This website presents results from a proof-of-concept data project designed to support the development of processes and technologies for the NSWERS, its partners and affiliates. Although sourced by information from official systems, the data used for this project is unaudited. Efforts have been made to maximize validity, but in some cases the data presented herein may be inaccurate or incomplete.

By continuing, you acknowledge this website is available for demonstration purposes only.




Pathways to Learning and Earning:

An Analysis of the 2011 Cohort of Nebraska Public High School Students

This analysis highlights the contribution of one group of Nebraska youth to Nebraska business and industry. It traces the education and employment pathways of Nebraska’s 2011 public high school student cohort over more than a decade - from high school into college, to and from two-year and four-year postsecondary institutions, and into the workforce.

Tip: Scroll up/down or press the right (forward) and left (backward) arrows on the keyboard to advance through the data visualizations.

Introduction

The data visualization at right depicts Nebraska’s 2011 public high school cohort. At a glance, this figure shows the distribution of 22,541 students across 286 public high schools. Each circle represents a unique public high school where circle size is proportional to the number of students - the larger the circle, the greater the share of students from the cohort at the school.

Tip: Hover over the circles with your cursor to display the school's name and the number of students (from the 2011 cohort) at each public high school.

Gender

In this visualization we present a waffle plot displaying proportions of the 2011 cohort separated by gender. Here, each dot represents approximately 225 students. The cohort is largely balanced with approximately 49% female (green dots) and 51% male (purple dots) students.

Race/Ethnicity

Again, using the waffle plot, at right we display the racial/ethnic makeup of the 2011 cohort. Each dot represents about 225 students. White (non-Hispanic) students make up the majority of the cohort (75%) as shown by the magenta-colored dots; Hispanic students, represented by the sea green-colored dots, make up 10% of the cohort; followed by Black (non-Hispanic) students (6%) in green; students of more than one race (3%) in orange; and Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander students colored blue, Asian students in purple, and American Indian/Alaska Native student in ivory each making up about 2% of the cohort, respectively.


High School Graduation

Ultimately, 90% of students from the 2011 cohort graduated from a Nebraska public high school. These proportions are presented in the plot at left where, again, each dot represents approximately 225 students – teal dots representing those students who graduated from high school, and orange dots the non-graduates.

Postsecondary Persistence

At right we present information about postsecondary persistence. This data visualization depicts the location and flow of students from the 2011 cohort enrolled in college as of January 2012 (about eight months after their expected high school graduation date) until January 2014 (two and a half years following expected high school graduation).

Student origins and destinations are represented by the outside segments of the circle, each assigned a different color. The chords (or student pathways) are the same color as their destination. Chord width indicates the relative volume of students moving from one segment of the circle to another. The direction of the chord is shown by the arrowhead, where each chord points towards its destination.

Tip: Hover over a chord to display student flow statistics. You can click on a circle segment (outside portion) to zoom in on the movement of students to and from a particular postsecondary institution. Click on selected segment to zoom out.

Jan 2009
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Student Pathways

This animated visualization depicts the actual education-workforce pathways of Nebraska students from the 2011 cohort. Each dot represents about 10 students. At the beginning of the animation, the cohort is clustered at the high school node near the top of the screen. As time progresses, students begin to move from high school into postsecondary education (ring of postsecondary institution nodes at left), the Nebraska workforce (ring of industry nodes at right) or are clustered at the “Unknown” node near the bottom of the screen. Learn More

Each location or node is identified by name and includes the proportion of students from the 2011 cohort located there at each point in time (month and year).

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Approximately 31 percent of students from the 2011 public high school cohort could not be traced into the Nebraska workforce. There are not enough commonly collected data elements between NSWERS’ partners and affiliates to perform robust data matching processes. If a K-12 student does not attend a public postsecondary institution in Nebraska, we currently lack the data attributes necessary to make definitive links into Nebraska’s workforce data systems. These students are disproportionately Black, Hispanic, male, and economically disadvantaged.

  • Black (non-Hispanic) and Hispanic students of any race are 2 times and 1.8 times, respectively, more likely than white students to lack matchable data to workforce records.
  • Male students are 1.4 times more likely to lack matchable data to workforce records.
  • Students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch are 2.1 times more likely to lack matchable data to workforce records than those who are not eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.

For more information, please review the LB 1160 Report (see pages 7-9).

