Guide to Sources

The Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS) provides information on persistence, progress, and attainment for 6 years after initial time of entry into postsecondary education. BPS includes traditional and nontraditional (e.g., older) students and is representative of all beginning students in postsecondary education in a given year. Initially, these individuals are surveyed in the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) during the year in which they first begin their postsecondary education. These same students are surveyed again 2 and 5 years later through the BPS. By starting with a cohort that has already entered postsecondary education and following it for 6 years, the BPS can determine the extent to which students who start postsecondary education at various ages differ in their progress, persistence, and attainment, as well as their entry into the workforce. The first BPS was conducted in 1989–90, with follow-ups in 1992 (BPS:90/92) and 1994 (BPS:90/94). The second BPS was conducted in 1995–96, with follow-ups in 1998 (BPS:96/98) and 2001 (BPS:96/01). The third BPS was conducted in 2003–04, with follow-ups in 2006 (BPS:04/06) and 2009 (BPS:04/09).

The fourth BPS was conducted in 2012, with follow-ups in 2014 (BPS:12/14) and 2017 (BPS:12/17). In the base year, 1,690 institutions were sampled, of which all were confirmed eligible to participate. In addition, 128,120 students were sampled, and 123,600 were eligible to participate in the NPSAS:12 study. In the first follow-up (BPS:12/14), of the 35,540 eligible NPSAS:12 sample students, 24,770 responded, for an unweighted student response rate of 70 percent and a weighted response rate of 68 percent.

Further information on BPS may be obtained from

Aurora D’Amico
David Richards
Longitudinal Surveys Branch
Sample Surveys Division
National Center for Education Statistics
550 12th Street SW
Washington, DC 20202
aurora.damico@ed.gov
david.richards@ed.gov
https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/bps

The Common Core of Data (CCD) is NCES’s primary database on public elementary and secondary education in the United States. It is a comprehensive, annual, national statistical database of all public elementary and secondary schools and school districts containing data designed to be comparable across all states. This database can be used to select samples for other NCES surveys and provide basic information and descriptive statistics on public elementary and secondary schools and schooling in general.

The CCD collects statistical information annually from approximately 99,000 public elementary and secondary schools and approximately 19,000 public school districts (including supervisory unions and regional education service agencies) in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE), Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Three categories of information are collected in the CCD survey: general descriptive information on schools and school districts, data on students and staff, and fiscal data. The general school and district descriptive information includes name, address, and phone number; the data on students and staff include selected demographic characteristics; and the fiscal data pertain to revenues and current expenditures.

The EDFacts data collection system is the primary collection tool for CCD nonfiscal data. Coordinators from state education agencies (SEAs) submit the CCD nonfiscal data at different levels (school, agency, and state) to the EDFacts collection system. Prior to submitting CCD files to EDFacts, SEAs must collect and compile information from their respective local education agencies (LEAs) through established administrative records systems within their state or jurisdiction.

Starting in school year 2022–23, EDFacts modernized its reporting to support the growth of state data systems. The new system incorporates data quality checks at upload and requires states to address data quality issues prior to data submission. Even though the CCD is a universe collection and thus not subject to sampling errors, nonsampling errors can occur. The two potential sources of nonsampling errors are nonresponse and inaccurate reporting. NCES attempts to minimize nonsampling errors through the use of annual training of SEA coordinators, extensive quality reviews, and survey editing procedures.

The NCES Education Demographic and Geographic Estimate (EDGE) program develops annually updated point locations (latitude and longitude) for public elementary and secondary schools included in the CCD online tools. The estimated location of schools and agency administrative offices is primarily derived from the physical address reported in the CCD directory files. The NCES EDGE program collaborates with the U.S. Census Bureau’s EDGE Branch to develop point locations for schools reported in the annual CCD directory file. For more information about NCES school point data, please see https://nces.ed.gov/programs/edge/Geographic/SchoolLocations .

The CCD survey consists of five main components and is divided into two data content areas: nonfiscal and fiscal. The nonfiscal component consists of the Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey, the Local Education Agency (School District) Universe Survey, and the State Nonfiscal Survey of Public Elementary/Secondary Education. The fiscal component consists of the National Public Education Financial Survey (NPEFS) and the School District Finance Survey (F-33).

The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010–11 (ECLS-K:2011) provides detailed information on the school achievement and experiences of students throughout their elementary school years. The students who participated in the ECLS-K:2011 were followed longitudinally from the kindergarten year (the 2010–11 school year) through the spring of 2016, when most of them were expected to be in 5th grade. This sample of students is designed to be nationally representative of all students who were enrolled in kindergarten or who were of kindergarten age and being educated in an ungraded classroom or school in the United States in the 2010–11 school year, including those in public and private schools, those who attended full-day and part-day programs, those who were in kindergarten for the first time, and those who were kindergarten repeaters. Students who attended early learning centers or institutions that offered education only through kindergarten are included in the study sample and represented in the cohort if those institutions were included in NCES’s Common Core of Data or Private School Survey universe collections.

The ECLS-K:2011 placed emphasis on measuring students’ experiences within multiple contexts and development in multiple domains. The design of the study included the collection of information from the students, their parents/guardians, their teachers, and their schools. Information was also collected from their before- and after-school care providers in the kindergarten year.

A nationally representative sample of approximately 18,170 children from about 1,310 schools participated in the base-year administration of the ECLS-K:2011 in the 2010–11 school year. The sample included children from different racial/ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. Asian/Pacific Islander students were oversampled to ensure that the sample included enough students of this race/ethnicity to make accurate estimates for the group as a whole. Nine data collections were conducted: fall and spring of the children’s kindergarten year (the base year), fall 2011 and spring 2012 (the 1st-grade year), fall 2012 and spring 2013 (the 2nd-grade year), spring 2014 (the 3rd-grade year), spring 2015 (the 4th-grade year), and spring 2016 (the 5th-grade year). Although the study refers to later rounds of data collection by the grade the majority of children were expected to be in (that is, the modal grade for children who were in kindergarten in the 2010–11 school year), children are included in subsequent data collections regardless of their grade level.

A total of approximately 780 of the 1,310 originally sampled schools participated during the base year of the study. This translates to a weighted unit response rate (weighted by the base weight) of 63 percent for the base year. In the base year, the weighted child assessment unit response rate was 87 percent for the fall data collection and 85 percent for the spring collection, and the weighted parent unit response rate was 74 percent for the fall collection and 67 percent for the spring collection.

Fall and spring data collections were conducted in the 2011–12 school year, when the majority of the children were in the 1st grade. The fall collection was conducted within a 33 percent subsample of the full base-year sample, and the spring collection was conducted within the full base-year sample. The weighted child assessment unit response rate was 89 percent for the fall data collection and 88 percent for the spring collection, and the weighted parent unit response rate was 87 percent for the fall data collection and 76 percent for the spring data collection.

In the 2012–13 data collection (when the majority of the children were in the 2nd grade) the weighted child assessment unit response rate was 84.0 percent in the fall and 83.4 percent in the spring. In the 2014 spring data collection (when the majority of the children were in the 3rd grade), the weighted child assessment unit response rate was 79.9 percent. In the 2015 spring data collection (when the majority of the children were in the 4th grade), the weighted child assessment unit response rate was 77.3 percent; in the 2016 spring data collection (when the majority of the children were in the 5th grade), the weighted child assessment unit response rate was 72.4 percent.

Further information on ECLS-K:2011 may be obtained from

Jill McCarroll
Longitudinal Surveys Branch
Sample Surveys Division
National Center for Education Statistics
550 12th Street SW
Washington, DC 20202
ecls@ed.gov
https://nces.ed.gov/ecls/kindergarten2011.asp

The NCES Education Demographic and Geographic Estimates (EDGE) program designs and develops data resources that focus on the social and spatial context of education in the United States. EDGE offers access to demographic, geographic, and economic data for schools and school districts by blending both survey and administrative data resources with national coverage. The EDGE program consists of four main components: demographic data, geographic data, economic data, and applications of geospatial information technology.

EDGE develops a suite of demographic data products, including the American Community Survey–Education Tabulation (ACS-ED). The ACS-ED provides custom indicators of social, economic, demographic, and housing conditions for school-age children and their parents. These data are created annually in collaboration with the U.S. Census Bureau, using microdata from the Bureau’s American Community Survey. EDGE’s demographic data products provide more than 100 million estimates each year and the demographic time series includes billions of estimates produced over the past 30 years, serving as one of the largest collections of demographic data for school-age children available from the federal government.

EDGE also creates geographic data that include school district boundaries, school locations, a survey of school attendance boundaries (2013–14 and 2015–16 school years), geographic relationship files, and locale boundaries. School geocode files (geospatial locations for public, private, postsecondary, and district administrative offices) provide options for connecting EDGE data with other datasets and include point geometry, address geocodes, locale assignments, and associations with various types of legal entities and statistical geographic areas. EDGE assigns geographic locale indicators to schools and districts reported in the Common Core of Data (CCD) and to postsecondary institutions reported in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). The EDGE school locale indicators provide essential inputs needed for statutory programs like the Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP) and for various statistical survey operations across NCES.

In addition to its demographic and geographic data collections, EDGE also designs and oversees experimental indicators of income and poverty, including a collection of custom poverty estimates for neighborhoods around schools and a national cost adjustment index to account for geographic differences in the cost of education. The EDGE program also oversees production of school district poverty estimates developed in collaboration with the Census Bureau’s Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE) Program to support Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

Further information regarding the EDGE program may be obtained from

Douglas Geverdt
Annie Maselli
Kiara Nerenberg
Sample Surveys Division
Elementary and Secondary Branch
Administrative Data Division
National Center for Education Statistics
550 12th Street SW
Washington, DC 20202
EDGE@ed.gov
https://nces.ed.gov/programs/edge/

The Fast Response Survey System (FRSS) was established in 1975 to collect issue-oriented data quickly, with a minimal burden on respondents. The FRSS, whose surveys collect and report data on key education issues at the elementary and secondary levels, was designed to meet the data needs of U.S. Department of Education analysts, planners, and decisionmakers when information could not be collected quickly through NCES’s large recurring surveys. Findings from FRSS surveys have been included in congressional reports, testimony to congressional subcommittees, NCES reports, and other Department of Education reports. The findings are also often used by state and local education officials.

Data collected through FRSS surveys are representative at the national level, drawing from a sample that is appropriate for each study. The FRSS collects data from state education agencies and national samples of other educational organizations and participants, including local education agencies, public and private elementary and secondary schools, elementary and secondary school teachers and principals, and public libraries and school libraries. To ensure a minimal burden on respondents, the surveys are generally limited to three pages of questions, with a response burden of about 30 minutes per respondent. Sample sizes are relatively small (usually about 1,000 to 1,500 respondents per survey) so that data collection can be completed quickly.

The FRSS survey “School Safety and Discipline: 2013–14” (FRSS 106, 2014) collected information on specific safety and discipline plans and practices, training for classroom teachers and aides related to school safety and discipline issues, security personnel, frequency of specific discipline problems, and number of incidents of various offenses.

The sample for the survey was selected from the 2011–12 Common Core of Data (CCD) Public School Universe file. Approximately 1,600 regular public elementary, middle, and high school/combined schools in the 50 states and the District of Columbia were selected for the study. (For the purposes of the study, “regular” schools included charter schools.)

In February 2014, questionnaires and cover letters were mailed to the principal of each sampled school. The letter requested that the questionnaire be completed by the person most knowledgeable about discipline issues at the school, and respondents were offered the option of completing the survey either on paper or online. Telephone follow-up for survey nonresponse and data clarification was initiated in March 2014 and completed in July 2014. About 1,350 schools completed the survey. The unweighted survey response rate was 86 percent, and the weighted response rate using the initial base weights was 85 percent. The survey weights were adjusted for questionnaire/unit nonresponse, and the data were then weighted to yield national estimates that represent all eligible regular public schools in the United States.

One of the goals of the survey was to allow comparisons to the School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS) data. Consistent with the approach used on SSOCS, respondents were asked to report for the current 2013–14 school year to date. Information about violent incidents that occurred in the school between the time that the survey was completed and the end of the school year are not included in the survey data. The report Public School Safety and Discipline: 2013–14 (NCES 2015-051) presents selected findings from the survey.

Further information on this FRSS survey may be obtained from

Chris Chapman
Sample Surveys Division
National Center for Education Statistics
550 12th Street SW
Washington, DC 20202
chris.chapman@ed.gov
https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/frss

The High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09) is a nationally representative, longitudinal study of approximately 21,000 9th-grade students in 944 schools who will be followed through their secondary and postsecondary years. The study focuses on understanding students’ trajectories from the beginning of high school into postsecondary education, the workforce, and beyond. The HSLS:09 questionnaire is focused on, but not limited to, information on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and careers. It is designed to provide data on mathematics and science education, the changing high school environment, and postsecondary education. This study features a new student assessment in algebra skills, reasoning, and problem solving and includes surveys of students, their parents, math and science teachers, and school administrators, as well as a new survey of school counselors.

The HSLS:09 base year was the 2009–10 school year, with a randomly selected sample of fall-term 9th-graders in more than 900 public and private high schools that had both a 9th and an 11th grade. Students took a mathematics assessment and survey online. Students’ parents, principals, and mathematics and science teachers and the school’s lead counselor completed surveys via phone or online.

The HSLS:09 student questionnaire includes interest and motivation items for measuring key factors predicting choice of postsecondary paths, including majors and eventual careers. This study explores the roles of different factors in the development of a student’s commitment to attend college and then take the steps necessary to succeed in college (the right courses, courses in specific sequences, etc.). Questionnaires in this study have asked more questions of students and parents regarding reasons for selecting specific colleges (e.g., academic programs, financial aid and access prices, campus environment).

The first follow-up of HSLS:09 occurred in spring 2012, when most sample members were in 11th grade. A between-round postsecondary status update survey took place in the spring of students’ expected graduation year (2013). It asked respondents questions about high school completion status; college applications, acceptances, and rejections; and their postsecondary plans and choices. In fall 2013 and spring 2014, high school transcripts were collected and coded.

A full second follow-up took place in 2016, when most sample members were 3 years beyond high school graduation. During 2017 and 2018, transcripts and financial aid records were collected from students’ postsecondary institutions as part of the Postsecondary Education Transcript and Student Financial Aid Records Collection (PETS-SR).

The Postsecondary Education Administrative Records Collection (PEAR) data collection, conducted in 2021, matched HSLS:09 students to the Central Processing System (CPS) and the National Student Loan Data System (NSLDS) at the U.S. Department of Education and the National Student Clearinghouse (NSC), which are three administrative databases that track students’ postsecondary enrollment, completions, and financial aid. CPS contains information provided when students and families complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. NSLDS includes enrollment data as reported by institutions to the U.S. Department of Education’s Federal Student Aid office as well as each sample member’s complete Title IV grant and loan history. NSC is a nonprofit organization that collects information from postsecondary institutions on the attendance, enrollment dates, and degree completion of their students.

PEAR data cover all postsecondary enrollments and completions reported in NSC and NSLDS through June 30, 2021, approximately 8 years after high school graduation for most of the HSLS:09 cohort. This period was chosen because although a bachelor’s degree is designed to be completed in 4 years, many students take up to 8 years, or sometimes longer, to complete one. Overall, the PEAR data provide a picture of students’ enrollment history and degree completion outcomes in postsecondary education as well as their financial aid status over an 8-year period.

Further information on HSLS:09 may be obtained from

Elise Christopher
Longitudinal Surveys Branch
Sample Surveys Division
National Center for Education Statistics
550 12th Street SW
Washington, DC 20202
hsls09@ed.gov
https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/hsls09/

High school transcript studies have been conducted since 1982 in conjunction with major NCES data collections. The studies collect information that is contained in a student’s high school record—courses taken while attending secondary school, information on credits earned, when specific courses were taken, and final grades.

A high school transcript study was conducted in 2004 as part of the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002/2004). A total of 1,550 schools participated in the request for transcripts, for an unweighted participation rate of approximately 79 percent. Transcript information was received on 14,920 members of the student sample (not just graduates), for an unweighted response rate of 91 percent.

Similar studies were conducted on the coursetaking patterns of 1982, 1987, 1990, 1992, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2005, 2009, and 2019 high school graduates. The 1982 data are based on approximately 12,000 transcripts collected by the High School and Beyond Longitudinal Study (HS&B). The 1987 data are based on approximately 25,000 transcripts from 430 schools obtained as part of the 1987 NAEP High School Transcript Study, a scope comparable to that of the NAEP transcript studies conducted in 1990, 1994, 1998, and 2000. The 1992 data are based on approximately 15,000 transcripts collected by the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88/92). The 2005 data, from the 2005 NAEP High School Transcript Study, come from a sample of over 26,000 transcripts from 640 public schools and 80 private schools. The 2009 data are from the 2009 NAEP High School Transcript Study, which collected transcripts from a nationally representative sample of 37,700 high school graduates from about 610 public schools and 130 private schools. The 2019 data are from the 2019 NAEP High School Transcript Study, which collected and analyzed transcripts from a nationally representative sample of 47,000 high school graduates from about 1,400 schools (both public and nonpublic). Most of the high school transcripts collected in the 2019 NAEP High School Transcript Study were those of students who participated in the 2019 NAEP 12th-grade mathematics and science assessments, and this facilitated analyses of the relationships between high school coursetaking patterns and graduates’ achievement based on their performance on the assessments.

Because the 1982 HS&B transcript study used a different method for identifying students with disabilities than was used in NAEP transcript studies after 1982, and in order to make the statistical summaries as comparable as possible, all the counts and percentages in this report are restricted to students whose records indicate that they had not participated in a special education program. This restriction lowers the number of 1990 graduates represented in the tables to 20,870.

