Dive Brief:
- The Council on Integrity Results Reporting — formed by several coding bootcamp providers, reviewers and funders — has released its first report of student outcomes, revealing an average 92% graduation rate and 80% in-field job placement rate.
- Campus Technology reports that the numbers, which cover the first half of 2016, also show grads receiving an average $70,412 starting salary, and CIRR claims full transparency with members required to report on 100% of their students.
- In their reports, coding bootcamps are required to detail how many students graduated on time, how many students accepted a job in their field within three to six months, how many are working other jobs, how many were hired by the school itself, and starting salaries for those with jobs in their fields, in addition to having an independent third party certify their numbers.
Dive Insight:
The CIRR report isn't the first to detail high outcomes from coding bootcamps. A Course Report study in September detailed over 70% of bootcamp graduates reporting employment in their field of study, and 60% receiving raises as a result of what they learned. That study also found women comprising 40% of bootcamp students and African-Americans among the highest-earning graduates.
The for-profit training model has increasingly gained credibility over the past few years, and in some instances, bootcamps have partnered with traditional institutions in pilots to gain access to federal student loan eligibility — though some questioned the move, fearing it could send the model down the path of embattled traditional for-profits. Those schools, likewise, have also looked toward the model as part of their future.
Beyond the CIRR's membership, other coding bootcamp providers have also worked to back up their numbers with third-party verification. As The Flatiron School Founder and President Adam Enbar told us in 2015, his bootcamp's 99% job placement rate is verified by an independent audit — a move he suggested for the entire sector.
