California Cradle-to-Career Data System

California's Cradle-to-Career System seeks to foster evidence-based decision-making to help Californians build more equitable futures and empower individuals to reach their full potential. The Office of Cradle-to-Career Data (C2C) is a new state investment working to build a statewide data system that will provide tools to help students reach their goals and deliver reliable and actionable information on education and workforce outcomes. California’s information on early education, K-12 schools, colleges, social services, and employment is currently separate and disconnected. That’s why California authorized the creation of the Cradle-to-Career Data System. Through a collaborative 18-month planning process, we designed a data system to be a suite of user-friendly resources focused on early learning through K-12 and higher education, as well as on the financial aid and social services that help students reach their goals. It will include: - Planning and application tools for students, families, and educators to streamline the college and financial aid processes and monitor student progress, - Dashboards, query tools, and an analytical data set for researchers, policymakers, educators, and community members to inform research, advocacy, and policy analysis, and - Community engagement and training to raise awareness of the data system and ensure it can be used by students, families, educators, researchers, and policymakers.