Further information on NAEP high school transcript studies may be obtained from

Linda Hamilton
International Assessment Branch
Assessments Division
National Center for Education Statistics
550 12th Street SW
Washington, DC 20202
linda.hamilton@ed.gov
https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/hst/

The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) consists of 12 interrelated survey components that provide information on postsecondary institutions and academic libraries at these institutions, student enrollment, student financial aid, programs of study offered, retention and graduation rates, degrees and certificates conferred, and the human and financial resources involved in the provision of institutionally based postsecondary education. Prior to 2000, the IPEDS survey had the following subject-matter components: Institutional Characteristics; Total Institutional Activity (these data were moved to the Institutional Characteristics component in 1990–91, then to the Fall Enrollment component in 2000–01); Fall Enrollment; Fall Staff; Salaries, Tenure, and Fringe Benefits of Full-Time Faculty; Completions; Finance; Academic Libraries (in 2000, the Academic Libraries component separated from the IPEDS collection); and Graduation Rates. Since 2000, IPEDS survey components occurring in a particular collection year have been organized into three seasonal collection periods: fall, winter, and spring. The Institutional Characteristics and Completions components first took place during the fall 2000 collection. The Employees by Assigned Position (EAP); Salaries, Tenure, and Fringe Benefits of Full-Time Faculty; and Fall Staff components first took place during the winter 2001–02 collection. The Fall Enrollment, Student Financial Aid, Finance, and Graduation Rates components first took place during the spring 2001 collection. In the winter 2005–06 data collection, the EAP; Fall Staff; and Salaries, Tenure, and Fringe Benefits of Full-Time Faculty components were merged into the Human Resources component. During the 2007–08 collection year, the Fall Enrollment component was broken into two components: 12-month Enrollment (taking place in the fall collection) and Fall Enrollment (taking place in the spring collection). In the 2011–12 IPEDS data collection year, the Student Financial Aid component was moved to the winter data collection to aid in the timing of the net price of attendance calculations displayed on the College Navigator (https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/). In the 2012–13 IPEDS data collection year, the Human Resources component was moved from the winter data collection to the spring data collection, and in the 2013–14 data collection year, the Graduation Rates and Graduation Rates 200 Percent components were moved from the spring data collection to the winter data collection. In the 2014–15 data collection year, a new component (Admissions) was added to IPEDS and a former IPEDS component (Academic Libraries) was reintegrated into IPEDS. The Admissions component, created out of admissions data contained in the fall data collection’s Institutional Characteristics component, was made a part of the winter data collection. The Academic Libraries component, after having been conducted as a survey independent of IPEDS between 2000 and 2012, was reintegrated into IPEDS as part of the spring data collection. Finally, in the 2015–16 data collection year, the Outcome Measures survey component was added to IPEDS.

Beginning in 2008–09, the first-professional degree category was combined with the doctor’s degree category. However, some degrees formerly identified as first-professional that take more than 2 full-time-equivalent academic years to complete, such as those in Theology (M.Div., M.H.L./Rav), are included in the master’s degree category. Doctor’s degrees were broken out into three distinct categories: research/scholarship, professional practice, and other doctor’s degrees.

The collection of race/ethnicity data also changed in 2008–09. IPEDS now collects a count of students who identify as Hispanic and counts of non-Hispanic students who identify with each race category. The “Asian” race category is now separate from the “Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander” category, and a new category of “Two or more races” has been added.

The degree-granting institutions portion of IPEDS is a census of colleges that award associate’s or higher degrees and are eligible to participate in Title IV financial aid programs. Prior to 1993, data from technical and vocational institutions were collected through a sample survey. Beginning in 1993, all data are gathered in a census of all postsecondary institutions. Beginning in 1996, the survey was restricted to institutions participating in Title IV programs.

The classification of institutions offering college and university education changed as of 1996. Prior to 1996, institutions that either had courses leading to an associate’s or higher degree or that had courses accepted for credit toward those degrees were considered higher education institutions. Higher education institutions were accredited by an agency or association that was recognized by the U.S. Department of Education or were recognized directly by the Secretary of Education. The newer standard includes institutions that award associate’s or higher degrees and that are eligible to participate in Title IV federal financial aid programs. For an institution to be eligible to participate in Title IV financial aid programs, it must be accredited by an agency or association that was recognized by the U.S. Department of Education or be recognized directly by the Secretary of Education. Tables that contain any data according to this standard are titled “degree-granting” institutions. Time-series tables may contain data from both series, and they are noted accordingly. The impact of this change on data collected in 1996 was not large. For example, tables on faculty salaries and benefits were affected only to a small extent. Also, degrees awarded at the bachelor’s level or higher were not heavily affected. The largest impact was on private 2-year college enrollment. In contrast, most of the data on public 4-year colleges were affected to a minimal extent. The impact on enrollment in public 2-year colleges was noticeable in certain states, such as Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, and Washington, but was relatively small at the national level. Overall, total enrollment for all institutions was about one-half of 1 percent higher in 1996 for degree-granting institutions than for higher education institutions.

Prior to the establishment of IPEDS in 1986, the Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS) acquired and maintained statistical data on the characteristics and operations of higher education institutions. Implemented in 1966, HEGIS was an annual universe survey of institutions accredited at the college level by an agency recognized by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education. These institutions were listed in NCES’s Education Directory, Colleges and Universities.

HEGIS surveys collected information on institutional characteristics, faculty salaries, finances, libraries, fall enrollment, student residence and migration, and earned degrees. Since these surveys, like IPEDS, were distributed to all higher education institutions, the data presented are not subject to sampling error. However, they are subject to nonsampling error, the sources of which varied with the survey instrument.

The NCES Taskforce for IPEDS Redesign recognized that there were issues related to the consistency of data definitions as well as the accuracy, reliability, and validity of other quality measures within and across surveys. The IPEDS redesign in 2000 provided institution-specific web-based data forms. While the new system shortened data processing time and provided better data consistency, it did not address the accuracy of the data provided by institutions.

Beginning in 2003–04 with the Prior Year Data Revision System, prior-year data have been available to institutions entering current data. This allows institutions to make changes to their prior-year entries either by adjusting the data or by providing missing data. These revisions allow the evaluation of the data’s accuracy by looking at the changes made.

NCES conducted a study (NCES 2005-175) of the 2002–03 data that were revised in 2003–04 to determine the accuracy of the imputations, track the institutions that submitted revised data, and analyze the revised data they submitted. When institutions made changes to their data, NCES accepted that the revised data were the most accurate, correct, and “true” data. The data were analyzed for the number and type of institutions making changes, the type of changes, the magnitude of the changes, and the impact on published data.

Because NCES imputes for missing data, imputation procedures were also addressed by the Redesign Taskforce. For the 2003–04 assessment, differences between revised values and values that were imputed in the original files were compared (i.e., revised value minus imputed value). These differences were then used to provide an assessment of the effectiveness of imputation procedures. The size of the differences also provides an indication of the accuracy of imputation procedures. To assess the overall impact of changes on aggregate IPEDS estimates, published tables for each component were reconstructed using the revised 2002–03 data. These reconstructed tables were then compared to the published tables to determine the magnitude of aggregate bias and the direction of this bias. The aggregate bias analysis revealed that, generally, differences between originally published estimates and revised estimates were small.

Since the 2000–01 data collection year, IPEDS data collections have been web based. Data have been provided by “keyholders,” institutional representatives appointed by campus chief executives, who are responsible for ensuring that survey data submitted by the institution are correct and complete. Because Title IV institutions are the primary focus of IPEDS and because these institutions are required to respond to IPEDS, response rates for Title IV institutions have been high (data on specific components are cited below). More details on the accuracy and reliability of IPEDS data can be found in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System Data Quality Study (NCES 2005-175).

In the 2022–23 data collection, response rates for all components were greater than 99 percent. For more information on response rates of individual components, see the data release memos: https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/survey-components/data-release-schedule. For information on changes to IPEDS data collections over the years, see https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/report-your-data/archived-changes.

Further information on IPEDS may be obtained from

Samuel Barbett
Postsecondary Branch
Administrative Data Division
National Center for Education Statistics
550 12th Street SW
Washington, DC 20202
samuel.barbett@ed.gov
https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is a series of cross-sectional studies initially implemented in 1969 to assess the educational achievement of U.S. students and monitor changes in those achievements. In the main national NAEP, a nationally representative sample of students is assessed at grades 4, 8, and 12 in various academic subjects. The assessment is based on frameworks developed by the National Assessment Governing Board (NAGB). It includes both multiple-choice items and constructed-response items (those requiring written answers). Results are reported in two ways: by average score and by achievement level. Average scores are reported for the nation, for participating states and jurisdictions, and for subgroups of the population. Percentages of students performing at or above three achievement levels (Basic, Proficient, and Advanced) are also reported for these groups.

Main NAEP Assessments

From 1990 until 2001, main NAEP was conducted for states and other jurisdictions that chose to participate. In 2002, under the provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, all states began to participate in main NAEP, and an aggregate of all state samples replaced the separate national sample. (School district-level assessments—under the Trial Urban District Assessment [TUDA] program—also began in 2002.)

Results are available for the mathematics assessments administered in 1990, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2022. In 2005, NAGB called for the development of a new mathematics framework. The revisions made to the mathematics framework for the 2005 assessment were intended to reflect recent curricular emphases and better assess the specific objectives for students at each grade level.

The revised mathematics framework focuses on two dimensions: mathematical content and cognitive demand. By considering these two dimensions for each item in the assessment, the framework ensures that NAEP assesses an appropriate balance of content, as well as a variety of ways of knowing and doing mathematics.

Since the 2005 changes to the mathematics framework were minimal for grades 4 and 8, comparisons over time can be made between assessments conducted before and after the framework’s implementation for these grades. The changes that the 2005 framework made to the grade 12 assessment, however, were too drastic to allow grade 12 results from before and after implementation to be directly compared. These changes included adding more questions on algebra, data analysis, and probability to reflect changes in high school mathematics standards and coursework; merging the measurement and geometry content areas; and changing the reporting scale from 0–500 to 0–300. For more information regarding the 2005 mathematics framework revisions, see https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/mathematics/frameworkcomparison.asp.

Results are available for the reading assessments administered in 1992, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2022. In 2009, a new framework was developed for the 4th-, 8th-, and 12th-grade NAEP reading assessments.

Both a content alignment study and a reading trend, or bridge, study were conducted to determine whether the new reading assessment was comparable to the prior assessment. Overall, the results of the special analyses suggested that the assessments were similar in terms of their item and scale characteristics and the results they produced for important demographic groups of students. Thus, it was determined that the results of the 2009 reading assessment could still be compared to those from earlier assessment years, thereby maintaining the trend lines first established in 1992. For more information regarding the 2009 reading framework revisions, see https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/reading/whatmeasure.asp.

In spring 2013, NAEP released results from the NAEP 2012 economics assessment in The Nation’s Report Card: Economics 2012 (NCES 2013-453). First administered in 2006, the NAEP economics assessment measures 12th-graders’ understanding of a wide range of topics in three main content areas: market economy, national economy, and international economy. The 2012 assessment is based on a nationally representative sample of nearly 11,000 students in the 12th grade.

In The Nation’s Report Card: A First Look—2013 Mathematics and Reading (NCES 2014-451), NAEP released the results of the 2013 mathematics and reading assessments. Results can also be accessed using the interactive graphics and downloadable data available at the online Nation’s Report Card website (https://nationsreportcard.gov/reading_math_2013/).

The Nation’s Report Card: A First Look—2013 Mathematics and Reading Trial Urban District Assessment (NCES 2014-466) provides the results of the 2013 mathematics and reading TUDA, which measured the reading and mathematics progress of 4th- and 8th-graders from 21 urban school districts. Results from the 2013 mathematics and reading TUDA can also be accessed using the interactive graphics and downloadable data available at the online TUDA website (https://nationsreportcard.gov/reading_math_tuda_2013/).

The online interactive report The Nation’s Report Card: 2014 U.S. History, Geography, and Civics at Grade 8 (NCES 2015-112) provides grade 8 results for the 2014 NAEP U.S. history, geography, and civics assessments. Trend results for previous assessment years in these three subjects, as well as information on school and student participation rates and sample tasks and student responses, are also presented.

In 2014, the first administration of the NAEP Technology and Engineering Literacy (TEL) Assessment asked 8th-graders to respond to questions aimed at assessing their knowledge and skill in understanding technological principles, solving technology and engineering-related problems, and using technology to communicate and collaborate. The online report The Nation’s Report Card: Technology and Engineering Literacy (NCES 2016-119) presents national results for 8th-graders on the TEL assessment.

The Nation’s Report Card: 2015 Mathematics and Reading Assessments (NCES 2015-136) is an online interactive report that presents national and state results for 4th- and 8th-graders on the NAEP 2015 mathematics and reading assessments. The report also presents TUDA results in mathematics and reading for 4th- and 8th-graders. The online interactive report The Nation’s Report Card: 2015 Mathematics and Reading at Grade 12 (NCES 2016-108) presents grade 12 results from the NAEP 2015 mathematics and reading assessments.

Results from the 2015 NAEP science assessment are presented in the online report The Nation’s Report Card: 2015 Science at Grades 4, 8, and 12 (NCES 2016-162). The assessment measures the knowledge of 4th-, 8th-, and 12th-graders in the content areas of physical science, life science, and Earth and space sciences, as well as their understanding of four science practices (identifying science principles, using science principles, using scientific inquiry, and using technological design). National results are reported for grades 4, 8, and 12, and results from 46 participating states and one jurisdiction are reported for grades 4 and 8. Since a new NAEP science framework was introduced in 2009, results from the 2015 science assessment can be compared to results from the 2009 and 2011 science assessments, but cannot be compared to the science assessments conducted prior to 2009.

As a consequence of NAEP’s transition from paper-based assessments to technology-based assessments, data were needed regarding students’ access to and familiarity with technology, at home and at school. The Computer Access and Familiarity Study (CAFS) was designed to fulfill this need. CAFS was conducted as part of the main administration of the 2015 NAEP. A subset of the grade 4, 8, and 12 students who took the main NAEP were chosen to take the additional CAFS questionnaire. The main 2015 NAEP was administered in a paper-and-pencil format to some students and a digital-based format to others, and CAFS participants were given questionnaires in the same format as their NAEP questionnaires.

The online Highlights report 2017 NAEP Mathematics and Reading Assessments: Highlighted Results at Grades 4 and 8 for the Nation, States, and Districts (NCES 2018-037) presents an overview of results from the NAEP 2017 mathematics and reading reports. Highlighted results include key findings for the nation, states/jurisdictions, and 27 districts that participated in the Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) in mathematics and reading at grades 4 and 8.

Results from the NAEP 2018 TEL Assessment are contained in the online report The Nation's Report Card: Highlighted Results for the 2018 Technology and Engineering Literacy (TEL) Assessment at Grade 8 (NCES 2019-068). The digitally based assessment (participants took the assessment via laptop) was taken by approximately 15,400 eighth-graders from about 600 schools across the nation. Results were reported in terms of average scale scores (on a 0 to 300 scale) and in relation to the NAEP achievement levels NAEP Basic, NAEP Proficient, and NAEP Advanced.

The online reports 2019 NAEP Reading Assessment: Highlighted Results at Grades 4 and 8 for the Nation, States, and Districts and 2019 NAEP Mathematics Assessment: Highlighted Results at Grades 4 and 8 for the Nation, States, and Districts (NCES 2020-012) present overviews of results from the NAEP 2019 reading and mathematics reports. Highlighted results include key findings for the nation, states/jurisdictions, and 27 districts that participated in the Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) in mathematics and reading at grades 4 and 8.

Online highlights presenting overviews of grade 12 results from the NAEP 2019 mathematics report and the NAEP 2019 reading report can be found in 2019 NAEP Mathematics and Reading Assessments: Highlighted Results at Grade 12 for the Nation (NCES 2020-090).

The online report 2019 NAEP Science Assessment: Highlighted Results at Grades 4, 8, and 12 for the Nation (NCES 2021-045) presents an overview of results from the NAEP 2019 science report. Highlighted results include key findings for nationally representative samples of 4th-, 8th-, and 12th-grade students, presented in terms of average scale scores and as percentages of students performing at the three NAEP achievement levels.

The NAEP 2019 12th-grade mathematics and science assessment scores were linked to high school graduate transcript data collected in the 2019 NAEP High School Transcript Study. (Please see the “High School Transcript Studies” section, above, for additional information on the 2019 NAEP High School Transcript Study.) Results from the 2022 mathematics and reading assessments are presented in 2022 NAEP Mathematics Assessment: Highlighted Results at Grades 4 and 8 for the Nation, States, and Districts (NCES 2022-124) and 2022 NAEP Reading Assessment: Highlighted Results at Grades 4 and 8 for the Nation, States, and Districts (NCES 2022-126). These reports include national, state, and district results on the performance of fourth- and eighth-grade students. Results are provided in terms of average scores and as percentages of students performing at or above the three NAEP achievement levels: NAEP Basic, NAEP Proficient, and NAEP Advanced. Results are not only reported as overall scores; they are also reported by race/ethnicity, gender, type of school, and other demographic groups.

NAEP Long-Term Trend Assessments

In addition to conducting the main assessments, NAEP also conducts the long-term trend assessments. Long-term trend assessments provide an opportunity to observe educational progress in reading and mathematics of 9-, 13-, and 17-year-olds since the early 1970s. The long-term trend reading assessment measures students’ reading comprehension skills using an array of passages that vary by text types and length. The assessment was designed to measure students’ ability to locate specific information in the text provided; make inferences across a passage to provide an explanation; and identify the main idea in the text.

