Use this activity to:

• Prompt meaningful reflection across teams

• Surface shared challenges and opportunities

• Guide breakout discussions

• Shape action steps for post-convening planning

Tip: Adapt the questions to suit your local context and consider using this tool to anchor deeper strategy conversations. It's a great way to spark collaboration and clarify what your region needs to do next.

Why it matters: Whether you're a school leader, district staff member, or community partner, this tool provides rich insights for data-driven decisions. It enables comparisons across cohorts, demographics, and regions—empowering your work to improve student success.

Why it’s useful:
This dashboard is an essential tool for preparing convenings, district data dives, or financial aid planning sessions. It helps regional and school teams:

• Identify which schools are on track or falling behind on FAFSA/WASFA completion

• Tailor event planning and outreach efforts based on real-time data

• Facilitate data-informed discussions during convenings and workshops

• Set completion goals and monitor progress throughout the year

• Celebrate wins and spotlight best practices from high-performing schools

Whether you're planning a cross-district convening, preparing a presentation for leadership, or guiding a school through postsecondary improvement planning, the WSAC dashboard supports meaningful, equity-focused action using clear, up-to-date data.

Why it worked:

• Shared data ahead of time so partners could arrive ready to dig in

• Included a student panel to ground the conversation in real experiences

• Facilitated breakout discussions by sector to identify action steps

• Kept it regional—making it feel focused, personal, and collaborative

Use this convening as a model if you're:

• Trying to get multiple school districts and colleges at the same table

• Looking to anchor your event in local data

• Building shared ownership around student outcomes

How to Use This:
Use or adapt this survey to:

• Identify which themes are most relevant to your audience (dual credit, financial aid, postsecondary pathways, etc.)

• Recruit future presenters and discussion leaders

• Understand participant engagement levels and event impact

• Continuously refine your convening based on real-time input

Pro Tip: Send the form link at the end of your convening and again via follow-up email to maximize responses. Reviewing this data with your planning team can help prioritize themes, elevate new voices, and build momentum.

How to Use It in Convenings:

• Prepare ahead by pulling regional data on postsecondary enrollment, persistence, and credential completion.

• Disaggregate by race/ethnicity and income to spotlight equity gaps.

• Use live demos or printed visuals during your convening to ground conversations in real data.

• Facilitate breakout discussions around what the data shows and how schools can respond with aligned strategies.

Tips for First-Time Users:

• Start by selecting your region or district in the dashboard.

• Focus on year-over-year trends and subgroup comparisons.

• Bring in postsecondary partners to interpret and act on the findings with you.

Pro Tip: Want a walkthrough? Reach out to Alma Castillo (alma.castillo@esd105.org) to schedule a guided session with your school or team.

How to use it:
If you’re organizing a convening or student panel, these questions can be a helpful starting point. To make sure students feel safe and supported, partner with someone who already has a strong relationship with the students, such as a college staff member or advisor. In both of our convenings, the panel was hosted by a staff member from College Success Foundation (CSF) who worked closely with the students and helped them prepare and feel comfortable sharing their stories.

These panels are a powerful way to ground convenings in student experience and bring real-world insight into the conversation around postsecondary transitions.

Why it worked:
-Rooted in shared local data
-Trusted facilitator for student panel
-Clear time for schools to reflect + commit to next steps
-Leadership voice helped drive urgency and alignment

Tip: If replicating this, partner with someone who already works closely with the student panelists—they’ll help students feel safe and supported sharing their stories.

Best Practice: Schedule a brief one-on-one with each presenter ahead of the convening. Even 15–20 minutes can go a long way in building rapport, clarifying expectations, and making sure everyone feels prepared and valued. It’s a small touch that leads to stronger sessions and smoother facilitation.

Tip: Don’t be afraid to co-create your agenda with partners and leave space for it to evolve. Flexibility is key in building a convening that truly reflects the needs of your region.

Best Practice: Be sure to send calendar invites directly to presenters for the sessions they’re involved in. It makes it easier for them to remember their role and gives them a chance to ask clarifying questions ahead of time.

This is a simple but impactful strategy that builds trust, encourages collaboration, and ensures smoother facilitation the day of the event.

Tip: Create one of these for every convening and send it to presenters and logistics staff ahead of time. Include notes on when to bring in food, how to manage transitions, and backup plans for activities. This document will become your team’s best friend during the event.

• Center a clear theme and purpose for the day

• Align breakout sessions with key data sources (ERDC, WSAC, student surveys)

• Invite the right school district and postsecondary teams to present

• Begin mapping how grant deliverables are met

Think of this as the “rough sketch” that helps your event take shape—and a key piece of your recipe when building your own convenings.

It outlines:

• Sample session structure

• Equity-focused guiding questions

• Best practices for integrating student voice and data

• Tips for strengthening cross-sector collaboration

  
  

Tip: This guide is most useful when co-created by both K-12 and higher ed partners in advance of the convening. Schedule planning meetings early, and tailor each session to real, local data and stories. Don’t forget to anchor the conversation in what students are telling you, directly or through survey data!

This activity will help shift mindsets from systems-focused to student-centered, anchoring the work in empathy and equity.

Tip: Pair this with posters, markers, and Post-it Notes. Consider grouping attendees intentionally (e.g., cross-role or cross-district) and allow at least 30 minutes.

How to use this in your own convening:

• Start with this essential question to surface beliefs and goals.

• Give participants 3–5 minutes to write responses individually.

• Collect and theme their answers into key categories ahead of your next session or discussion.

• Use the resulting themes to guide breakout sessions, shape district goals, or anchor a visioning exercise.

This activity helped shift our region into a data mindset—one rooted in student-centered definitions of success.

How to use it:
Use the Report Card to prepare for convenings by gathering district-specific insights. Look at trends over time, disparities by race/ethnicity or program participation, and alignment between school goals and actual outcomes. This can inform the types of questions you ask during breakout sessions or help district teams see patterns they may not have noticed before.

Why it matters:
Postsecondary readiness doesn’t happen in a vacuum—it’s deeply connected to what happens inside schools every day. The Report Card helps surface systemic gaps and equity concerns and gives teams a common language to talk about data. It also allows facilitators to come into the room with a stronger understanding of each district’s reality, which builds credibility and promotes more meaningful engagement.

Use this as a blueprint when inviting a new postsecondary institution into your convening series. Consider how you can frame the convening’s purpose, share past success stories, and collaboratively design a meaningful experience tailored to your region.

Bonus tip: walk through the space ahead of time and take photos to visualize flow and signage needs.

Inside you'll find five clear implementation phases, guiding questions, activity ideas, and lessons learned—all designed to help you adapt the framework to your region. Pair this with the visual overview and toolkit resources for full support.

Use this visual as a quick reference to guide implementation or introduce the framework to new partners.