Postsecondary Outcomes

This data visualization highlights postsecondary education outcomes. The green outer circle represents the entire 2011 cohort – more than twenty-two thousand Nebraska students. Inside are two aqua circles depicting the proportion of students from the cohort that “Attended College” and the proportion that “Did Not Attend College.” Within the “Attended College” circle are three magenta circles of students that “Attended Two-Year Only,” “Attended Four-Year Only,” or “Attended Both Two- and Four-Year” institutions, along with the corresponding graduation outcomes.

Tip: Hover over a circle to display the count of students from the 2011 cohort corresponding to each postsecondary outcome segment showcased in the data visualization.

Click on a circle (or multiple circles) to calculate the proportion of students selected. These results are displayed near the top of the data visualization.

Postsecondary Degrees (Two-Year Institutions)

The line graph and corresponding data table present the number of degrees awarded to 2011 cohort students by Nebraska’s public two-year postsecondary institutions over the past decade.

College Number of Degrees Conferred
CENTRAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE 1,316
METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY COLLEGE 803
MID-PLAINS COMMUNITY COLLEGE 330
NORTHEAST COMMUNITY COLLEGE 891
SOUTHEAST COMMUNITY COLLEGE 1,386
WESTERN NEBRASKA COMMUNITY COLLEGE 225

Postsecondary Degrees (Four-Year Institutions)

The line graph and corresponding data table present the number of degrees awarded to 2011 cohort students by Nebraska’s public four-year postsecondary institutions over the past decade.

College Number of Degrees Conferred
CHADRON STATE COLLEGE 144
PERU STATE COLLEGE 101
UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA-LINCOLN 2,136
UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA AT KEARNEY 651
UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA AT OMAHA 1077
UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA MEDICAL CENTER 319
WAYNE STATE COLLEGE 352

Earnings (Two-Year Graduates)

Five years after expected degree completion, the average (median) two-year degree completer from the 2011 cohort makes about $15,000 more annually than those students who started a two-year degree but did not complete ($39,700 vs. $25,250).

Degree Attainment Post Two-Year Degree

Of those that completed a two-year degree, 22% went on to complete a degree at a four-year institution, most of which were at public colleges and universities in Nebraska.

Top 5 Industries for Two-Year Degree Completer (+ Median Wage):

  1. Health Care and Social Assistance ($44,000)
  2. Educational Services ($41,500)
  3. Retail Trade ($48,000)
  4. Public Administration ($52,000)
  5. Construction ($60,000)

Top 5 Industries for Two-Year Non-completers (+ Median Wage):

  1. Health Care and Social Assistance ($27,500)
  2. Accommodation and Food Services ($20,250)
  3. Retail Trade ($28,250)
  4. Waste Management and Remediation Services ($21,500)
  5. Construction ($36,000)

Earnings (Four-Year Graduates)

Five years after expected degree completion, the average (median) four-year degree completer from the 2011 cohort makes about $17,000 more annually than those students who did not complete a four-year degree.

Top 5 Industries for Four-Year Degree Completers (+ 2020 Median Wage):

  1. Educational Services ($75,500)
  2. Health Care and Social Assistance ($66,250)
  3. Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services ($66,000)
  4. Finance and Insurance ($62,000)
  5. Public Administration ($69,500)

Top 5 Industries for Four-Year Non-completers (+ 2020 Median Wage):

  1. Health Care and Social Assistance ($27,500)
  2. Retail Trade ($35,000)
  3. Accommodation and Food Services ($23,750)
  4. Finance and Insurance ($46,750)
  5. Construction ($52,500)
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Industry Employment

This visualization displays changing ranks of the top 12 Nebraska industries employing 2011 cohort students over the past decade. Each bar represents a different Nebraska industry area (industries are grouped according to NAICS standard industry codes). The length of each bar indicates the total number of 2011 cohort students employed by said industry at each point in time. The month and year are presented at the bottom right of the chart. As time progresses, the size and rank order of the bars will shift based on the number of students employed in each industry area across time. In general, you will notice a transition from an early concentration of 2011 cohort students working in the Food Service and Retail industries to employment in health care and education.

End of Analysis

You have reached the end of the analysis. To learn more about the Nebraska Statewide Workforce & Educational Reporting System (NSWERS), please visit https://nswers.org/.

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