The NAEP long-term trend assessment in mathematics measures knowledge of mathematical facts; ability to carry out computations using paper and pencil; knowledge of basic formulas, such as those applied in geometric settings; and ability to apply mathematics to skills of daily life, such as those involving time and money.

The Nation’s Report Card: Trends in Academic Progress 2012 (NCES 2013-456) provides the results of 12 long-term trend reading assessments dating back to 1971 and 11 long-term trend mathematics assessments dating back to 1973.

The online report 2020 Long-Term Trend Reading and Mathematics Assessment Results at Age 9 and Age 13 (NCES 2021-077) presents the results of the NAEP long-term trend assessments in reading and mathematics administered during the 2019–20 school year to 9- and 13-year-old students. It provides trend results in terms of average scale scores, selected percentiles, and five performance levels.

Further information on NAEP may be obtained from

Emmanuel Sikali
Reporting and Dissemination Branch
Assessments Division
National Center for Education Statistics
550 12th Street SW
Washington, DC 20202
emmanuel.sikali@ed.gov
https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard

The National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES) is a data collection system that is designed to address a wide range of education-related issues. Surveys have been conducted in 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2012, 2016, and 2019. NHES targets specific populations for detailed data collection. It is intended to provide more detailed data on the topics and populations of interest than are collected through supplements to other household surveys.

The 2007 and earlier administrations of NHES used a random-digit-dial sample of landline phones and computer-assisted telephone interviewing to conduct interviews. However, due to declining response rates for all telephone surveys and the increase in households that only or mostly use a cell phone instead of a landline, the data collection method was changed to an address-based sample survey for NHES:2012. Because of this change in survey mode, readers should use caution when comparing NHES:2012 estimates to those of prior NHES administrations.

The topics addressed by NHES:1991 were early childhood education and adult education. About 60,000 households were screened for NHES:1991. In the Early Childhood Education Survey, about 14,000 parents/guardians of 3- to 8-year-olds completed interviews about their children’s early educational experiences. Included in this component were participation in nonparental care/education; care arrangements and school; and family, household, and child characteristics. In the NHES:1991 Adult Education Survey, about 9,800 people 16 years of age and over, identified as having participated in an adult education activity in the previous 12 months, were questioned about their activities. Data were collected on programs and up to four courses, including the subject matter, duration, sponsorship, purpose, and cost. Information on the household and the adult’s background and current employment was also collected.

In NHES:1993, nearly 64,000 households were screened. Approximately 11,000 parents of 3- to 7-year-olds completed interviews for the School Readiness Survey. Topics included the developmental characteristics of preschoolers; school adjustment and teacher feedback to parents for kindergartners and primary students; center-based program participation; early school experiences; home activities with family members; and health status. In the School Safety and Discipline Survey, about 12,700 parents of children in grades 3 to 12 and about 6,500 youth in grades 6 to 12 were interviewed about their school experiences. Topics included the school learning environment, discipline policy, safety at school, victimization, the availability and use of alcohol/drugs, and alcohol/drug education. Peer norms for behavior in school and substance use were also included in this topical component. Extensive family and household background information was collected, as well as characteristics of the school attended by the child.

In NHES:1995, the Early Childhood Program Participation Survey and the Adult Education Survey were similar to those fielded in 1991. In the Early Childhood component, about 14,000 parents of children from birth to 3rd grade were interviewed out of 16,000 sampled, for a completion rate of 90.4 percent. In the Adult Education Survey, about 24,000 adults were sampled and 82.3 percent (20,000) completed the interview.

NHES:1996 covered parent and family involvement in education and civic involvement. Data on homeschooling and school choice also were collected. The 1996 survey screened about 56,000 households. For the Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey, nearly 21,000 parents of children in grades 3 to 12 were interviewed. For the Civic Involvement Survey, about 8,000 youth in grades 6 to 12, about 9,000 parents, and about 2,000 adults were interviewed. The 1996 survey also addressed public library use. Adults in almost 55,000 households were interviewed to support state-level estimates of household public library use.

NHES:1999 collected end-of-decade estimates of key indicators from the surveys conducted throughout the 1990s. Approximately 60,000 households were screened for a total of about 31,000 interviews with parents of children from birth through grade 12 (including about 6,900 infants, toddlers, and preschoolers) and adults age 16 or older not enrolled in grade 12 or below. Key indicators included participation of children in nonparental care and early childhood programs, school experiences, parent/family involvement in education at home and at school, youth community service activities, plans for future education, and adult participation in educational activities and community service.

NHES:2001 included two surveys that were largely repeats of similar surveys included in earlier NHES collections. The Early Childhood Program Participation Survey was similar in content to the Early Childhood Program Participation Survey fielded as part of NHES:1995, and the Adult Education and Lifelong Learning Survey was similar in content to the Adult Education Survey of NHES:1995. The Before- and After-School Programs and Activities Survey, while containing items fielded in earlier NHES collections, had a number of new items that collected information about what school-age children were doing during the time they spent in child care or in other activities, what parents were looking for in care arrangements and activities, and parent evaluations of care arrangements and activities. Parents of approximately 6,700 children from birth through age 6 who were not yet in kindergarten completed Early Childhood Program Participation Survey interviews. Nearly 10,900 adults completed Adult Education and Lifelong Learning Survey interviews, and parents of nearly 9,600 children in kindergarten through grade 8 completed Before- and After-School Programs and Activities Survey interviews.

NHES:2003 included two surveys: the Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey and the Adult Education for Work-Related Reasons Survey (the first administration). Whereas previous adult education surveys were more general in scope, this survey had a narrower focus on occupation-related adult education programs. It collected in-depth information about training and education in which adults participated specifically for work-related reasons, either to prepare for work or a career or to maintain or improve work-related skills and knowledge they already had. The Parent and Family Involvement Survey expanded on the first survey fielded on this topic in 1996. In 2003, screeners were completed with 32,050 households. About 12,700 of the 16,000 sampled adults completed the Adult Education for Work-Related Reasons Survey, for a weighted response rate of 76 percent. For the Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey, interviews were completed by the parents of about 12,400 of the 14,900 sampled children in kindergarten through grade 12, yielding a weighted unit response rate of 83 percent.

NHES:2005 included surveys that covered adult education, early childhood program participation, and after-school programs and activities. Data were collected from about 8,900 adults for the Adult Education Survey, from parents of about 7,200 children for the Early Childhood Program Participation Survey, and from parents of nearly 11,700 children for the After-School Programs and Activities Survey. These surveys were substantially similar to the surveys conducted in 2001, with the exceptions that the Adult Education Survey addressed a new topic—informal learning activities for personal interest—and the Early Childhood Program Participation Survey and After-School Programs and Activities Survey did not collect information about before-school care for school-age children.

NHES:2007 fielded the Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey and the School Readiness Survey. These surveys were similar in design and content to surveys included in the 2003 and 1993 collections, respectively. New features added to the Parent and Family Involvement Survey were questions about supplemental education services provided by schools and school districts (including use of and satisfaction with such services), as well as questions that would efficiently identify the school attended by the sampled students. New features added to the School Readiness Survey were questions that collected details about TV programs watched by the sampled children. For the Parent and Family Involvement Survey, interviews were completed with parents of 10,680 sampled children in kindergarten through grade 12, including 10,370 students enrolled in public or private schools and 310 homeschooled children. For the School Readiness Survey, interviews were completed with parents of 2,630 sampled children ages 3 to 6 and not yet in kindergarten. Parents who were interviewed about children in kindergarten through 2nd grade for the Parent and Family Involvement Survey were also asked some questions about these children’s school readiness.

NHES:2012 included the Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey and the Early Childhood Program Participation Survey. The Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey gathered data on students age 20 or younger who were enrolled in kindergarten through grade 12 or who were homeschooled at equivalent grade levels. Survey questions that pertained to students enrolled in kindergarten through grade 12 requested information on various aspects of parent involvement in education (such as help with homework, family activities, and parent involvement at school) and survey questions pertaining to homeschooled students requested information on the student’s homeschooling experiences, the sources of the curriculum, and the reasons for homeschooling.

The 2012 Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey questionnaires were completed for 17,563 (397 homeschooled and 17,166 enrolled) children, for a weighted unit response rate of 78.4 percent. The overall estimated unit response rate (the product of the screener unit response rate of 73.8 percent and the Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey unit response rate) was 57.8 percent.

The 2012 Early Childhood Program Participation Survey collected data on the early care and education arrangements and early learning of children from birth through the age of 5 who were not yet enrolled in kindergarten. Questionnaires were completed for 7,893 children, for a weighted unit response rate of 78.7 percent. The overall estimated weighted unit response rate (the product of the screener weighted unit response rate of 73.8 percent and the Early Childhood Program Participation Survey unit weighted response rate) was 58.1 percent. 

NHES:2016 used a nationally representative address-based sample covering the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The 2016 administration of NHES included a screener survey and three topical surveys: The Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey, the Early Childhood Program Participation Survey, and the Adult Training and Education Survey. The screener survey questionnaire identified households with children under age 20 and adults ages 16 to 65. A total of 206,000 households were selected based on this screener, and the screener response rate was 66.4 percent. All sampled households received initial contact by mail. Although the majority of respondents completed paper questionnaires, a small sample of cases was part of a web experiment with mailed invitations to complete the survey online.

The 2016 Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey, like its predecessor in 2012, gathered data about students age 20 or under who were enrolled in kindergarten through grade 12 or who were being homeschooled for the equivalent grades. The 2016 survey’s questions also covered aspects of parental involvement in education similar to those in the 2012 survey. The total number of completed questionnaires in the 2016 survey was 14,075 (13,523 enrolled and 552 homeschooled children), representing a population of 53.2 million students either homeschooled or enrolled in a public or private school in 2015–16. The survey’s weighted unit response rate was 74.3 percent, and the overall response rate was 49.3 percent.

The 2016 Early Childhood Program Participation Survey collected data about children from birth through age 6 who were not yet enrolled in kindergarten. The survey asked about children’s participation in relative care, nonrelative care, and center-based care arrangements. It also requested information such as the main reason for choosing care, factors that were important to parents when choosing a care arrangement, the primary barriers to finding satisfactory care, activities the family does with the child, and what the child is learning. Questionnaires were completed for 5,844 children, representing a population of 21.4 million children from birth through age 6 who were not yet enrolled in kindergarten. The Early Childhood Program Participation Survey weighted unit response rate was 73.4 percent and the overall estimated weighted unit response rate (the product of the screener weighted unit response rate and the Early Childhood Program Participation Survey weighted unit response rate) was 48.7 percent.

The third topical survey of NHES:2016 was a new NHES survey, the Adult Training and Education Survey. The survey collected information from noninstitutionalized adults ages 16 to 65 not enrolled in high school—it also collected information from adults living at residential addresses associated with educational institutions such as colleges (thus, it collected information from enrolled college students). One of the main goals of the Adult Training and Education Survey is to capture the prevalence of nondegree credentials, including estimates of adults with occupational certifications or licenses, as well as to capture the prevalence of postsecondary educational certificates. A further goal is to learn more about work experience programs. The survey’s data, when weighted, were nationally representative of noninstitutionalized adults ages 16 to 65, not enrolled in grades 12 or below. The total number of completed questionnaires was 47,744, representing a population of 196.3 million. The survey had a weighted response rate of 73.1 percent and an overall response rate of 48.5 percent.

Data for the three topical surveys in the 2016 administration of NHES are available in Parent and Family Involvement in Education: Results From the National Household Education Surveys Program of 2016 (NCES 2017-102); Early Childhood Program Participation, Results From the National Household Education Surveys Program of 2016 (NCES 2017-101); and Adult Training and Education: Results From the National Household Education Surveys Program of 2016 (NCES 2017-103rev). In addition, public-use data for the three 2016 surveys are available at https://nces.ed.gov/nhes/dataproducts.asp.

NHES:2019 was a two-phase survey conducted primarily on the web, although a portion of the sample completed a paper-based version of the survey. It included a screener survey and two topical surveys: the Early Childhood Program Participation Survey and the Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey. The screener survey questionnaire identified households with children or youth under age 20. A total of 205,000 households were selected based on this screener, and the screener response rate was 63.1 percent. The survey was initiated with the mailing of contact letter inviting respondents to complete the screener questionnaire. The topical questionnaires were provided in both paper and web versions.

The 2019 Early Childhood Program Participation Survey focused on children age 6 or younger who were not yet enrolled in kindergarten. The survey questionnaire covered children’s participation in early education and care arrangements provided by relatives or nonrelatives in private homes, center-based day care, or preschool programs (including Head Start). Additional topics included family learning activities, early literacy and numeracy skills, out-of-pocket expenses for nonparental care and education, factors related to parents’ selection of providers, and parents’ perceptions of care and education quality. Parents were also asked about child characteristics, including the child’s health and disability status; characteristics of the child’s parents or guardians who live in the household; and household characteristics. Questionnaires were completed for 7,092 children. The survey’s weighted unit response rate was 85.5 percent, and the overall response rate was 54.0 percent.

The 2019 Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey focused on children and youth age 20 or younger who were in kindergarten through 12th grade and either attending a public or private school or being homeschooled. Parents of enrolled students were asked about school choice, parent and family involvement at school, the child’s behavior at school, grade retention, parents’ satisfaction with the school, and family involvement in schoolwork and activities outside of school. Parents of homeschooled students were asked to identify the person primarily responsible for homeschooling the child and to indicate the amount of time the child is homeschooled, the subjects covered, the parents’ reasons for homeschooling, and the resources (including the internet) used for homeschooling. In addition, for the first time in the survey, parents of children who attended online or virtual schools were asked about their reasons for choosing an online or virtual school and the cost of that type of schooling. Questionnaires were completed for 16,446 children. The survey’s weighted unit response rate was 83.4 percent, and the overall response rate was 52.6 percent.

Public-use data for the 2019 Early Childhood Program Participation Survey and 2019 Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey are available at https://nces.ed.gov/nhes/dataproducts.asp#2019dp.

Further information on NHES may be obtained from

Michelle McNamara
Sample Surveys Division
National Center for Education Statistics
550 12th Street SW
Washington, DC 20202
michelle.mcnamara@ed.gov
https://nces.ed.gov/nhes

The National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) is a comprehensive nationwide study of how students and their families pay for postsecondary education. Data gathered from the study are used to help guide future federal student financial aid policy. The study is conducted with nationally representative samples of undergraduates, graduates, and first-professional students in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, including students attending less-than-2-year institutions, community colleges, and 4-year colleges and universities. Participants include both students who receive financial aid and those who do not. Since NPSAS identifies nationally representative samples of student subpopulations of interest to policymakers and obtains baseline data for longitudinal study of these subpopulations, data from the study provide the base-year sample for the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS) and the Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B).

Originally, NPSAS was conducted every 3 years. Beginning with the 1999–2000 study (NPSAS:2000), NPSAS has been conducted every 4 years. NPSAS:08 included a new set of instrument items to obtain baseline measures of the awareness of two new federal grants introduced in 2006: the Academic Competitiveness Grant (ACG) and the National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent (SMART) grant.

The first NPSAS (NPSAS:87) was conducted during the 1986–87 school year. Data were gathered from about 1,100 colleges, universities, and other postsecondary institutions; 60,000 students; and 14,000 parents. These data provided information on the cost of postsecondary education, the distribution of financial aid, and the characteristics of both aided and nonaided students and their families.

NPSAS:90 included a stratified sample of approximately 69,000 eligible students (about 47,000 of whom were undergraduates) from about 1,100 institutions. For each of the students included in the NPSAS sample, there were up to three sources of data. First, institution registration and financial aid records were extracted. Second, a Computer Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI) designed for each student was conducted. Finally, a CATI designed for the parents or guardians of a subsample of students was conducted. The purpose of the parent survey was to obtain detailed information on the family and economic characteristics of dependent students who did not receive financial aid, especially first-time, first-year students. In keeping with this purpose, parents of financially independent students who were over 30 years of age and parents of graduate/first-professional students were excluded from the sample. Data from these three sources were synthesized into a single system with an overall response rate of 89 percent.

For NPSAS:93, information on 77,000 undergraduates and graduate students enrolled during the school year was collected at 1,000 postsecondary institutions. The sample included students who were enrolled at any time between July 1, 1992, and June 30, 1993. About 66,000 students and a subsample of their parents were interviewed by telephone. NPSAS:96 contained information on more than 48,000 undergraduate and graduate students from about 1,000 postsecondary institutions who were enrolled at any time during the 1995–96 school year. NPSAS:2000 included nearly 62,000 students (50,000 undergraduates and almost 12,000 graduate students) from 1,000 postsecondary institutions. NPSAS:04 collected data on about 80,000 undergraduates and 11,000 graduate students from 1,400 postsecondary institutions. For NPSAS:08, about 114,000 undergraduate students and 14,000 graduate students who were enrolled in postsecondary education during the 2007–08 school year were selected from more than 1,730 postsecondary institutions.

NPSAS:12 sampled about 95,000 undergraduates and 16,000 graduate students from approximately 1,500 postsecondary institutions.

NPSAS:16 sampled about 89,000 undergraduate and 24,000 graduate students attending approximately 1,800 Title IV eligible postsecondary institutions in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. The sample represents approximately 20 million undergraduate and 4 million graduate students enrolled in postsecondary education at Title IV eligible institutions at any time between July 1, 2015, and June 30, 2016. Public access to the data is available online through PowerStats (https://nces.ed.gov/datalab/).

