CIRR stands for Council on Integrity in Results Reporting (CIRR). Hackbright joined CIRR as a founding member along with a large group of other coding schools to create a simple, standardized outcomes report of programs, including graduation and employment rates and median salary.

Hackbright Academy joined CIRR because we’ve always been committed to full transparency of our results. This way students can easily compare programs and know that the numbers being promoted by any of the member schools are standardized. Last year, we published a third-party audited report to show our outcomes. Unfortunately, we didn’t see many other schools follow this model. By founding CIRR with Skills Fund, Course Report and other leading coding schools, we hope that a standard way of reporting outcomes becomes the new norm throughout the entire industry.

There are several differences. First, CIRR bases its calculations on graduates from a six-month period, while past Hackbright reports used longer time periods resulting in larger sample sizes. Second, CIRR defines “in-field” jobs using government job definitions and positions that require the skills taught only in the course, while Hackbright used the definition of “in-field” jobs that included a larger variety of technology-related positions excluded by CIRR. Third, CIRR does not include sub-segments such as apprenticeships, internships, and short-term contract work within its definition of “in-field” jobs, while Hackbright would include such job placements. Finally, CIRR assumes for purposes of its calculation that graduates who did not provide job-placement information are not employed, while Hackbright excluded from its calculations graduates who did not respond or confirm.

Historically there have not been consistent frameworks for comparing student outcome data school by school. Additionally there is a lot of false data out there. If other schools aren’t in CIRR, ask why. It’s all about transparency. CIRR is needed for students, as it makes sure that every program is held to complete transparency. It means you can compare every program that’s a part of CIRR on an apples-to-apples basis. In doing so, you’ll see that Hackbright has a 99 percent graduation rate and one of the highest median salaries for its graduates, pretty amazing given the barriers women have faced when getting into the field!

According to the National Association of College and Employers, the mean starting salary for 4-year Bachelor’s Degree Computer Science graduates is $69,124 and 72% receive standard employment full-time.* Despite the barriers women may face, our graduates are not only changing the ratio in tech, but they’re leading the way in closing the gender pay gap earning a median of $88,000 a year – among the highest salary of CIRR reporting partners.