New state data tool lets families compare graduates’ college, job and earnings outcomes

Mansfield and Richland County families gained a new way on Sept. 12, 2026, to check what happens to local graduates after high school — whether they enroll in college, complete a degree, find work in Ohio and what they earn for up to six years.

The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce announced Ohio High School Outcomes and Ohio Career and Technical Education Outcomes on Aug. 27 and launched them for public use Sept. 12. The first tracks Ohio high school graduates; the second reports the same outcomes for career-technical education concentrators.

That gives a local parent weighing a district high school or a career-tech path such as Pioneer a way to look beyond graduation-day promises and compare longer-term results.

Stephen D. Dackin, director of the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce, said the dashboards are intended to help families, schools and employers make decisions based on students’ lives after high school.

“Parents want to know their child’s education leads to a brighter future. Employers want graduates who are ready to contribute on day one. These dashboards provide a new level of insight into students’ journeys beyond high school so families can plan with confidence, schools can build on what works, and employers can count on a stronger pipeline of Ohio talent,” Dackin said.

What families can compare

The dashboards cover the graduating Classes of 2018 through 2025, with as many as six years of post-graduation results.

College figures show the share of graduates who enrolled, with separate measures for two-year and four-year schools. Completion figures show the share who earned degrees, including associate and bachelor’s degrees.

The reports connect school information with National Student Clearinghouse college data and Ohio unemployment-insurance wage records. The state counts a graduate as employed during a year if those wage records show at least $100 in earnings. Earnings are adjusted to 2024 prices.

A local use for the data

Richland County families can use the Ohio High School Outcomes tools to search by district, school, career-technical planning district or career-tech field, then compare those results with regional or statewide figures.

For a Richland County student considering Pioneer, that means looking up Pioneer CTC JVSD at the career-technical planning-district level. The state identifies Pioneer as planning district No. 200083 in Shelby on its career-technical planning-district list.

A family can then examine college enrollment, degree completion, employment and earnings for concentrators in the career-tech fields displayed. For students considering a district high school, the school and district filters provide the same kind of comparison.

The figures do not amount to a ready-made verdict on a Richland County school or program. They give families and taxpayers a new way to look up local outcomes and ask what is behind them.

Read averages carefully

The state describes Ohio High School Outcomes as an informational resource, not a formal accountability tool. Its figures describe groups of graduates and cannot predict what will happen to one student.

The employment data also leave out graduates working in other states and those in jobs not covered by Ohio’s unemployment-insurance system. Results involving fewer than 10 people are suppressed, so a small graduating class or narrow career-tech field may show no figure.

At a counselor meeting or a visit to Pioneer, families can now ask concrete questions: What share of graduates in this program enrolled in college? How many completed a degree? How many appeared in Ohio employment records, and what did they earn?

Those answers cannot choose a path for one student. But they can help a family test whether a school’s promise of real options is borne out by up to six years of results.