In NPSAS:18-AC, a special Administrative Collection of NPSAS, data were collected from the institutions attended by the enrolled students and from other relevant databases, including U.S. Department of Education records on student loan and grant programs—the students themselves were not interviewed. Data included were from approximately 245,600 undergraduate and 21,300 graduate students attending 1,900 institutions in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico who were enrolled at Title IV eligible institutions between July 1, 2017, and June 30, 2018. Additional information about this survey is available in 2017–18 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study, Administrative Collection (NPSAS:18-AC): First Look at Student Financial Aid Estimates for 2017–18 (NCES 2021-476).

Further information on NPSAS may be obtained from

Aurora D’Amico
Tracy Hunt-White
Longitudinal Surveys Branch
Sample Surveys Division
National Center for Education Statistics
550 12th Street SW
Washington, DC 20202
aurora.damico@ed.gov
tracy.hunt-white@ed.gov
https://nces.ed.gov/npsas/

The National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS) is a system of related questionnaires that collect descriptive data on the context of public and private elementary and secondary education. Data reported by schools, principals, and teachers provide a variety of statistics on the condition of education in the United States that may be used by policymakers and the general public. The NTPS system covers a wide range of topics, including teacher and principal demographics, training and preparation, perceptions of school climate and problems in their schools, compensation, general conditions in schools, and professional development.

The NTPS is a redesign of the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), which was conducted from the 1987–88 school year to the 2011–12 school year. Although the NTPS maintains the SASS survey’s focus on schools, teachers, and administrators, the NTPS has a different structure and sample than the SASS. In addition, whereas the SASS operated on a 4-year survey cycle, the NTPS operates on a 2- or 3-year survey cycle. The NTPS universe of schools is confined to the 50 states and the District of Columbia. It excludes the Department of Defense dependents schools overseas, schools in U.S. territories overseas, and schools that do not offer teacher-provided classroom instruction in grades 1–12 or the ungraded equivalent. Bureau of Indian Education schools are included in the NTPS universe, but these schools are not oversampled and the data do not support separate BIE estimates.

The NTPS includes three questionnaires for schools, principals, and teachers. The school and principal questionnaires are sent to sampled schools, and the teacher questionnaire is sent to a sample of teachers working at those schools. They are invited, by mail or e-mail, to complete a web or paper survey. In some cases, they may also be contacted by telephone or in person. In order to reduce burden on sampled schools, principals, and teachers, some topics are included in every NTPS administration and some are included in every other administration.

The school questionnaire asks knowledgeable school staff members about grades offered, student attendance and enrollment, staffing patterns, teaching vacancies, programs and services offered, instructional time, and community service requirements. In addition, basic information is collected about the school year, including the beginning time of students’ school days and the length of the school year.

The principal questionnaire collects information about principal demographic characteristics, training, experience, salary, goals for the school, and working conditions and school climate. Information is also obtained on professional development opportunities for teachers and principals, teacher performance, and barriers to dismissal of underperforming teachers.

The teacher questionnaire collects data from teachers about their educational background, training, teaching assignment and workload, school climate, salary and salary supplements, and demographic conditions. Questions are also asked about early career experiences, professional development, and evaluation.

The NTPS was first conducted during the 2015–16 school year and included only schools, teachers, and principals in the public sector. In 2017–18 and 2020–21, however, the NTPS surveyed schools, teachers, and principals in both the public and private sectors.

The 2020–21 NTPS selected samples included about 9,900 public schools and their principals, 68,300 public school teachers, 3,000 private schools and their principals, and 8,000 private school teachers. Data collection was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, which affected school operations starting in March 2020. In addition to the standard questions, items about how schools first adapted to COVID-19 during the spring of 2020 were included on the school, principal, and teacher questionnaires. An item was also included at the beginning of each questionnaire that asked about the current operational effect of COVID-19 on instruction at the school at the time the survey was completed during the 2020–21 school year.

Weighted unit response rates for the 2020–21 NTPS were 65.6 percent for public schools and 61.4 percent for private schools, 68.0 percent for public school principals and 61.7 percent for private school principals, and and 62.4 percent among sampled public school teachers and 60.6 percent among sampled private school teachers. 

Electronic copies of the questionnaires are available at the NTPS home page (https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ntps).

Further information on the NTPS program can be obtained from

Maura Spiegelman
Cross-Sectional Surveys Branch
Sample Surveys Division
National Center for Education Statistics
550 12th Street SW
Washington, DC 20202
maura.spiegelman@ed.gov
https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ntps

The Principal Follow-up Survey (PFS), originally a component of the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) and currently a component of the National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS), was created to provide attrition rates for principals in K–12 schools. It assesses, from one year to the following year, how many principals are principals at the same school, how many are principals at a different school, and how many are no longer working as principals.

The 2021–22 PFS sample consisted of schools who had returned a completed 2020–21 NTPS principal questionnaire. Schools that had returned the completed NTPS questionnaire were mailed the 2021–22 PFS form in January 2022. The 2021–22 PFS sample included about 6,500 public school principals and 1,800 private school principals. The survey had a response rate of about 99 percent for public school principals and about 95 percent for private school principals. Additional information about the 2021–22 PFS is available in the First Look report Principal Attrition and Mobility: Results From the 2021–22 Principal Follow-up Survey to the National Teacher and Principal Survey (NCES 2023–046).

Further information on the PFS may be obtained from

Maura Spiegelman
Julia Merlin
Cross-Sectional Surveys Branch
Sample Surveys Division
National Center for Education Statistics
550 12th Street SW
Washington, DC 20202
maura.spiegelman@ed.gov
julia.merlin@ed.gov
https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ntps/overview.asp?OverviewType=6

The Teacher Follow-up Survey (TFS), originally a component of the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) and currently a component of the National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS), was created to determine how many elementary and secondary school teachers remain at the same school, move to another school, or leave the profession in the year following an NTPS administration. It is administered to elementary and secondary teachers in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The TFS uses two questionnaires, one for teachers who left teaching since the previous NTPS administration and another for those who are still teaching either in the same school as last year or in a different school. The objective of the TFS is to focus on the characteristics of each group in order to answer questions about teacher mobility and attrition.

The 2008–09 TFS was different from any previous TFS administration in that it also served as the second wave of a longitudinal study of first-year teachers. Because of this, the 2008–09 TFS consisted of four questionnaires. Two were for respondents who were first-year public school teachers in the 2007–08 SASS and two were for the remainder of the sample.

The 2021–22 TFS sampling frame consisted of teachers who had completed the 2020–21 NTPS teacher questionnaire. The 2021–22 TFS sample contained about 10,300 current and former teachers. The weighted overall response rate using the initial basic weight for private school teachers was 33.8 percent (34.6 percent for current teachers and 28.2 percent for former teachers). The weighted overall response rate for public school teachers was 43.9 percent (44.7 percent for current teachers and 36.2 percent for former teachers). Additional information about the 2021–22 TFS, including the analysis of unit nonresponse bias, is available in the First Look report Teacher Attrition and Mobility: Results From the 2021–22 Teacher Follow-up Survey to the National Teacher and Principal Survey (NCES 2024-039).

Further information on the PFS may be obtained from

Maura Spiegelman
Julia Merlin
Cross-Sectional Surveys Branch
Sample Surveys Division
National Center for Education Statistics
550 12th Street SW
Washington, DC 20202
maura.spiegelman@ed.gov
julia.merlin@ed.gov
https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ntps/overview.asp?OverviewType=3

The purposes of the Private School Universe Survey (PSS) data collection activities are (1) to build an accurate and complete list of private schools to serve as a sampling frame for NCES sample surveys of private schools and (2) to report data on the total number of private schools, teachers, and students in the survey universe. Since its inception in 1989, the survey has been conducted every 2 years. Results from the 2021–22 PSS can be found in the most recently released data tables on the PSS website (https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pss/tables2122.asp).

The PSS produces data similar to that of the Common Core of Data for public schools, and can be used for public-private comparisons. The data are useful for a variety of policy- and research-relevant issues, such as the growth of religiously affiliated schools, the number of private high school graduates, the length of the school year for various private schools, and the number of private school students and teachers.

The target population for this universe survey is all private schools in the United States that meet the criteria of a private school (i.e., the private school is an institution that provides instruction for any of grades kindergarten through 12, has one or more teachers to give instruction, is not administered by a public agency, and is not operated in a private home).

The survey universe is composed of schools identified from a variety of sources. The main source is a list frame initially developed for the 1989–90 PSS. The list is updated regularly by matching it with lists provided by nationwide private school associations, state departments of education, and other national guides and sources that list private schools. The other source is an area frame search in approximately 124 geographic areas, conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Information about the data collection, including sample sizes and unit response rates, can be found in the general documentation for each survey administration (see https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pss/pssdata.asp). For example, of the 51,397 schools in the 2021–22 sample, 22,371 were considered as out of scope (not eligible for the PSS). A total of 22,345 schools completed a PSS interview (62.9 percent completed online), while 6,681 refused to participate, resulting in an unweighted response rate of 77.0 percent.

Further information on the PSS may be obtained from

Marie Diederich
Cross-Sectional Surveys Branch
Sample Surveys Division
National Center for Education Statistics
550 12th Street SW
Washington, DC 20202
marie.diederich@ed.gov
https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pss/

Since 1964, NCES has published projections of key statistics for elementary and secondary schools and higher education institutions. The Condition of Education 2023 includes projections through 2031, which can be found in the Digest of Education Statistics. Each edition of the Projections provides revisions to estimates from the year before. These revisions can be the result of designed model improvements or incidental changes to the underlying data that feed the models. With the long-term impacts of the coronavirus pandemic being uncertain, NCES made minimal changes to the projection models in favor of consistency. However, due to the disruption of the pandemic, changes to underlying data were more pronounced than usual. For additional information on prior editions of the projections, see Projections of Education Statistics to 2028 (NCES 2020-024).

The Projections of Education Statistics series provides national data for elementary and secondary enrollment, high school graduates, elementary and secondary teachers, expenditures for public elementary and secondary education, enrollment in postsecondary degree-granting institutions, and postsecondary degrees conferred. The report also provides state-level projections for public elementary and secondary enrollment and public high school graduates.

Differences between the reported and projected values are, of course, almost inevitable. In Projections of Education Statistics to 2028, an evaluation of past projections revealed that, at the elementary and secondary levels, projections of public school enrollments have been quite accurate: mean absolute percentage differences for enrollment in public schools ranged from 0.3 to 1.2 percent for projections from 1 to 5 years in the future, while those for teachers in public schools were 3.0 percent or less. At the higher education level, projections of enrollment have been fairly accurate: mean absolute percentage differences were reported as 5.9 percent or less for projections from 1 to 5 years into the future in Projections of Education Statistics to 2026 (NCES 2018-019). (Projections of Education Statistics to 2027 and Projections of Education Statistics to 2028 did not report mean absolute percentage errors for institutions at the higher educational level because enrollment projections were calculated using a new model.)

Further information on Projections of Education Statistics may be obtained from

Véronique Irwin
Annual Reports and Information Staff
National Center for Education Statistics
550 12th Street SW
Washington, DC 20202
veronique.irwin@ed.gov
https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2020/2020024.pdf

The School Pulse Panel is a study collecting information on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic from a national sample of elementary, middle, high, and combined-grade public schools. Some survey questions are asked repeatedly to observe trends over time, while others examine unique topics in a single month.

The survey asks questions about topics such as instructional mode offered; enrollment counts of subgroups of students using various instructional modes; learning loss mitigation strategies; safe and healthy school mitigation strategies; special education services; use of technology; and information on staffing.

A sample of approximately 2,400 public elementary, middle, high, and combined-grade schools was selected to participate in a panel where school and district staff were asked to provide requested data monthly during the 2021–22 school year. While the results from the School Pulse Panel have been weighted and adjusted for non-response, these experimental data should be interpreted with caution. Experimental data may not meet all NCES quality standards. 

As part of a post-release quality evaluation of School Pulse Panel (SPP) data, an error was uncovered in the survey weighting procedure. This required a reweighting of the data and a recalculation of estimates released from the January 2022 through December 2022 SPP collections. Estimates in the Condition of Education 2023 have been revised as of August, 2023, based on a reweighting of the data. For a description of the reweighting and its effect on the estimates, see this memo at https://ies.ed.gov/schoolsurvey/spp/ReweightingMemo.pdf.

Further information on the School Pulse Panel may be obtained from

 

https://ies.ed.gov/schoolsurvey/spp/

https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/spp/staff.asp

The School Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS) is the only recurring federal survey that collects detailed information on the incidence, frequency, seriousness, and nature of violence affecting students and school personnel as well as other indicators of school safety from the schools’ perspective. SSOCS is conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) within the U.S. Department of Education and collected by the U.S. Census Bureau. The SSOCS was first conducted in the 1999–2000 school year. Data were collected every other school year from 2004 to 2010 and from 2016 to 2020. The SSOCS data collection in the 2021–22 school year is the final planned collection.

Data from this collection can be used to examine the relationship between school characteristics and violent and serious violent crimes in elementary, middle, secondary/high, and combined/other schools. Data from SSOCS can also be used to assess what crime prevention programs, practices, and policies are used by schools. In addition to collecting data on these core topics, SSOCS:2022 (school year 2021–22) collected data on schools’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic during the 2021–22 school year.

The sampling frame for SSOCS:2022 was constructed using the 2019–20 Common Core of Data (CCD) Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe data file. The sampling frame is restricted to regular public schools, public charter schools, and schools with partial or total magnet programs in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. It excludes private schools, special education schools, vocational schools, alternative schools, virtual schools, newly closed schools, home schools, ungraded schools, schools with a highest grade of kindergarten or lower, Department of Defense Education Activity schools, and Bureau of Indian Education schools, and schools in Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the Northern Marianas, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The SSOCS:2022 findings are based on a stratified, random sample of 4,800 public schools. Data collection began February 15, 2022, and continued through July 19, 2022. A total of 2,687 public schools provided complete SSOCS:2022 questionnaires, yielding a weighted response rate of 60.1 percent. The SSOCS:2022 sample is representative of 85,300 schools.

Further information about SSOCS may be obtained from

Deanne Swan
Cross-Sectional Surveys Branch
Sample Surveys Division
National Center for Education Statistics
550 12th Street SW
Washington, DC 20202
deanne.swan@ed.gov
https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ssocs/

The EDFacts Initiative

EDFacts is a centralized data collection through which state education agencies (SEAs) submit prekindergarten through grade 12 education data to the U.S. Department of Education (ED). All data in EDFacts are organized into “data groups” and reported to ED using defined file specifications. Depending on the data group, SEAs may submit aggregate counts for the state as a whole or detailed counts for individual schools or school districts. EDFacts does not collect student-level records. The entities that are required to report EDFacts data vary by data group but may include the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Department of Defense Education Activity, the Bureau of Indian Education, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. More information about EDFacts file specifications and data groups can be found at https://www2.ed.gov/about/inits/ed/edfacts/index.html .

EDFacts is a universe collection and is not subject to sampling error, although nonsampling errors such as nonresponse and inaccurate reporting may occur. ED attempts to minimize nonsampling errors by training data submission coordinators and reviewing the quality of state data submissions. However, anomalies may still be present in the data.

Differences in state data collection systems may limit the comparability of EDFacts data across states and across time. To build EDFactsfiles, SEAs rely on data that were reported by their schools and school districts. The systems used to collect these data evolve and differ from state to state.

In some cases, EDFacts data may not align with data reported on SEA websites. States may update their websites on schedules different from those they use to report data to ED. Furthermore, ED may use methods for protecting the privacy of individuals represented within the data that could be different from the methods used by an individual state.

Data on English learners enrolled in public schools and four-year adjusted cohort graduation rates are collected by EDFacts on behalf of the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education. Data on students in incidents involving firearms are collected by EDFacts on behalf of the Office of Safe and Healthy Students in the Office of Elementary and Secondary Education.

For more information about EDFacts, please contact

Kelly Worthington
Administrative Data Division
National Center for Education Statistics
U.S. Department of Education
550 12th Street SW
Washington, DC 20202
kelly.worthington@ed.gov
https://www2.ed.gov/about/inits/ed/edfacts/index.html

NAEP Monthly School Survey

The Monthly School Survey Dashboard was created as part of a pilot study to provide data for understanding learning opportunities offered by schools during the COVID-19 pandemic. The pilot study is a key element of the response to the Executive Order on Supporting the Reopening and Continuing Operation of Schools and Early Childhood Education Providers (https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/01/21/executive-order-supporting-the-reopening-and-continuing-operation-of-schools-and-early-childhood-education-providers/). Results from this new pilot study are available for analyzing the 2022 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) data—contributing additional contextual factors for understanding educational outcomes of the nation’s 4th- and 8th-grade students. The survey collected data five times, once a month from February through June of 2021.

Further information on the NAEP Monthly School Survey may be obtained from

https://ies.ed.gov/schoolsurvey/mss-dashboard/
https://ies.ed.gov/schoolsurvey/mss-dashboard/about.aspx

Campus Safety and Security Survey

The Campus Safety and Security Survey is administered by the Office of Postsecondary Education. Since 1990, all postsecondary institutions participating in Title IV student financial aid programs have been required to comply with the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, known as the Clery Act. Originally, Congress enacted the Crime Awareness and Campus Security Act, which was amended in 1992, 1998, 2000, 2008, and 2013. The 1998 amendments renamed the law the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act. The Clery Act requires schools to give timely warnings of crimes to the student body and staff; to publicize campus crime and safety policies; and to collect, report, and disseminate campus crime data.

