Common Data Set
What is the Common Data Set?
“The Common Data Set (CDS) initiative brings together data providers across higher education with publishers, represented by the College Board, Peterson's, and U.S. News & World Report. The shared goal of this collaboration is to improve the quality and accuracy of the information available to students moving into higher education, while cutting down the reporting burden on the institutions supplying that data.
That goal is met by building clear, standardized data items and definitions that pin down exactly which cohort each item refers to. The data conventions used by the U.S. Department of Education in its own higher education surveys often guide how these items continue to develop. Each item goes through broad review by the CDS Advisory Board, and by data providers from secondary schools and two- and four-year colleges, and by feedback from the people who use the CDS day-to-day, as part of an annual review process.
The CDS is a set of standards and definitions of data items rather than a survey instrument or set of data represented in a database. Each of the higher education surveys conducted by the participating publishers incorporates items from the CDS as well as unique items proprietary to each publisher. Consequently, the publishers’ surveys differ in that they utilize varying numbers of items from the CDS.” (Common Data Set Initiative)
VSU Common Data Set
VSU's Common Data Set information is available using the following links.