEDS reports, don't hesitate to contact our Regional Coaching Network for an online demonstration.

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Watch the Latest SLEDS Presentation at the NCES STATS-DC Conference

This past summer, Meredith Fergus, Director of Research at the Minnesota Office of Higher Education and former SLEDS Coordinator, represented Minnesota as a speaker at the U.S. Department of Education's 2022 National Center for Education Statistics' (NCES) STATS-DC Data Conference.

Her participation in the session titled "Start with Your Questions. What are the Use Cases That Could Drive Future Data Systems?" focused on how Minnesota's data systems have evolved to better support and be responsive to the most pressing needs of our local communities. As a case study, she presented Minnesota's new Direct Admissions program, which uses summary academic profiles created from K-12 Common Course Catalog data found in SLEDS.

The recording of the session is now available to watch online. This session also features speakers from other states that are rethinking the uses and application of their robust data systems to respond to current complex problems in their communities, especially as they recover from the pandemic years.

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Explore SLEDS New Report on College Transfers

We recently launched the Postsecondary Transfers Report, a new College Students report that provides information about students who transfer to a Minnesota institution, either from another Minnesota institution or from an out of state institution.

The Postsecondary Transfers report shows demographic characteristics of college students who transfer to a Minnesota institution, as well as their activity prior to and after transferring, such as number of institutions attended, highest credential, transfer credits, and completion. For a customized data exploration, we recommend applying the available filters to dig into comparative results. For this new report, users can filter by previous college or system, transfer year, race/ethnicity, gender, age group, transfer term, and Minnesota resident status.

How do students compare?

You can look for:

• The gender, age, and race/ethnicity of transfer students at Minnesota institutions in the selected year.
• Filter options to compare among demographic groups.
• Student activity prior to their transfer: number of institutions attended, time at previous institution, enrollment in developmental education, credential completion, and credits accumulated/transferred. Note that developmental education data is only available for students who previously attended Minnesota institutions.
• Student activity after transfer: completion of their credential and the total number of institutions attended.

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New Resources for SLEDS Users and Data Newbies

A New Hub for Expanding Your Data Skills

We are happy to introduce a new hub to help SLEDS users and newcomers expand their knowledge of how to use SLEDS data. On the new Learning page, users can access a list of resources to help them explore the website by themselves and learn about the reports published on it.

Resources are organized by subject, making it easy for users to select a learning path and browse the training materials and resources available to them. Among those, we include a series of video tutorials specially created for SLEDS beginner and intermediate users. If you are new to SLEDS, or are recommending the website to someone else, our video tutorials are the perfect resource for learning how to navigate the website, find relevant information, and access all the reports available.

SLEDS Learning has been designed to guide users through specific learning paths at the user's own pace so they may build up their data skills and proficiency. We hope SLEDS Learning will allow new visitors to quickly get acquainted with our website, explore data at length on SLEDS, and use data to inform their decision-making.

Explore SLEDS Learning

Free Posters to Download and Share

We have published a new set of posters that highlight special features on SLEDS to help introduce the system to new data explorers. Feel free to download the resources below and share with your community to spark a conversation about your SLEDS data.

Download Now!

• Top 5 Features You Can Rely On When Using SLEDS
• Top 5 Questions About Your Students You Can Answer by Using SLEDS

If you would like a printed version of this handout, please contact SLEDS Support. We are excited to share!

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Meet Our New SLEDS Team Members

Nora Morris, SLEDS Director

Nora has spent her career working with teams to use data to improve people's lives. She began her career in health services research, where she provided practice profiles to hospitals, and physicians and coached them in using evidence to improve their care of patients. Nora entered higher education by working in the research department for Minnesota State Colleges and Universities, developing metrics and dashboards that were user-friendly. She most recently served as the Dean of Research and Evaluation at Anoka-Ramsey Community College and Anoka Technical College, where she was responsible for maintaining accreditation, academic program review, enrollment projections, assessment of student learning outcomes, and related projects.

Dr. Morris holds a B.A. in French and economics from St. Cloud State University, and an M.A. in economics from Northern Illinois University, where she also completed a year of doctoral level coursework in economics. In addition, Nora holds an Ed.D. in educational leadership from St. Mary's University of Minnesota. For her dissertation, she used data from SLEDS to study the relationship between college credits earned and post college wages.

Nora lives in St. Anthony Village with her husband Tim and her dog Scout. Her hobbies include spending time with her four grown children and their families, hiking, reading, and cooking.

We are thrilled to have Nora join our team as SLEDS Director.

Contact Nora Morris

Maira Rosas-Lee, SLEDS Coordinator

This past July, Maira joined the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) as the Minnesota Student Survey and SLEDS Coordinator. Her professional experience in youth development, out-of-school activities, health promotion, and school-community collaboration was built working for nonprofit community organizations, universities, and state government.

Maira will be providing intentional training across the state on how to utilize data for program improvement and decision-making. She aims to bridge education and health data to address academic success and health equity in Minnesota using community-based and participatory methodologies.

Maira is a first-generation daughter of Mexican and Korean immigrants. She was raised in Bloomington and currently lives in a cozy suburban home with her toddler, husband, and two dogs. Her latest projects at home are working on her diamond art while listening to audiobooks; it makes her feel double-productive. Her alma mater is the University of Minnesota —both undergrad and grad school!

We are very lucky to have Maira as our new coordinator.

Contact Maira Rosas-Lee

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