Crime statistics are collected and disseminated by campus security authorities. These authorities include campus police; nonpolice security staff responsible for monitoring campus property; municipal, county, or state law enforcement agencies with institutional agreements for security services; individuals and offices designated by the campus security policies as those to whom crimes should be reported; and officials of the institution with significant responsibility for student and campus activities. The act requires disclosure for offenses committed at geographic locations associated with each institution. For on-campus crimes, this includes property and buildings owned or controlled by the institution. In addition to on-campus crimes, the act requires disclosure of crimes committed in or on a noncampus building or property owned or controlled by the institution for educational purposes or for recognized student organizations, and on public property within or immediately adjacent to and accessible from the campus.

There are three types of statistics described in this report: criminal offenses; arrests for illegal weapons possession and violation of drug and liquor laws; and disciplinary referrals for illegal weapons possession and violation of drug and liquor laws. Criminal offenses include homicide, sex offenses, robbery, aggravated assaults, burglary, motor vehicle theft, and arson. Only the most serious offense is counted when more than one offense was committed during an incident. The two other categories, arrests and referrals, include counts for illegal weapons possession and violation of drug and liquor laws. Arrests and referrals relate to only those that are in violation of the law and not just in violation of institutional policies. If no federal, state, or local law was violated, these events are not reported. Further, if an individual is arrested and referred for disciplinary action for an offense, only the arrest is counted. Arrest is defined to include persons processed by arrest, citation, or summons, including those arrested and released without formal charges being placed. Referral for disciplinary action is defined to include persons referred to any official who initiates a disciplinary action of which a record is kept and which may result in the imposition of a sanction. Referrals may or may not involve the police or other law enforcement agencies.

All criminal offenses and arrests may include students, faculty, staff, and the general public. These offenses may or may not involve students that are enrolled in the institution. Referrals primarily deal with persons associated formally with the institution (i.e., students, faculty, staff ).

Campus security and police statistics do not necessarily reflect the total amount or even the nature of crime on campus. Rather, they reflect incidents that have been reported and recorded by campus security and/or local police. The process of reporting and recording alleged criminal incidents involve some well-known social filters and steps beginning with the victim. First, the victim or some other party must recognize that a possible crime has occurred and report the event. The event must then be recorded, and if it is recorded, the nature and type of offense must be classified. This classification may differ from the initial report due to the collection of additional evidence, interviews with witnesses, or through officer discretion. Also, the date an incident is reported may be much later than the date of the actual incident. For example, a victim may not realize something was stolen until much later, or a victim of violence may wait a number of days to report a crime. Other factors are related to the probability that an incident is reported, including the severity of the event, the victim’s confidence and prior experience with the police or security agency, or influence from third parties (e.g., friends and family knowledgeable about the incident). Finally the reader should be mindful that these figures represent alleged criminal offenses reported to campus security and/or local police within a given year, and they do not necessarily reflect prosecutions or convictions for crime.

More information on the reporting of campus crime and safety data may be obtained from the Clery Act Appendix for FSA Handbook, at https://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/safety/cleryappendixfinal.pdf.

Policy Coordination, Development, and Accreditation Service
Office of Postsecondary Education
U.S. Department of Education
https://ope.ed.gov/campussafety/#/

Campus Safety and Security Help Desk
(800) 435-5985
CampusSecurityHelp@Westat.com

Title II of the Higher Education Act of 1965

Title II of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended (HEA), requires that states and teacher preparation providers annually report information about teacher preparation programs and their quality to the U.S. Department of Education. Such reports include information about the number of individuals who enrolled in teacher preparation programs, the number who completed the programs, and demographic characteristics of enrollees and completers. The information collected also includes the number of teacher preparation providers and programs, teacher preparation program entry and exit requirements, the criteria used by states to assess performance of the programs, and the number of programs that are low performing or at risk of being low performing based on the state’s criteria. In addition, information on state requirements for an initial teaching credential, test-taker performance on initial teaching credential assessments, and the number of individuals who received initial teaching credentials is reported.

Public access to data about teacher preparation and certification, in addition to technical assistance materials to support the collection, analysis, and reporting of Title II data can be found at https://title2.ed.gov/Public/Home.aspx.

Annual Report to Congress on the Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a law ensuring services to children with disabilities throughout the nation. IDEA governs how states and public agencies provide early intervention, special education, and related services to more than 8 million (as of school year 2022–23) eligible infants, toddlers, children, and youth with disabilities.

IDEA, formerly the Education of the Handicapped Act (EHA), requires the Secretary of Education to transmit, on an annual basis, a report to Congress describing the progress made toward the provision of a free appropriate public education to all children with disabilities and the provision of early intervention services to infants and toddlers with disabilities.

Statistics on children receiving special education and related services in various settings and school personnel providing such services are reported in an annual submission of data to the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) by the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Bureau of Indian Education schools, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, and the Marshall Islands. The child count information is based on the number of children with disabilities receiving special education and related services on December 1 of each year. Count information is available from https://data.ed.gov/dataset/idea-section-618-data-products.

Because all participants in programs for persons with disabilities are reported to OSEP, the data are not subject to sampling error. However, nonsampling error can arise from a variety of sources. Some states only produce counts of students receiving special education services by disability category because Part B of the IDEA requires it. In those states that typically produce counts of students receiving special education services by disability category without regard to IDEA requirements, definitions and labeling practices vary.

Further information on this annual report to Congress may be obtained from

Office of Special Education Programs
Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue SW
Washington, DC 20202
https://www2.ed.gov/about/reports/annual/osep/index.html
https://sites.ed.gov/idea/
https://ideadata.org/

A division of the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) collects, analyzes, publishes, and disseminates statistical information on crime, criminal offenders, victims of crime, and the operations of the justice system at all levels of government and internationally. It also provides technical and financial support to state governments for development of criminal justice statistics and information systems on crime and justice.

For information on the BJS, see https://www.bjs.gov/.

National Crime Victimization Survey

The Bureau of Justice Statistics’s National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) is an annual data collection carried out by the U.S. Census Bureau. The NCVS is the nation’s primary source of information on criminal victimization. Each year, data are obtained from a nationally representative sample of about 240,000 persons in about 150,000 U.S. households. Persons are interviewed on the frequency, characteristics, and consequences of criminal victimization in the United States. The survey has been ongoing since 1973.

The NCVS is administered to persons age 12 or older from a nationally representative sample of U.S. households. It collects information on nonfatal personal crimes (rape or sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, simple assault, and personal larceny [purse snatching and pocket picking]) and household property crimes (burglary or trespassing, motor vehicle theft, and other types of theft). It collects information on threatened, attempted, and completed crimes. Survey respondents provide information about themselves (e.g., age, sex, race and Hispanic origin, marital status, education level, and income) and whether they experienced a victimization. For each victimization incident, respondents report information about the offender (including age, sex, race, Hispanic origin, and victim-offender relationship), characteristics of the crime (including time and place of occurrence, use of weapons, nature of injury, and economic consequences), whether the crime was reported to police, reasons the crime was or was not reported, and experiences with the criminal justice system.

Information about the sampled household is collected from a reference person, who is a responsible adult member of the household who is not likely to permanently leave the household. This includes information on household-level demographic characteristics (e.g., income) and property victimizations. A household is defined as a group of persons who all reside at a sampled address. Once selected, households remain in the sample for 3½ years, and eligible persons in these households are interviewed every 6 months for a total of 7 interviews. First interviews are typically conducted in person, with subsequent interviews conducted either in person or by phone. New households rotate into the sample on an ongoing basis to replace outgoing households that have been in the sample for the full 3½-year period. The sample includes persons living in group quarters, such as dormitories, rooming houses, and religious group dwellings, and excludes persons living on military bases or in institutional settings such as correctional or hospital facilities.

The 2022 NCVS data file includes 143,794 household interviews. Overall, 64 percent of eligible households completed interviews. Within participating households, interviews with 226,962 persons were completed in 2022, representing an 82 percent unweighted response rate among eligible persons from responding households. Victimizations that occurred outside of the United States were excluded from this report. In 2022, about 0.4 percent of the unweighted victimizations occurred outside of the United States. NCVS data are weighted to produce annual estimates of victimization for persons age 12 or older living in U.S. households. Because the NCVS relies on a sample rather than a census of the entire U.S. population, weights are designed to adjust to known population totals and to compensate for survey nonresponse and other aspects of the complex sample design.

Victimization weights used in this report account for the number of persons victimized during an incident and for high-frequency repeat victimizations (i.e., series victimizations). Series victimizations are similar in type to one another but occur with such frequency that a victim is unable to recall each individual event or describe each event in detail. Survey procedures allow NCVS interviewers to identify and classify these similar victimizations as series victimizations and to collect detailed information on only the most recent incident in the series.

The weighting counts series victimizations as the actual number of victimizations reported by the victim, up to a maximum of 10. Doing so produces more reliable estimates of crime levels than counting such victimizations only once, while the cap at 10 minimizes the effect of extreme outliers on rates. According to the 2022 data, series victimizations accounted for 1.5 percent of all victimizations and 3.3 percent of all violent victimizations. Additional information on the enumeration of series victimizations is detailed in the up-to-date report Methods for Counting High-Frequency Repeat Victimizations in the National Crime Victimization Survey (Bureau of Justice Statistics, April 2012, NCJ 237308).

The 2020 NCVS weights include an additional adjustment to address the impact of modified field operations due to COVID-19. For more information on the weighting adjustments applied in 2020, see the Source and Accuracy Statement for the 2020 National Crime Victimization Survey in the NCVS 2020 Codebook (https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/web/NACJD/series/95) and Criminal Victimization, 2020 (Bureau of Justice Statistics, October 2021, NCJ 301775).

Beginning in 2020, BJS incorporated another factor to moderate the contribution of outlier weights on NCVS estimates. For more information on this methodology, see Source and Accuracy Statement for the 2020 National Crime Victimization Survey in the NCVS 2020 Codebook (https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/web/NACJD/series/95) and Criminal Victimization, 2020 (Bureau of Justice Statistics, October 2021, NCJ 301775).

Every 10 years, the NCVS sample is redesigned to reflect changes in the population. Due to a sample increase and redesign in 2016, victimization estimates among youth were not comparable to estimates for other years and are not available. For more information on the redesign, see Criminal Victimization, 2016: Revised (Bureau of Justice Statistics, October 2018, NCJ 252121). In the 2006 NCVS, changes in the sample design and survey methodology affected the survey’s estimates. Caution should be used when comparing 2006 estimates to estimates of other years. For more information on the 2006 NCVS data, see Criminal Victimization, 2006 (Bureau of Justice Statistics, December 2007, NCJ 219413) and Criminal Victimization, 2007 (Bureau of Justice Statistics, December 2008, NCJ 224390).

In 2003, in accordance with changes to the U.S. Office of Management and Budget’s standards for classifying federal data on race and ethnicity, the NCVS item on race/ethnicity was modified. Due to changes in race/ethnicity categories, comparisons of race/ethnicity across years should be made with caution.

Generalized variance function (GVF) parameters were used to generate standard errors for each estimate (e.g., numbers and rates) in this report. To generate standard errors around victimization estimates from the NCVS, the U.S. Census Bureau produces GVF parameters for BJS. The GVFs account for aspects of the NCVS’s complex sample design and represent the curve fitted to a selection of individual standard errors based on the Balanced Repeated Replication technique. BJS conducted statistical tests to determine whether differences in estimated numbers and rates in this report were statistically significant once sampling error was considered. Findings described in this report as higher, lower, or different passed a test at the 0.05 level (95 percent confidence level) of significance.

Further information on the NCVS may be obtained from

Alexandra Thompson
Victimization Statistics Branch
Bureau of Justice Statistics
alexandra.thompson@usdoj.gov
https://bjs.ojp.gov/data-collection/ncvs

School Crime Supplement

Created as a supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) and codesigned by the National Center for Education Statistics and Bureau of Justice Statistics, the School Crime Supplement (SCS) survey has been conducted in 1989, 1995, and biennially since 1999 to collect additional information about school-related victimizations on a national level. Data collection was postponed during the COVID-19 pandemic and resumed in 2022. The SCS was designed to help policymakers, as well as academic researchers and practitioners at federal, state, and local levels, make informed decisions concerning crime in schools. The survey asks students a number of key questions about their experiences with and perceptions of crime and violence that occurred inside their school, on school grounds, on the school bus, or on the way to or from school. Students are asked additional questions about security measures used by their school, students’ participation in after-school activities, students’ perceptions of school rules, the presence of weapons and gangs in school, the presence of hate-related words and graffiti in school, student reports of bullying and reports of rejection at school, and the availability of drugs and alcohol in school. Students are also asked attitudinal questions relating to fear of victimization and avoidance behavior at school.

The SCS survey is conducted for a 6-month period from January through June in all households selected for the NCVS (see discussion above for information about the NCVS sampling design and changes to the race/ethnicity variable beginning in 2003). Within these households, prior to 2007 the eligible respondents for the SCS were those household members who had attended school at any time during the 6 months preceding the interview, were enrolled in grades 6–12, and were not homeschooled. In 2007, the questionnaire was changed and household members who attended school sometime during the school year of the interview were included. The age range of students covered in this report is 12–18 years of age. Eligible respondents are asked the supplemental questions in the SCS only after completing their entire NCVS interview. It should be noted that the first or unbounded NCVS interview has always been included in analysis of the SCS data and may result in the reporting of events outside of the requested reference period.

The prevalence of victimization is calculated by using NCVS incident variables appended to the SCS data files of the same year. The NCVS type of crime variable is used to classify victimizations of students in the SCS as violent victimization excluding simple assault (labeled as “serious violent victimization” in prior reports), violent victimization, or theft. The NCVS variables asking where the incident happened (at school) and what the victim was doing when it happened (attending school or on the way to or from school) are used to ascertain whether the incident happened at school. Only incidents that occurred inside the United States are included.

In 1995 and 1999, “at school” was defined for respondents as in the school building, on the school grounds, or on a school bus. In 2001, however, the definition for “at school” was changed to mean in the school building, on school property, on a school bus, or going to and from school. This change was made in order to be consistent with the definition of “at school” as it is constructed in the NCVS. Cognitive interviews conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau on the 1999 SCS suggested that modifications to the definition of “at school” would not have a substantial impact on the estimates. In 2022, respondents were asked about incidents occurring “during school,” and bullying could include incidents using technologies, such as a phone, the internet, or social media.

There are two types of nonresponse: unit and item nonresponse. NCES requires that any stage of data collection within a survey that has a unit base-weighted response rate of less than 85 percent be evaluated for the potential magnitude of unit nonresponse bias before the data or any analysis using the data may be released (NCES Statistical Standards, https://nces.ed.gov/statprog/2002/std4_4.asp). Due to the low unit response rate in 2005 and later years, a unit nonresponse bias analysis is done. Unit response rates indicate how many sampled units have completed interviews. Because interviews with students could be completed only after households had responded to the NCVS, the unit completion rate for the SCS reflects both the household interview completion rate and the student interview completion rate. Nonresponse can greatly affect the strength and application of survey data by leading to an increase in variance as a result of a reduction in the actual size of the sample and can produce bias if nonrespondents have characteristics of interest that are different from respondents. For response bias to occur, respondents must have different response rates and responses to particular survey variables. The magnitude of unit nonresponse bias is determined by the response rate and the differences between respondents and nonrespondents on key survey variables. Although the bias analysis cannot measure response bias since the SCS is a sample survey and it is not known how the population would have responded, the SCS sampling frame has several key student or school characteristic variables for which data are known for respondents and nonrespondents: sex, age, race/ethnicity, household income, region, and urbanicity, all of which are associated with student victimization. To the extent that there are differential responses by respondents in these groups, nonresponse bias is a concern.

Table A. Student participation in the School Crime Supplement (SCS) by number participating, household completion rate, student completion rate, and overall unit response rate: Selected years, 1995 to 2017

SCS collection year	Number participating	Household completion rate (percent)	Student completion rate (percent)	Overall unit response rate (percent)1
1995	9,700	95	78	74
1999	8,400	94	78	73
2001	8,400	93	77	72
2003	7,200	92	70	64
2005	6,300	91	62	56
2007	5,600	90	58	53
2009	5,000	92	56	51
2011	6,500	91	63	57
2013	5,700	86	60	51
2015	5,500	82	58	48
2017	7,100	77	52	40
2019	7,000	73	49	36
2022	5,500	66	46	30

Results of recent nonresponse bias analyses can be found in the Source and Accuracy Statement, which is published in the codebook documentation and available from the Institute for Social Science Research. For example, the overall 2022 SCS response rate was 30.1 percent, which causes concern of potential bias in the SCS. The nonresponse bias analysis found significant differences in response rates and in respondent and nonrespondent distributions between region and the age demographic subgroups. However, nonresponse weighting adjustments are expected to minimize these differences. The modeled estimates show no evidence of nonresponse bias in the SCS estimates before or after nonresponse weighting adjustments, but there could still be bias in these estimates because the response data available to conduct the study are unable to capture responses from a large portion of the supplement’s target population.

Further information about the SCS may be obtained from

Michael Walsh McGarrah
Cross-Sectional Surveys Branch
Sample Surveys Division
National Center for Education Statistics
550 12th Street SW
Washington, DC 20202
michael.mcgarrah@ed.gov
https://nces.ed.gov/programs/crime/scs/

Consumer Price Indexes

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) represents changes in prices of all goods and services purchased for consumption by urban households. Indexes are available for two population groups: a CPI for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) and a CPI for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W). Unless otherwise specified, data in this report are adjusted for inflation using the CPI-U. These values are generally adjusted to a school-year basis by averaging the July through June figures. Price indexes are available for the United States, the 4 Census regions, 9 Census divisions, 2 size of city classes, 8 cross-classifications of regions and size-classes, and 23 local areas. The major uses of the CPI include as an economic indicator, as a deflator of other economic series, and as a means of adjusting income.

