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Student Outcomes FAQs

January 2026 Data Collection Pilot Project

With generous funding from The Edward E. Ford Foundation, NAIS is undertaking a multi-year research project called the NAIS Student Outcomes Project. In Phase 1 of this project, we will start by collecting data related to students’ college search process, specifically.

We are kicking off Phase 1 by collecting students’ college search process data from a small cohort of schools. We know that providing this information will take time and cross-department collaboration and we appreciate our pilot schools’ willingness to contribute to this important project and to help us improve the fuller, member-wide data collection process that will follow.

chevron-rightWhat Are the Goals of the Student Outcomes Project?hashtag

Through the NAIS Student Outcomes Project, we seek to better understand and articulate the impact of independent schools on all students.

One specific and important goal of the project is to examine outcomes for low-income students who graduate from independent schools and the degree to which our schools serve as effective springboards for their college and future aspirations.

Through this multi-year project, we aim to:

  • Better tell the story of independent schools. What we discover about the impact of our schools on students’ college outcomes will help inform and inspire not only college admission professionals but also prospective families, teachers, and funders—and the public at large.

  • Strengthen access and affordability initiatives at independent schools. Understanding the impact—and potential impact—of an independent school education on low-income students will deepen independent schools’ strong commitment to access and affordability. We also hope to uncover best practices that we can share with all schools.

chevron-rightWhat is the timing of the Phase 1 pilot data collection?hashtag

In Phase 1 of the NAIS Student Outcome Project, we will ask schools to provide data on the outcomes of their recent graduates’ college search process, within the following timeline.

  • January–February 2026: Phase 1 Pilot Data Collection We will collect students’ college search outcomes data from a small cohort of schools whose feedback will help us improve our data collection technology and process. Please submit your student data by February 20.

  • Spring 2026: Phase 1 Membership-Wide Data Collection What we learn from the pilot data collection will inform our data collection process with all member schools.

chevron-rightWhat information will be collected in Phase 1, and how?hashtag

For each student in your school’s last three graduating classes, we will ask for the following information, if it is available:

  • Colleges applied to

  • College acceptances

  • College chosen for enrollment

  • SAT, ACT and AP scores

  • Family household income

  • Family household net worth

  • Post-graduate choice, if not college

  • Race/ethnicity

  • ZIP code

  • Graduation year

Phase 1 pilot schools will complete two “roster”-based spreadsheets with this information, then upload them through an app created specifically for this project.

  • One roster will consist of each student in the last three graduating classes, the colleges to which each student applied, and the acceptance and enrollment decision.

  • The second roster will report the remaining pieces of information for each student.

Our plan is that in the full member-wide data collection in Spring 2026, we will have partnered with software providers to make data extraction from systems easier for schools.

Please note: At no point in any phase in this research project will you be asked to provide student names or contact information to NAIS.

chevron-rightWho at my school will provide this information? How could our college counselor input financial information they don’t have access to?hashtag

Your college counseling staff will be the best place to begin to gather this data about your students, as they likely have data on students’ college application results and other general information.

Then the appropriate office at your school—whether that is your financial aid, admissions, or business office—can provide additional information that sits outside of the college counselors’ purview, such as income and net worth data.

To help protect the privacy and confidentiality of students’ family financial data between offices collaborating to share data, here is one suggested approach to gathering and submitting the requested information:

College counselor receives roster and app linkNAIS provides the college counselor the student rosters (Excel file) and a link to access the NAIS Student Outcomes app.College counselor completes roster with available informationThe college counselor completes each student roster with as much information about each student as possible (e.g., general information and college search information).Share financial roster with appropriate officeThe college shares the roster that includes financial information with an individual from the office that holds the financial information (e.g., the financial aid, admissions, or business office—whichever office manages the financial aid process at your school).Financial office adds financial dataThat individual (from the financial aid, admission, or business office) adds to the student roster the financial information for as many of the students as possible. If you do not have financial information for a given student, please do not remove the student from the roster; rather, just leave the financial information for that student blank.Remove identifying columnsThat same individual deletes the column(s) with the student names and other identifying information and shares that completed roster with the college counselor.Upload roster without namesThe college counselor uploads the completed roster, without student names, in the NAIS Student Outcomes app.

chevron-rightWhat if we don’t have the financial information you’re seeking for some students?hashtag

While we hope to collect information on income or net worth for all your recent graduates, we understand that you may not have that information for all of them. We ask you to please provide the information for as many students as you can. If you don’t have financial data for any particular graduate, we would still like to know their college search outcomes; in that case, please do not remove the student from the roster—instead please just leave the financial information for that student blank.

chevron-rightHow will the information be kept secure?hashtag

Keeping school and student data safe and confidential is a key priority for this project. Please be assured of the following:

  • We will not ask your school to share any personally identifiable information about the students (such as student names or contact information).

  • We will store the information we collect in a secure database for NAIS’s internal use only. No individual school data will be accessible or available for reporting by anyone outside of the NAIS staff working on the project.

To learn more about our privacy and data security methods, you can refer to our terms and conditions.

chevron-rightWhy gather information about the college search process?hashtag

Independent schools aim to prepare students for success in ways other than and beyond finding success in college; however, how a student fares in accessing college is one important measure that we aim to better understand in this project. Understanding the outcomes of the college search process for students can help NAIS do the following, in support of the independent school sector:

  • Explore and illustrate the degree to which independent schools collectively serve low-income students and the impact our schools have on their college access trajectories;

  • Demonstrate to college admission offices that independent schools are reliable sources of well-prepared graduates from across the income spectrum that can help them meet a variety of their enrollment goals; and

  • Influence the willingness and ability amongst our schools to enhance investments in affordability strategies for low-income students.

chevron-rightAre you only collecting data on low-income graduates? How are you defining “low income?”hashtag

The long-term goals of this project do include exploring outcomes for low-income students, but are not limited ONLY to exploring them for low-income graduates. As such, in Phase 1, we are seeking data on the college search outcomes for all students who have graduated in the past three school years, not just low-income students.

chevron-rightWhat will NAIS do with the data it collects in this project?hashtag

The data will be used solely by NAIS staff for understanding the overall picture of the post-secondary process, choices, and decisions that graduates experience. While the final “products” of the research have yet to be determined, we anticipate that NAIS will issue a report of the aggregate findings accompanied by recommendations for strategic action and potential further research.

  • The data will not be used to rank, compare, or assess individual schools on their results.

  • The data will not be available to individual schools to view or compare their outcomes to other schools.

chevron-rightWho should I contact with questions and feedback?hashtag

If you have any questions, please contact Mark Mitchell, NAIS vice president for access and affordability, at [email protected].

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