Postschool Outcome Data Collection Programs: Examples from Two States

Abstract

There is a growing emphasis on academic performance and educational outcomes for students with disabilities. This focus is demonstrated, in part, by the federal requirement to collect post-school outcome data from these former students (i.e., Indicator 14). The purpose of this paper is to introduce two states' approaches to collecting post-school outcome data and offer recommendations and suggestions for implementing such data systems. The background and history of how these states developed systems to collect, analyze, and report post-school outcomes and how their data collection instruments were developed are described. Similarities, differences, and limitations of these systems are presented and recommendations for future research are provided.