Also available is the Consumer Price Index research series using current methods (CPI-U-RS), which presents an estimate of the CPI-U from 1978 to the present that incorporates most of the improvements that the Bureau of Labor Statistics has made over that time span into the entire series. The historical price index series of the CPI-U does not reflect these changes, though these changes do make the present and future CPI more accurate. The limitations of the CPI-U-RS include considerable uncertainty surrounding the magnitude of the adjustments and the several improvements in the CPI that have not been incorporated into the CPI-U-RS for various reasons. Nonetheless, the CPI-U-RS can serve as a valuable proxy for researchers needing a historical estimate of inflation using current methods. This series has not been used in NCES tables.

Further information on consumer price indexes may be obtained from

Bureau of Labor Statistics
U.S. Department of Labor
2 Massachusetts Avenue NE
Washington, DC 20212
https://www.bls.gov/cpi/

Employment and Unemployment Surveys

Statistics on the employment and unemployment status of the population and related data are compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) using data from the Current Population Survey (CPS) (see below) and other surveys. The CPS, a monthly household survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau for the Bureau of Labor Statistics, provides a comprehensive body of information on the employment and unemployment experience of the nation’s population, classified by age, sex, race, and various other characteristics.

Further information on unemployment surveys may be obtained from

Bureau of Labor Statistics
U.S. Department of Labor
2 Massachusetts Avenue NE
Washington, DC 20212
cpsinfo@bls.gov
https://www.bls.gov/bls/employment.htm

American Community Survey

The Census Bureau introduced the American Community Survey (ACS) in 1996. Fully implemented in 2005, it provides a large monthly sample of demographic, socioeconomic, and housing data comparable in content to the Long Forms of the Decennial Census up to and including the 2000 long form. Aggregated over time, these data serve as a replacement for the Long Form of the Decennial Census. The survey includes questions mandated by federal law, federal regulations, and court decisions.

The survey is currently mailed to approximately 295,000 addresses in the United States and Puerto Rico each month, or about 3.5 million addresses annually. A larger proportion of addresses in small governmental units (e.g., American Indian reservations, small counties, and towns) also receive the survey. The monthly sample size is designed to approximate the ratio used in the 2000 Census, which requires more intensive distribution in these areas. The ACS covers the U.S. resident population, which includes the entire civilian, noninstitutionalized population; incarcerated persons; institutionalized persons; and the active-duty military who are in the United States. In 2006, the ACS began collecting data from the population living in group quarters. Institutionalized group quarters include adult and juvenile correctional facilities, nursing facilities, and other health care facilities. Noninstitutionalized group quarters include college and university housing, military barracks, and other noninstitutional facilities such as workers and religious group quarters and temporary shelters for the homeless.

National-level data from the ACS are available from 2000 onward. The ACS normally produces 1-year estimates for jurisdictions with populations of 65,000 and over using data collected between January 1 and December 31 of the data year. But the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on data collection resulted in 1-year estimates for 2020 that did not meet Census Bureau standards. Consequently, the Census Bureau did not release its standard 1-year estimates from the 2020 ACS. It released experimental estimates developed from 2020 ACS 1-year data instead. The Census Bureau urges caution in using the experimental estimates as a replacement for standard 2020 ACS 1-year estimates (https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/technical-documentation/user-notes/2021-02.html). The 1-year estimates for 2022 were released in the usual sequence-based format as well as in a table-based format.

The ACS also produces 5-year estimates for jurisdictions with populations smaller than 65,000. The 5-year estimates for 2016–2020 used data collected between January 1, 2016, and December 31, 2020. Notwithstanding the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on data collection in 2020, the Census Bureau determined that a revision in the methodology used for the 2016–2020 ACS 5-year estimates produced data that met Census Bureau standards for public release (https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/technical-documentation/user-notes.html). The 5-year estimates for 2018–2022 were released in the usual sequence-based format as well as in a table-based format.

The ACS produced 3-year estimates (for jurisdictions with populations of 20,000 or over) for the periods 2005–2007, 2006–2008, 2007–2009, 2008–2010, 2009–2011, 2010–2012, and 2011–2013. Three-year estimates for these periods will continue to be available to data users, but no further 3-year estimates will be produced.

Further information about the ACS is available at https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/.

Census of Population—Education in the United States

Some NCES tables are based on a part of the decennial census that consisted of questions asked of a 1 in 6 sample of people and housing units in the United States. This sample was asked more detailed questions about income, occupation, and housing costs, as well as questions about general demographic information. This decennial census “long form” is no longer used; it has been replaced by the American Community Survey (ACS).

School enrollment. People classified as enrolled in school reported attending a “regular” public or private school or college. They were asked whether the institution they attended was public or private and what level of school they were enrolled in.

Educational attainment. Data for educational attainment were tabulated for people ages 15 and over and classified according to the highest grade completed or the highest degree received. Instructions were also given to include the level of the previous grade attended or the highest degree received for people currently enrolled in school.

Poverty status. To determine poverty status, answers to income questions were used to make comparisons to the appropriate poverty threshold. All people except those who were institutionalized, people in military group quarters and college dormitories, and unrelated people under age 15 were considered. If the total income of each family or unrelated individual in the sample was below the corresponding cutoff, that family or individual was classified as “below the poverty level.”

Further information on the 1990 and 2000 Census of Population may be obtained from

Population Division
Census Bureau
U.S. Department of Commerce
4600 Silver Hill Road
Washington, DC 20233
https://www.census.gov/main/www/cen1990.html
https://www.census.gov/main/www/cen2000.html

Current Population Survey

The Current Population Survey (CPS) is a monthly survey of about 50,000 households conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau for the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The CPS is the primary source of labor force statistics on the U.S. population. In addition, supplemental questionnaires are used to provide further information about the U.S. population. The March supplement (also known as the Annual Social and Economic supplement [ASEC]) contains detailed questions on topics such as income, employment, and educational attainment; additional questions, such as items on disabilities, have also been included. In the November supplement, items on computer and internet use are the principal focus. The October supplement also contains some questions about computer and internet use, but most of its questions relate to school enrollment and school characteristics.

CPS samples are initially selected based on results from the decennial census and are periodically updated to reflect new housing construction. The current sample design for the main CPS, last revised in July 2015, includes about 70,000 households. Each month, about 50,000 of the 70,000 households are interviewed. Information is obtained each month from those in the household who are 15 years of age and over, and demographic data are collected for children 0–14 years of age. In addition, supplemental questions regarding school enrollment are asked about eligible household members ages 3 and over in the October CPS supplement.

In January 1992, the CPS educational attainment variable was changed. The “Highest grade attended” and “Year completed” questions were replaced by the question “What is the highest level of school . . . has completed or the highest degree . . . has received?” Thus, for example, whereas the old questions elicited data for those who completed more than 4 years of high school, the new question elicited data for those who were high school completers, that is, those who graduated from high school with a diploma as well as those who completed high school through equivalency programs, such as a GED program.

A major redesign of the CPS was implemented in January 1994 to improve the quality of the data collected. Survey questions were revised, new questions were added, and computer-assisted interviewing methods were used for the survey data collection. Further information about the redesign is available in Current Population Survey, October 1995: (School Enrollment Supplement) Technical Documentation at https://cps.ipums.org/cps/resources/codebooks/cpsoct95.pdf .

Caution should be used when comparing data from 2022 (which reflect 2020 Census-based controls) with data from 2012 through 2021 (which reflect 2010 Census-based controls), data from 2002 through 2011 (which reflect 2000 Census-based controls), and data from 2001 and earlier (which reflect population controls based on the 1990 and earlier Censuses). Changes in population controls generally have relatively little impact on summary measures such as means, medians, and percentage distributions; they can, however, have a significant impact on population counts. For example, use of 2010 census-based population controls results in about a 0.2 percent increase from the 2000 Census-based controls in the civilian noninstitutionalized population and in the number of families and households. Thus, estimates of levels for data collected in 2012 and later years will differ from those for earlier years by more than what could be attributed to actual changes in the population. These differences could be disproportionately greater for certain subpopulation groups than for the total population.

Caution should also be exercised when comparing March CPS (ASEC) estimates from data collected in 2020 and 2021 to those from previous years due to the effects that the coronavirus (COVID-19) had on interviewing and response rates. Interviewing for the March CPS began on March 15, 2020. In order to protect the health and safety of Census Bureau staff and respondents, the survey suspended in-person interviewing and closed the two CATI contact centers on March 20. For the rest of March and through April, the Census Bureau continued to attempt all interviews by telephone. While the Census Bureau went to great lengths to complete interviews by telephone, the response rate for the CPS basic household survey in March 2020 was 73 percent, about 10 percentage points lower than in preceding months and in the same period in 2019.

In 2021, for the safety of both interviewers and respondents, in-person interviews were conducted only when telephone interviews could not be done. The response rate for the CPS basic household survey declined from about 76 percent in March 2021, to 72 percent in March 2022, and then to 69 percent in March 2023.

Beginning in 2003, the race/ethnicity questions were expanded. Information on people of Two or more races were included, and the Asian and Pacific Islander race category was split into two categories—Asian and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander. In addition, questions were reworded to make it clear that self-reported data on race/ethnicity should reflect the race/ethnicity with which the responder identifies, rather than what may be written in official documentation.

The estimation procedure employed for monthly CPS data involves inflating weighted sample results to independent estimates of characteristics of the civilian noninstitutional population in the United States by age, sex, and race. These independent estimates are based on statistics from decennial censuses; statistics on births, deaths, immigration, and emigration; and statistics on the population in the armed services. Generalized standard error tables are provided in the Current Population Reports; methods for deriving standard errors can be found within the CPS technical documentation at https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/cps/technical-documentation/complete.html . The CPS data are subject to both nonsampling and sampling errors.

Standard errors were estimated using the generalized variance function prior to 2005 for March CPS data and prior to 2010 for October CPS data. The generalized variance function is a simple model that expresses the variance as a function of the expected value of a survey estimate. Standard errors were estimated using replicate weight methodology beginning in 2005 for March CPS data and beginning in 2010 for October CPS data. Those interested in using CPS household-level supplement replicate weights to calculate variances may refer to Estimating Current Population Survey (CPS) Household-Level Supplement Variances Using Replicate Weights at https://www.nber.org/cps/HH-level_Use_of_the_Public_Use_Replicate_Weight_File.doc.

Further information on the CPS may be obtained from

Associate Directorate for Demographic Programs—Survey Operations
Census Bureau
U.S. Department of Commerce
4600 Silver Hill Road
Washington, DC 20233
301-763-3806
dsd.cps@census.gov
https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/cps.html

Computer and Internet Use

The Current Population Survey (CPS) has been conducting supplemental data collections regarding computer use since 1984. In 1997, these supplemental data collections were expanded to include data on internet access. More recently, data regarding computer and internet use were collected in October 2010, July 2011, October 2012, July 2013, July 2015, November 2017, November 2019, and November 2021.

In the July 2011, 2013, and 2015 supplements, as well as in the November 2017, 2019, and 2021 supplements, the sole focus was on computer and internet use. In the October 2010 and 2012 supplements, questions on school enrollment were the principal focus and questions on computer and internet use were less prominent. Measurable differences in estimates taken from these supplements across years could reflect actual changes in the population; however, differences could also reflect any unknown bias from major changes in the questionnaire over time due to rapidly changing technology. In addition, data may vary slightly due to seasonal variations in data collection between the July, October, and November supplements. Therefore, caution should be used when making year-to-year comparisons of CPS computer and internet use estimates.

The most recent computer and internet use supplement, conducted in November 2021, collected household information from all eligible CPS households as well as information from individual household members ages 3 and over. Information was collected about the household’s use of digital devices and the internet as well as about the household member's use of the internet from any location in the past year. Information was also collected about internet activities of a single randomly selected respondent.

For the November 2021 basic CPS, the household-level unweighted nonresponse rate was 26.1 percent. The person-level unweighted nonresponse rate for the computer and internet use supplement was an additional 26.3 percent. Because one rate is a person-level rate and the other a household-level rate, the rates cannot be combined to derive an overall rate.

Further information on the CPS Computer and Internet Use Supplement may be obtained from

Associate Directorate for Demographic Programs—Survey Operations
Census Bureau
U.S. Department of Commerce
4600 Silver Hill Road
Washington, DC 20233
301-763-3806
dsd.cps@census.gov
https://census.gov/programs-surveys/cps.html

Educational Attainment

Reports documenting educational attainment are produced by the Census Bureau using the March Current Population Survey (CPS) supplement (Annual Social and Economic supplement [ASEC]). Currently, the ASEC consists of approximately 50,000 interviewed households. Both recent and earlier editions of Educational Attainment in the United States may be downloaded at https://www.census.gov/topics/education/educational-attainment/data/tables.All.html .

In 2014, the CPS ASEC included redesigned questions on income (specifically retirement income) and health insurance coverage, which were followed, in the 2015 CPS ASEC, by changes to allow spouses and unmarried partners to specifically identify as opposite- or same-sex. Beginning with the 2019 CPS ASEC, the Census Bureau used a modified processing system that improved procedures for imputing income and health insurance variables. The Census Bureau analyzed the impact of the new processing system by comparing its use with the use of the legacy processing system on income, poverty, and health insurance coverage data from 2017 ASEC files. The Census Bureau found that differences in the overall poverty rate and household income resulting from the use of the new processing system compared to the legacy processing system were not statistically significant, although there were differences for some demographic groups. Use of the new processing system caused the supplemental poverty rate (https://www.census.gov/topics/income-poverty/supplemental-poverty-measure.html) to decrease overall and for most demographic groups. The Census Bureau attributed the decrease to improvements in the new processing system’s imputation of medical out-of-pocket expenses, housing subsidies, and school lunch receipts. More information on these changes can be found at https://www.census.gov/newsroom/blogs/research-matters/2019/09/cps-asec.html .

As noted in “Current Population Survey” above, caution should be exercised when comparing ASEC estimates from data collected in 2020 and 2021 to those from previous years due to the effects that the coronavirus (COVID-19) had on interviewing and response rates.

In addition to the general constraints of CPS, some data indicate that respondents have a tendency to overestimate the educational level of members of their household. Some inaccuracy is due to the respondent’s lack of knowledge of the exact educational attainment of each household member and hesitancy to acknowledge anything less than a high school education.

Further information on educational attainment data from CPS may be obtained from

Associate Directorate for Demographic Programs—Survey Operations
Census Bureau
U.S. Department of Commerce
4600 Silver Hill Road
Washington, DC 20233
(301) 763-3806
dsd.cps@census.gov
https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/cps.html

School Enrollment

Each October, the Current Population Survey (CPS) includes supplemental questions on the enrollment status of the population ages 3 years and over. Currently, the October supplement consists of approximately 50,000 interviewed households, the same households interviewed in the basic Current Population Survey. The primary sources of nonsampling variability in the responses to the supplement are those inherent in the main survey instrument. The question of current enrollment may not be answered accurately for various reasons. Some respondents may not know current grade information for every student in the household, a problem especially prevalent for households with members in college or in nursery school. Confusion over college credits or hours taken by a student may make it difficult to determine the year in which the student is enrolled. Problems may occur with the definition of nursery school (a group or class organized to provide educational experiences for children) where respondents’ interpretations of “educational experiences” vary.

For the October 2022 basic CPS, the household-level nonresponse rate was 27.8 percent. The person-level nonresponse rate for the school enrollment supplement was an additional 8.4 percent. Because the basic CPS nonresponse rate is a household-level rate and the school enrollment supplement nonresponse rate is a person-level rate, these rates cannot be combined to derive an overall nonresponse rate. Nonresponding households may have more or fewer persons than interviewed ones, so combining these rates may lead to an under- or overestimate of the true overall nonresponse rate for persons for the school enrollment supplement.

Although the principal focus of the October supplement is school enrollment, in some years the supplement has included additional questions on other topics. In 2010 and 2012, for example, the October supplement included additional questions on computer and internet use.

Further information on CPS methodology may be obtained from https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/cps.html .

Further information on the CPS School Enrollment Supplement may be obtained from

Associate Directorate for Demographic Programs—Survey Operations
Census Bureau
U.S. Department of Commerce
4600 Silver Hill Road
Washington, DC 20233
(301) 763-3806
dsd.cps@census.gov
https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/cps.html

Decennial Census, Population Estimates, and Population Projections

The decennial census is a universe survey mandated by the U.S. Constitution. It is a questionnaire sent to every household in the country every 10 years, and it is composed of seven questions about the household and its members (name, sex, age, relationship, Hispanic origin, race, and whether the housing unit is owned or rented). The Census Bureau also produces annual estimates of the resident population by demographic characteristics (age, sex, race, and Hispanic origin) for the nation, states, and counties, as well as national and state projections for the resident population. The reference date for population estimates is July 1 of the given year. With each new issue of July 1 estimates, the Census Bureau revises estimates for each year back to the last census. Previously published estimates are superseded and archived.

Census respondents self-report race and ethnicity. The race questions on the 1990 and 2000 censuses differed in some significant ways. In 1990, the respondent was instructed to select the one race “that the respondent considers himself/herself to be,” whereas in 2000, the respondent could select one or more races that the person considered himself or herself to be. American Indian, Eskimo, and Aleut were three separate race categories in 1990; in 2000, the American Indian and Alaska Native categories were combined, with an option to write in a tribal affiliation. This write-in option was provided only for the American Indian category in 1990. There was a combined Asian and Pacific Islander race category in 1990, but the groups were separated into two categories in 2000.

