The National Postsecondary Education Cooperative has sponsored two working groups on student outcomes, one exploring the issue from a policy perspective and the other, from a data perspective. This report presents the results of the data perspective case studies, discusses the strengths and weaknesses of the "state of the art" in student outcomes data, and provides Working Group recommendations for enhancing the quality, breadth, and usefulness of outcomes data. The first section provides background information about student outcomes and the role of the Working Group. Section II describes the goals, methodology, and results of the case studies in Texas and Virginia, and discusses current student outcomes data. Section III presents the Working Groups recommendations. The first recommendation is that the quality and scope of student outcomes data must be expanded by linking various sources of data. The second recommendation is that the concept of reciprocity must underlie database development, analysis, use, and dissemination. Another important direction for the future will be to expand the operational definition of postsecondary student and thereby extend the student databases. In-depth work is needed on definitions overall, and guidelines must be developed to help states and other organizations use databases appropriately. A follow-up project should be implemented to integrate the work of the data perspective and educational policy Working Groups. (Contains 3 tables and 12 references.) (SLD)