Number of students graduating from high school on time with a diploma
MenuoutcomeFY2026ED9
Tier 1: Collect todayTier 3: Needs a partner
A count of services or people, held in the organization’s own records. The outcome sits in a record another agency holds. You hold the participant list and count it.
You count your own participants; the school or district record confirms the outcome.
Partner routes for school records
- WA: school attendance, grades, credits and graduation progress Held by Seattle Public Schools.
- Rule
- FERPA consent, 34 CFR 99.30, or an approved school-official arrangement under 34 CFR 99.31(a)(1)(i)(B); district DSA, authorized student list and required consent or approved exemption.
- Lag
- Event lag NR; automated files are contemplated. Processing: approximately 2-3 weeks, rising to 4-6 weeks after December 2026.
- Cost
- The standard DSA states no payments under the agreement.
- Who may request
- Approved community-based partners meeting district criteria and completing agreement and training requirements.
- CA: student achievement and longitudinal education outcomes Held by California Department of Education, including CALPADS and assessment records.
- Rule
- Approved work for or on behalf of CDE under FERPA's studies exception, 34 CFR 99.31(a)(6), or applicable audit and evaluation provisions, 34 CFR 99.31(a)(3) and 99.35; concept review and MOU.
- Lag
- Data-year and event lag NR; availability depends on collections and requested linkage.
- Cost
- Published charges include $85 per hour staff; $500 initial support for 60 days; $220 per hour legal; $200 executive processing.
- Who may request
- Qualified university or nonprofit researchers and organizations conducting an eligible CDE-approved study or evaluation; ordinary grant reporting alone does not establish eligibility.
- NY: graduation and postsecondary enrollment and persistence; other approved school outcomes Held by New York City Public Schools; approved administrative datasets.
- Rule
- Research Review process, project-specific DSA, and a qualifying FERPA basis such as 34 CFR 99.31(a)(6) for an eligible study. Nonprofit status alone is insufficient.
- Lag
- Annual files; attendance also has monthly files. Fixed event-to-extract lag NR.
- Cost
- NR.
- Who may request
- Approved external researchers and organizations with an accepted project and disclosure basis.
- IL: attendance, GPA, credits and graduation Held by Chicago Public Schools.
- Rule
- FERPA plus CPS's stricter local policy: student-level requests without active parental consent will be denied. External administrative-data request through IRBManager; a federal exception does not override CPS's policy.
- Lag
- Event lag NR. Processing: approximately 30 days to respond, then another 30 days to fulfill an approved request.
- Cost
- Secondary-extract fee NR. A $50 RRB proposal fee applies when that separate research-review process is required.
- Who may request
- CPS partners, including program providers seeking funding continuation or program evaluation, and approved researchers.
Caveats
- FERPA's studies exception has three purposes and needs a written agreement. FERPA's studies exception has three purposes: developing, validating or administering predictive tests; administering student aid; or improving instruction. It requires a written agreement specifying purpose, use and destruction. The school-official exception instead requires an outsourced institutional function, direct district control, and use and redisclosure restrictions. A nonprofit's desire to report grant outcomes does not, by itself, satisfy either exception. Source
Agreement templates
- Seattle Public Schools standard community-based-organization DSA, 2026-27 A concrete district-to-community-partner model: authorized students, permitted educational data, security, consent, reporting and termination provisions.
- Colorado Department of Education research DSA template A master agreement plus project and use-case appendices: fields, uses, access, linkage, retention and destruction, publication review and incident handling.
Definition of Students: those reported in ED1A Key Terms On Time: Within four years of starting 9th grade How to Preferred method is school/district graduation records for student beneficiaries. Measure/ Beneficiary self-reports may also be utilized. Collect Data
- Instrument
- eGrants Performance Measure Module
- Target
- Applicant proposes the target