The census question on ethnicity asks whether the respondent is of Hispanic origin, regardless of the race option(s) selected; thus, persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race. In the 2000 census, respondents were first asked, “Is this person Spanish/Hispanic/Latino?” and then given the following options: No, not Spanish/Hispanic/Latino; Yes, Puerto Rican; Yes, Mexican, Mexican American, Chicano; Yes, Cuban; and Yes, other Spanish/Hispanic/Latino (with space to print the specific group). In the 2010 census, respondents were asked “Is this person of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin?” The options given were No, not of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin; Yes, Mexican, Mexican Am., Chicano; Yes, Puerto Rican; Yes, Cuban; and Yes, another Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin—along with instructions to print “Argentinean, Colombian, Dominican, Nicaraguan, Salvadoran, Spaniard, and so on” in a specific box.

The 2020 census asked the respondent “What is this person’s race?” and allowed the respondent to select one or more options: White; Black or African American; American Indian or Alaska Native (with space to print the name of enrolled or principal tribe); Chinese; Filipino; Asian Indian; Vietnamese; Korean; Japanese; Native Hawaiian; Samoan; Chamorro; Other Asian; Other Pacific Islander; and Some other race. The last three options included space to print the specific race. The race examples of “Pakistani, Hmong, Cambodian, and so on” and “Tongan, Fijian, Marshallese, and so on,” were provided for the “Other Asian” and “Other Pacific Islander” responses, respectively.

The census population estimates program modified the enumerated population from the 2010 census to produce the population estimates base for 2010 and onward. As part of the modification, the Census Bureau recoded the “Some other race” responses from the 2010 census to one or more of the five OMB race categories used in the estimates program (for more information, see https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/popest/technical-documentation/methodology.html ).

The latest decennial census typically serves as the population estimates base. However, for the Vintage 2022 population estimates, the 2020 Census could not be adopted due to unique challenges including the unavailability of specific data required for estimates processing and delays caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, the population estimates program integrated multiple data sources at varying levels of demographic and geographic detail. For more information, see the Vintage 2022 release notes.

Further information on the decennial census may be obtained from https://www.census.gov.

Household Pulse Survey

The Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey (HPS) is a weekly or biweekly survey that provides statistical information about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our nation. The HPS provides key statistics on employment, income, health, education, and housing. Recognizing the extraordinary information needs of policymakers during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Census Bureau developed this new survey in partnership with the seven other agencies from the Federal Statistical System in early 2020: Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service (ERS), National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Social Security Administration (SSA), and the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. Currently, 16 federal agencies participate in the HPS partnership.

The new survey was designed to gather information on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic across a broad range of indicators (please see table A, below). The experimental HPS began development on March 23, 2020, and data collection began on April 23, 2020. This new survey originally provided weekly national and state estimates for 12 iterations, which were released to the public in tabular formats one week after the end of data collection. Following this Phase 1 series, the survey continued in similar structure through Phases 2 and 3 with a biweekly timeline.

The HPS gathers information from adults about employment status, spending patterns, food security, housing, physical and mental health, access to health care, program receipt, and educational disruption. This survey was designed to represent adults 18 years old and over. The HPS is designed to produce estimates at three different geographical levels. The lowest level is for the 15 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs). The second level of geography is for the states and the District of Columbia. The final level of aggregation is for the United States as a whole.

The HPS uses the Census Bureau’s Master Address File (MAF) as the source of the sampled housing units (HUs). The sample design is a systematic sample of all eligible HUs, with adjustments applied to the sample intervals to select a large enough sample to create state level estimates and estimates for the largest 15 MSAs. Sixty-six independent sample areas were defined. For each collection period, independent samples were selected. Approximately 145 million housing units are represented in the MAF and were considered valid for sampling.

Table A. Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey dates of administration, number of respondents, and response rates: April 23 to May 5, 2020 through September 29 to October 11, 2021

Week designation1	Survey dates	Number of respondents	Response rates
Phase 1
1	April 23 to May 5, 2020	74,413	3.8
2	May 7 to May 12, 2020	41,996	1.3
3	May 14 to May 19, 2020	132,961	2.3
4	May 21 to May 26, 2020	101,215	3.1
5	May 28 to June 2, 2020	105,066	3.5
6	June 4 to June 9, 2020	83,302	3.1
7	June 11 to June 16, 2020	73,472	2.3
8	June 18 to June 23, 2020	108,062	2.9
9	June 25 to June 30, 2020	98,663	3.3
10	July 2 to July 7, 2020	90,767	3.2
11	July 9 to July 14, 2020	91,605	3.1
12	July 16 to July 21, 2020	86,792	2.9
Phase 2
13	August 19 to August 31, 2020	109,051	10.3
14	September 2 to September 14, 2020	110,019	10.3
15	September 16 to September 28, 2020	99,302	9.2
16	September 30 to October 12, 2020	95,604	8.8
17	October 14 to October 26, 2020	88,716	8.1
Phase 3
18	October 28 to November 9, 2020	58,729	5.3
19	November 11 to November 23, 2020	71,939	6.6
20	November 25 to December 7, 2020	72,484	6.7
21	December 9 to December 21, 2020	69,944	6.5
22	January 6 to January 18, 2021	68,348	6.4
23	January 20 to February 1, 2021	80,567	7.5
24	February 3 to February 15, 2021	77,122	7.3
25	February 17 to March 1, 2021	77,788	7.3
26	March 3 to March 15, 2021	78,306	7.4
27	March 17 to March 29, 2021	77,104	7.2
Phase 3.1
28	April 14 to April 26, 2021	68,913	6.6
29	April 28 to May 10, 2021	78,467	7.4
30	May 12 to May 24, 2021	72,897	6.8
31	May 26 to June 7, 2021	70,854	6.7
32	June 9 to June 21, 2021	68,067	6.4
33	June 23 to July 5, 2021	66,262	6.3
Phase 3.2
34	July 21 to August 2, 2021	64,562	6.1
35	August 4 to August 16, 2021	68,799	6.5
36	August 18 to August 30, 2021	69,114	6.5
37	September 1 to September 13, 2021	63,536	6.0
38	September 15 to September 27, 2021	59,833	5.6
39	September 29 to October 11, 2021	57,064	5.4

It is important to note that the speed of the survey development and the pace of the data collection efforts led to policies and procedures for the experimental HPS that were not always consistent with traditional federal survey operations. For example, the timeline for the weekly/biweekly surveys meant that opportunities to follow up with nonrespondents were very limited. This has led to response rates of 1 to 4 percent through the first 12 weeks of the survey (Phase 1), and between 5 and 10 percent for Phases 2, 3, 3.1, and 3.2 of the survey, which are much lower than the 70 percent or higher rates typically set as targets in most federal surveys. Low response rates for this survey were anticipated and the survey population was large enough so that the resulting number of respondents had sufficient counts for state-level estimates. While the responses have been statistically adjusted so that respondents represent the nation and states in terms of geographic distribution, sex, race/ethnicity, age, and educational attainment, the impact of survey bias has not been fully explored. The technical limitations and cautions on the use of the data are more extensively explored in the Census Bureau documentation for the survey.

Further information about the HPS is available at https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/household-pulse-survey/technical-documentation.html.

National Vital Statistics System

The National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) is the method by which data on vital events—births, deaths, marriages, divorces, and fetal deaths—are provided to the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The data are provided to NCHS through the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program (VSCP). Detailed mortality data from NVSS are accessed through CDC’s Wide-ranging Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (WONDER), providing the counts of homicides among youth ages 5–18 and suicides among youth ages 10–18 by school year (i.e., from July 1 through June 30). These counts are used to estimate the proportion of all youth homicides and suicides that are school associated in a given school year.

For more information on the NCHS and the NVSS, see https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/index.htm.

School-Associated Violent Death Surveillance System

The School-Associated Violent Death Surveillance System (SAVD-SS) was developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Education, National School Safety Center, and the U.S. Department of Justice. The system contains descriptive data on all school-associated violent deaths in the United States, including homicides, suicides, and legal intervention deaths where the fatal injury occurred on the campus of a functioning public or private elementary or secondary school; while the victim was on the way to or from regular sessions at such a school in the United States; or while attending or on the way to or from an official school-sponsored event. Victims of such incidents include students as well as nonstudents (e.g., students’ parents, community residents, school staff). SAVD-SS includes data on the school, event, victim(s), and offender(s). These data are used to describe the epidemiology of school-associated violent deaths, identify common features of these deaths, estimate the rate of school-associated violent deaths in the United States, and identify potential risk factors for these deaths. The CDC has collected SAVD-SS data from July 1, 1992, to the present.

SAVD-SS uses a two-step process to identify and collect data on school-associated violent deaths. First, cases are identified through a systematic search of the LexisNexis newspaper and media database. Then, data are abstracted from articles published in the media only when a reliable source (i.e., a law enforcement or school official, or judicial proceedings regarding the incident) is cited to confirm the details of the case and to determine if the event meets the case definition. During July 1994–June 2016 whenever possible, interviews were conducted with law enforcement and/or school officials familiar with cases to obtain contextual information about the incidents. However, interviews are no longer conducted as a part of SAVD-SS protocol. Information regarding the fatal incident is abstracted from law enforcement reports and includes the location of injury, context of injury (while classes were being held, during break, etc.), motives for injury, method of injury, relationship, school, and community circumstances that may have been related to the incident (e.g., relationship problems with family members, school disciplinary issues, gang-related activity in the community). Information obtained on victim(s) and offender(s) includes demographics, contextual information about the event (date/time, alcohol or drug use, number of persons involved), types and origins of weapons, criminal history, psychological risk factors, school-related problems, extracurricular activities, and family history, including structure and stressors. For specific SAVD studies, school-level data for schools where incidents occur are obtained through the Common Core of Data survey of the National Center for Education Statistics and include school demographics, locale (e.g., urban, suburban, rural), grade levels offered by the school, Title I eligibility, and percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch, among other variables.

All data years are flagged as preliminary. For some recent cases, the law enforcement reports have not yet been received. The details learned during data abstraction from law enforcement reports can occasionally change the classification of a case. Also, new cases may be identified because of the expansion of the scope of the media files used for case identification or as a result of newly published media articles describing the incident. Finally, other cases may occasionally be identified while the law enforcement and school interviews are being conducted to verify known cases.

Further information on SAVD-SS may be obtained from

Tia Rogers, PhD, MPH
Principal Investigator and Epidemiologist
School-Associated Violent Death Surveillance System
Division of Violence Prevention
National Center for Injury Control and Prevention
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(404)498-2911
xgf1@cdc.gov

National Violent Death Reporting System School-Associated Violent Death Module

In January 2021, CDC’s School-Associated Violent Death Surveillance System (SAVD-SS) merged with the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) to become the SAVD module. Prior to merging with NVDRS, SAVD-SS tracked lethal violence associated with schools, including homicides, suicides, and legal intervention deaths of students, faculty, or community members from years 1994–2020. SAVD-SS included incidents that occurred (1) on a functioning public or private primary or secondary school campus in the United States, (2) while the victim was on the way to or from regular sessions at such a school, or (3) while the victim was attending or traveling to or from an official school-sponsored event (1). After merging with NVDRS, the SAVD module continues to track lethal violence associated with schools, including homicides, suicides, and legal intervention deaths of students, faculty, or community members that happen on school property or while attending or traveling to and from school-sponsored events (incidents that happen on the way to or from school are not collected in the SAVD module). SAVD variables can be linked to hundreds of other data elements that are collected in NVDRS. SAVD data from 2021 are anticipated to be available in 2023.

Further information on the NVDRS SAVD Module may be obtained from

Kameron Sheats, PhD
Principal Investigator and Behavioral Scientist
National Violent Death Reporting System
Division of Violence Prevention
National Center for Injury Control and Prevention
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
ksheats@cdc.gov

Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System

The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS) is an epidemiological surveillance system developed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to monitor the prevalence of youth behaviors that most influence health. The YRBSS focuses on priority health-risk behaviors established during youth that result in the most significant mortality, morbidity, disability, and social problems during both youth and adulthood. The YRBSS includes a national school-based Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) as well as surveys conducted in states, territories, tribes, and local school districts.

The national YRBS uses a three-stage cluster sampling design to produce a nationally representative sample of students in grades 9–12 in the United States. The target population consists of all public and private school students in grades 9–12 in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The first-stage sampling frame includes selecting primary sampling units (PSUs) from strata formed on the basis of urbanization and the relative percentage of Black and Hispanic students in the PSU. These PSUs are either counties, subareas of large counties, or groups of smaller, adjacent counties. At the second stage, schools are selected with probability proportional to school enrollment size.

The final stage of sampling consists of randomly selecting, in each chosen school and in each of grades 9–12, one or two classrooms from either a required subject, such as English or social studies, or a required period, such as homeroom or second period. All students in selected classes were eligible to participate. In surveys conducted before 2013, three strategies were used to oversample Black and Hispanic students: (1) larger sampling rates were used to select PSUs that are in high-Black and high-Hispanic strata, (2) a modified measure of size was used that increased the probability of selecting schools with a disproportionately high minority enrollment, and (3) two classes per grade, rather than one, were selected in schools with a high percentage of Black or Hispanic enrollment. In 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2021, only selection of two classes per grade was needed to achieve adequate precision with minimum variance. Approximately 11,000 to 17,000 students have participated in each administration of this survey since its inception in 1991.

The overall response rate was 58 percent in 2021 and ranged from 60 to 70 percent in prior survey administrations. NCES standards call for response rates of 85 percent or better for cross-sectional surveys, and bias analyses are generally required by NCES when that percentage is not achieved. Due to data limitations, however, a full nonresponse bias analysis has not been done for the YRBS because the data necessary to do the analysis are not available (e.g., differences between participating and nonparticipating students cannot be measured because no survey data are available from non-participating students). A school nonresponse bias analysis, however, was done for the 2021 survey. This analysis found some evidence of potential bias at the school level but concluded that the bias was unlikely to have impacted the national estimates in a meaningful way and would be further reduced by weight adjustment. The weights were developed to adjust for nonresponse and the oversampling of Black and Hispanic students in the sample. The overall weights were scaled so that the weighted count of students equals the total sample size, and the weighted proportions of students in each grade match the national population proportions. For more information, see https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/su/su7201a1.htm.

State-level data for this report are downloaded from the Youth Online web page (https://nccd.cdc.gov/Youthonline/App/Default.aspx). Each site (e.g., state or district) in YRBS employs a two-stage, cluster sample design to produce representative samples of students in grades 9–12 in their jurisdiction. Each district sample includes only schools in the funded school district (e.g., San Diego Unified School District) rather than in the entire city (e.g., greater San Diego area).

In the first sampling stage in all except a few states and districts, schools are selected with probability proportional to school enrollment size. In the second sampling stage, intact classes of a required subject or intact classes during a required period are selected randomly. All students in sampled classes are eligible to participate. Certain states and districts modify these procedures to meet their individual needs. For example, in a given state or district, all schools, rather than a sample of schools, might be selected to participate. In 2019, CDC piloted the use of nonresponse bias analysis to determine if a site had data that could be weighted to be representative of its jurisdiction. In previous YRBS cycles, CDC weighted data for any site with an overall response rate (calculated by multiplying school and student response rates) of greater than 60 percent. For the 2021 YRBS cycle, CDC conducted nonresponse bias analyses for all sites to determine whether data for each site could be weighted to be representative of its jurisdiction. If limited statistically significant differences between comparison groups were found, data were weighted to be representative of their respective populations.

In the 2021 YRBS, a total of 42 states, 28 local school districts (including the District of Columbia), 3 territories, and 2 tribal governments had representative data. (For information on the location of the states, districts, territories, and tribal governments, please see https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/participation.htm.) In sites with representative data, the student sample sizes for the state and district YRBS ranged from 419 to 35,605. School response rates ranged from 16 to 100 percent, student response rates ranged from 35 to 93 percent, and overall response rates ranged from 13 to 93 percent.

To meet the needs of an increasingly diverse population, CDC implemented modified suppression criteria for the YRBSS in 2021, allowing for increased data representation from students of diverse racial and ethnic groups. Previously, estimates with a denominator of less than 100 were suppressed; however, many of these estimates were found to be statistically reliable according to criteria set forth by CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. Guided by these criteria, and in consideration of criteria used for other national surveillance systems, YRBS estimates with a denominator of less than 30 were suppressed in all years.

In 1999, in accordance with changes to the Office of Management and Budget’s standards for the classification of federal data on race and ethnicity, the YRBS item on race/ethnicity was modified. The version of the race and ethnicity question used in 1993, 1995, and 1997 was

• How do you describe yourself?
  • a. White—not Hispanic
  • b. Black—not Hispanic
  • c. Hispanic or Latino
  • d. Asian or Pacific Islander
  • e. American Indian or Alaskan Native
  • f. Other

The version used in 1999, 2001, and 2003, as well as in the 2005 state and local district surveys was

• How do you describe yourself? (Select one or more responses.)
  • a. American Indian or Alaska Native
  • b. Asian
  • c. Black or African American
  • d. Hispanic or Latino
  • e. Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
  • f. White

In the 2005 national survey and in all 2007 through 2021 surveys, race/ethnicity was computed from two questions: (1) “Are you Hispanic or Latino?” (response options were “Yes” and “No”) and (2) “What is your race?” (response options were “American Indian or Alaska Native,” “Asian,” “Black or African American,” “Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander,” or “White”). For the second question, students could select more than one response option. For this report, students were classified as “Hispanic” if they answered yes to the first question, regardless of how they answered the second question. Students who answered no to the first question and selected more than one race/ethnicity in the second category were classified as “More than one race.” Students who answered no to the first question and selected only one race/ethnicity were classified as that race/ethnicity. Race/ethnicity was classified as missing for students who did not answer the first question and for students who answered no to the first question but did not answer the second question.

