Building the Data Infrastructure Detroit Needs to Reach Its 2030 Talent Goals

For more than a decade, the Detroit Region has rallied around a shared vision: increasing postsecondary attainment to 60% and cutting the racial equity gap in half by 2030. Achieving those goals requires more than commitment. It requires the ability to understand how students move through and between institutions, where barriers exist, and which interventions are producing results.

That is why the Detroit Regional Chamber launched the Detroit Drives Degrees (D3) Data Collaborative.

A new white paper, Engines of Progress: Engines of Progress: Building Longitudinal Postsecondary Data Infrastructure for Degree Attainment, Equity, and Opportunity in Detroit, highlights lessons learned from the Collaborative’s Community of Practice and outlines why building regional data infrastructure is essential to advancing student success, equity, and economic opportunity across Southeast Michigan.

The Detroit Region’s colleges and universities all play a role in increasing educational attainment. Yet for years, institutions have relied on different data systems, definitions, reporting practices, and measures of success. While each institution has important information about its own students, no single institution can see the entire regional picture.

This fragmentation makes it difficult to answer critical questions:

• Are more students progressing and completing credentials?
• How are transfer students performing across institutions?
• Where do equity gaps emerge?
• Which strategies are producing the strongest outcomes?

Without shared data infrastructure, regional leaders are left trying to solve regional challenges with incomplete information.

The D3 Data Collaborative brings together colleges and universities from across the region to participate in the National Student Clearinghouse Postsecondary Data Partnership (PDP), creating a stronger foundation for understanding student outcomes over time. The

Collaborative represents institutions serving approximately 70% of undergraduate students in the Detroit Region. To support participation, Detroit Drives Degrees partnered with ResearchEd to convene a Community of Practice where institutional researchers could share challenges, identify opportunities, and explore how longitudinal data can support both campus and regional goals.

The conversations revealed several important lessons for the future of data-informed student success efforts.

The white paper concludes with a clear message: achieving Detroit’s attainment and equity goals will require sustained investment in data capacity, governance, benchmarking, and collaboration. Regional success depends on creating common metrics, strengthening institutional capacity, and building systems that make data both accessible and actionable.

Progress toward the Detroit Region’s talent goals will not be driven by any single institution working alone. It will be powered by a shared commitment to understanding student outcomes, learning from one another, and using evidence to guide decision-making.

The D3 Data Collaborative represents an important step toward that future.

As Detroit continues to build a stronger talent pipeline, investments in regional data infrastructure will help ensure that students, institutions, employers, and communities all have the information needed to succeed.