CDC has conducted two studies to understand the effect of changing the race/ethnicity item on the YRBS. Brener, Kann, and McManus (Public Opinion Quarterly, 67: 227–226, 2003) found that allowing students to select more than one response to a single race/ethnicity question had only a minimal effect on reported race/ethnicity among high school students. Eaton, Brener, Kann, and Pittman (Journal of Adolescent Health, 41: 488–494, 2007) found that self-reported race/ethnicity was similar regardless of whether the single-question or a two-question format was used.

In 2021, the sexual identity question on the survey was revised to add new response options (“I describe my sexual identity some other way,” “I am not sure about my sexual identity (questioning),” and “I do not know what this question is asking”) to response options that had been present since the sexual identity question was added to the survey in 2015 (“heterosexual [straight],” “gay or lesbian,” and “bisexual”). The 2015–2019 surveys included a “not sure” response option, which may not be equivalent to the “other” and “questioning” responses in the 2021 survey. For more information on this change, see https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/data/yrbs/pdf/2021/2021_Analyze_sexual_minority_data_508.pdf.

Further information on the YRBSS may be obtained from

Division of Adolescent and School Health
National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
1600 Clifton Road
Atlanta, GA 30329
nad1@cdc.gov
http://www.cdc.gov/yrbs

Naval Postgraduate School, Center for Homeland Defense and Security

School Shooting Safety Compendium

The School Shooting Database Project was developed from 2018 to 2022 as part of the Advanced Thinking in Homeland Security (HSx) pilot program at the Naval Postgraduate School’s Center for Homeland Defense and Security (CHDS). In July 2022, ongoing collection of the incident data transitioned away from CHDS to an independent project. CHDS continues to make school shooting data and resources available through the School Shooting and Safety Compendium (SSSC).

The SSSC provides a widely inclusive database that documents each and every instance in which a gun is brandished, a gun is fired, or a bullet hits school property, regardless of the number of victims (including zero), time or day of the week of the incident, or reason (e.g., planned attack, accidental, domestic violence, gang-related). It is a filtered, deconflicted, and cross-referenced database of more than 2,000 K–12 school shootings from 1970 to June of 2022.

Available for download as a csv file, the database compiles information from more than 25 different sources, including peer-reviewed studies, government reports, archived newspapers, mainstream media, nonprofits, private websites, blogs, and crowd-sourced lists that have been analyzed, filtered, deconflicted, and cross-referenced. All of the information is based on open-source information and third-party reporting.

 The report K–12 School Shooting Database Methods (https://www.chds.us/sssc/methods/) provides information on such topics as how school shootings are defined in the database, as well as how data reliability is assessed and how data are validated.

Further information about the School Shooting Safety Compendium may be obtained from

 

https://www.chds.us/sssc/

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) collects statistics on crimes from law enforcement agencies throughout the country through the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program. The UCR Program generates reliable statistics for use in law enforcement and provides information for students of criminal justice, researchers, the media, and the public. The program has been providing crime statistics since 1930.

The UCR Program includes data from more than 18,000 city, university and college, county, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement agencies. Agencies participate voluntarily and submit their crime data either through a state UCR program or directly to the FBI's UCR Program. Crime Data Explorer (CDE), an online interactive data tool, is the digital front door of the UCR Program. Law enforcement and the public can use CDE to easily access, view, and understand the massive amounts of UCR data collected and published by the UCR Program.

For more information on the UCR Program, see https://ucr.fbi.gov/ucr .

Studies of Active Shooter Incidents

The Investigative Assistance for Violent Crimes Act of 2012, which was signed into law in 2013, authorizes the attorney general, upon the request of an appropriate state or local law enforcement official, to “assist in the investigation of violent acts and shootings occurring in a place of public use and in the investigation of mass killings and attempted mass killings.” The attorney general delegated this responsibility to the FBI.

In 2014, the FBI initiated studies of active shooter incidents in order to advance the understanding of these incidents and provide law enforcement agencies with data that can inform efforts toward preventing, preparing for, responding to, and recovering from them.

Data on active shooter incidents at educational institutions come from FBI reports, which can be accessed at https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/active-shooter-safety-resources .

Further information about FBI resources on active shooter incidents may be obtained from

Active Shooter Resources
Office of Partner Engagement
Federal Bureau of Investigation
U.S. Department of Justice
935 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20535
https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/active-shooter-safety-resources

The International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) is composed of governmental research centers and national research institutions around the world whose aim is to investigate education problems common among countries. Since its inception in 1958, the IEA has conducted more than 30 research studies of cross-national achievement. The regular cycle of studies encompasses learning in basic school subjects. Examples are the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) and the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS). IEA projects also include studies of particular interest to IEA members, such as the TIMSS 1999 Video Study of Mathematics and Science Teaching, the Civic Education Study, and studies on information technology in education.

The international bodies that coordinate international assessments vary in the labels they apply to participating education systems, most of which are countries. IEA differentiates between IEA members, which IEA refers to as “countries” in all cases, and “benchmarking participants.” IEA members include countries such as the United States and Ireland, as well as subnational entities such as England and Scotland (which are both part of the United Kingdom), the Flemish community of Belgium, and Hong Kong (a Special Administrative Region of China). IEA benchmarking participants are all subnational entities and include Canadian provinces, U.S. states, and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (among others). Benchmarking participants, like the participating countries, are given the opportunity to assess the comparative international standing of their students’ achievement and to view their curriculum and instruction in an international context.

Some IEA studies, such as TIMSS and PIRLS, include an assessment portion, as well as contextual questionnaires for collecting information about students’ home and school experiences. The TIMSS and PIRLS scales, including the scale averages and standard deviations, are designed to remain constant from assessment to assessment so that education systems (including countries and subnational education systems) can compare their scores over time as well as compare their scores directly with the scores of other education systems. Although each scale was created to have a mean of 500 and a standard deviation of 100, the subject matter and the level of difficulty of items necessarily differ by grade, subject, and domain/dimension. Therefore, direct comparisons between scores across grades, subjects, and different domain/dimension types should not be made.

Further information on the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement may be obtained from https://www.iea.nl.

Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study

The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS, formerly known as the Third International Mathematics and Science Study) provides data on the mathematics and science achievement of U.S. 4th- and 8th-graders compared with that of their peers in other countries. TIMSS collects information through mathematics and science assessments and questionnaires. The questionnaires request information to help provide a context for student performance. They focus on such topics as students’ attitudes and beliefs about learning mathematics and science, what students do as part of their mathematics and science lessons, students’ completion of homework, and their lives both in and outside of school; teachers’ perceptions of their preparedness for teaching mathematics and science, teaching assignments, class size and organization, instructional content and practices, collaboration with other teachers, and participation in professional development activities; and principals’ viewpoints on policy and budget responsibilities, curriculum and instruction issues, and student behavior. The questionnaires also elicit information on the organization of schools and courses. The assessments and questionnaires are designed to specifications in a guiding framework. The TIMSS framework describes the mathematics and science content to be assessed and provides grade-specific objectives, an overview of the assessment design, and guidelines for item development.

TIMSS is on a 4-year cycle. Data collections occurred in 1995, 1999 (8th grade only), 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, and 2019. TIMSS 2015 consisted of assessments in 4th-grade mathematics; numeracy (a less difficult version of 4th-grade mathematics, newly developed for 2015); 8th-grade mathematics; 4th-grade science; and 8th-grade science. Students in Bahrain, Indonesia, Iran, Kuwait, Jordan, Morocco, and South Africa as well as Buenos Aires participated in the 4th-grade mathematics assessment through the numeracy assessment. In addition, TIMSS 2015 included the third administration of TIMSS Advanced since 1995. TIMSS Advanced is an international comparative study that measures the advanced mathematics and physics achievement of students in their final year of secondary school (the equivalent of 12th grade in the United States) who are taking or have taken advanced courses. The TIMSS 2015 survey also collected policy-relevant information about students, curriculum emphasis, technology use, and teacher preparation and training.

In TIMSS 2019, mathematics and science assessments and related questionnaires were administered in 64 education systems at the 4th-grade level and 46 education systems at the 8th-grade level. The 2019 assessment introduced eTIMSS, a digital version of TIMSS designed for computer- and tablet-based administration. Approximately half of the participating education systems—including the United States—elected to administer eTIMSS, and the remainder administered the assessment in the traditional paper-and-pencil format (paperTIMSS).

Countries participating in eTIMSS also administered paperTIMSS to a smaller “bridge” sample of students to evaluate mode effects and to link the two versions of the TIMSS assessment. An additional sample of 1,500 tested students was required to administer paper TIMSS booklets (paperTIMSS) containing the TIMSS 2015 trend assessment blocks. This bridge sample was to be obtained by selecting one additional class from a subset of the sampled schools, by selecting a distinct sample of schools, or by a combination of both strategies. In the United States, the bridge sample was obtained using a combination of both strategies. This bridge study enabled the eTIMSS and paperTIMSS achievement results to be reported on the same achievement scale in each grade and subject.

TIMSS 2019 was administered between April and May of 2019 in the United States. The U.S. sample was randomly selected and weighted to be representative of the nation. In order to reliably and accurately represent the performance of each country, international guidelines required that countries sample at least 150 schools and at least 4,000 students per grade (countries with small class sizes of fewer than 30 students per school were directed to consider sampling more schools, more classrooms per school, or both, to meet the minimum target of 4,000 tested students). In the United States, 287 schools and 8,776 students participated at the 4th-grade level, and 273 schools and 8,698 students at the 8th-grade level. The weighted school participation rate for the United States was 76 percent for grade 4 before the inclusion of replacement schools and 88 percent after the inclusion of replacement schools. For grade 8, the weighted school participation rate for the United States was 72 percent before the inclusion of replacement schools and 85 percent after the inclusion of replacement schools. The weighted student participation rate was 96 percent for grade 4 and 94 percent for grade 8.

Progress in International Reading Literacy Study

The Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) provides data on the reading literacy of U.S. 4th-graders compared with that of their peers in other countries. PIRLS is on a 5-year cycle: PIRLS data collections have been conducted in 2001, 2006, 2011, and 2016. In 2016, a total of 58 education systems, including both IEA members and IEA benchmarking participants, participated in the survey. Sixteen of the education systems participating in PIRLS also participated in ePIRLS, an innovative, computer-based assessment of online reading designed to measure students’ approaches to informational reading in an online environment.

PIRLS collects information through a reading literacy assessment and questionnaires that help to provide a context for student performance. Questionnaires are administered to collect information about students’ home and school experiences in learning to read. A student questionnaire addresses students’ attitudes toward reading and their reading habits. In addition, questionnaires are given to students’ teachers and school principals in order to gather information about students’ school experiences in developing reading literacy. In countries other than the United States, a parent questionnaire is also administered. The assessments and questionnaires are designed to specifications in a guiding framework. The PIRLS framework describes the reading content to be assessed and provides objectives specific to 4th grade, an overview of the assessment design, and guidelines for item development.

In PIRLS 2016, representative samples of students in the United States were selected in the manner used in all participating countries and other education systems. The sample design that was employed is generally referred to as a two-stage stratified cluster sample. In the first stage of sampling, individual schools were selected with a probability proportionate to size (PPS) approach, which means that the probability is proportional to the estimated number of students enrolled in the target grade. In the second stage of sampling, intact classrooms were selected within sampled schools.

PIRLS guidelines call for a minimum of 150 schools to be sampled, with a minimum of 4,000 students assessed. The basic sample design of one classroom per school was designed to yield a total sample of approximately 4,500 students per population. About 4,400 U.S. students participated in PIRLS in 2016, joining 319,000 other student participants around the world. Accommodations were not provided for students with disabilities or students who were unable to read or speak the language of the test. These students were excluded from the sample. The IEA requirement is that the overall exclusion rate, of which exclusions of schools and students are a part, should not exceed more than 5 percent of the national desired target population.

In order to minimize the potential for response biases, the IEA has developed participation or response rate standards that apply to all participating education systems. The standards govern whether an education system’s data are included in the PIRLS international datasets and how they are presented in the international reports, if they are included. These standards were set using composites of response rates at the school, classroom, and student and teacher levels. Response rates were calculated with and without the inclusion of substitute schools that were selected to replace schools refusing to participate. In the 2016 PIRLS administered in the United States, the unweighted school response rate was 76 percent, and the weighted school response rate was 75 percent. All schools selected for PIRLS were also asked to participate in ePIRLS. The unweighted school response rate for ePIRLS in the final sample with replacement schools was 89.0 percent and the weighted response rate was 89.1 percent. The weighted and unweighted student response rates for PIRLS were both 94 percent. The weighted and unweighted student response rates for ePIRLS were both 90 percent.

Further information on the TIMSS study may be obtained from

Lydia Malley
International Assessment Branch
Assessments Division
National Center for Education Statistics
550 12th Street SW
Washington, DC 20202
(202) 245-7266
lydia.malley@ed.gov
https://nces.ed.gov/timss
https://www.iea.nl/studies/iea/timss

Further information on the PIRLS study may be obtained from

Sheila Thompson
International Assessment Branch
Assessments Division
National Center for Education Statistics
550 12th Street SW
Washington, DC 20202
(202) 245-8330
sheila.thompson@ed.gov
https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pirls/
https://www.iea.nl/studies/iea/pirls

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) publishes analyses of national policies and survey data in education, training, and economics in OECD and partner countries. Newer studies include student survey data on financial literacy and on digital literacy.

Education at a Glance

To highlight current education issues and create a set of comparative education indicators that represent key features of education systems, OECD initiated the Indicators of Education Systems (INES) project and charged the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) with developing the cross-national indicators for it. The development of these indicators involved representatives of the OECD countries and the OECD Secretariat. Improvements in data quality and comparability among OECD countries have resulted from the country-to-country interaction sponsored through the INES project. The most recent publication in this series is Education at a Glance 2023: OECD Indicators.

Education at a Glance 2023 features data on the 38 OECD countries (Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, the Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye, the United Kingdom, and the United States) and a number of partner countries, including Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, India, Indonesia, Peru, Romania, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa.

The OECD Handbook for Internationally Comparative Education Statistics: Concepts, Standards, Definitions and Classifications provides countries with specific guidance on how to prepare information for OECD education surveys; facilitates countries’ understanding of OECD indicators and their use in policy analysis; and provides a reference for collecting and assimilating educational data. Chapter 6 of the OECD Handbook for Internationally Comparative Education Statistics contains a discussion of data quality issues. Users should examine footnotes carefully to recognize some of the data limitations.

Further information on international education statistics may be obtained from

Corinne Heckmann
OECD Directorate of Education and Skills
2, rue André Pascal
75775 Paris Cedex 16
France
corinne.heckmann@oecd.org
https://www.oecd.org/

Online Education Database (OECD.Stat)

The statistical online platform of the OECD, OECD.Stat, allows users to access OECD’s databases for OECD member countries and selected nonmember economies. A user can build tables using selected variables and customizable table layouts, extract and download data, and view metadata on methodology and sources. Education data topics include educational attainment and outcomes; students, access to education and participation; financial resources invested in education; and teachers and the learning environment.

Data for educational attainment in this report are pulled directly from OECD.Stat. (Information on these data can be found in chapter A, indicator A1, in Education at a Glance 2023 and accessed at https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/education-at-a-glance-2023_e13bef63-en.) However, to support statistical testing for NCES publications, standard errors for some countries had to be estimated and therefore may not be included on OECD.Stat.

Standard errors for certain countries for selected years were estimated by NCES using a simple random sample assumption. These standard errors are likely to be lower than standard errors that take into account complex sample designs. Standard errors for Canada were calculated by Statistics Canada. Lastly, NCES estimated the standard errors for the OECD average using the sum of squares technique.

OECD.Stat can be accessed at https://stats.oecd.org/. A user’s guide for OECD.Stat can be accessed at https://stats.oecd.org/Content/themes/OECD/static/help/WBOS%20User%20Guide%20(EN).pdf.

Program for International Student Assessment

The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) is a system of international assessments organized by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), an intergovernmental organization of industrialized countries, that focuses on 15-year-olds’ capabilities in reading literacy, mathematics literacy, and science literacy. PISA also includes measures of general, or cross-curricular, competencies such as collaborative problem solving. PISA emphasizes functional skills that students have acquired as they near the end of compulsory schooling.

PISA is a 2-hour exam. Assessment items include a combination of multiple-choice questions and open-ended questions that require students to develop their own response. PISA scores are reported on a scale that ranges from 0 to 1,000, with the OECD mean set at 500 and a standard deviation set at 100. In each education system, the assessment is translated into the primary language of instruction; in the United States, all materials are written in English.

Forty-three education systems participated in the 2000 PISA; 41 education systems participated in 2003; 57 (30 OECD member countries and 27 nonmember countries or education systems) participated in 2006; and 65 (34 OECD member countries and 31 nonmember countries or education systems) participated in 2009. (An additional nine education systems administered the 2009 PISA in 2010.) In the 2012 PISA, 65 education systems (34 OECD member countries and 31 non-OECD countries and education systems) as well as the states of Connecticut, Florida, and Massachusetts participated. In the 2015 PISA, 70 education systems (35 OECD member countries and 35 non-OECD countries and education systems) as well as the states of Massachusetts and North Carolina and the territory of Puerto Rico participated. In the 2018 PISA, 79 education systems (37 OECD member countries and 42 non-OECD countries and education systems) participated. In the 2022 PISA, 81 education systems (37 OECD member countries and 44 non-OECD countries and education systems) participated.

PISA has been conducted every 3 years except for a 1-year delay from 2021 to 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After the 2025 data collection, PISA will change to a 4-year data collection cycle. These cycles allow education systems to compare changes in trends for each of the three subject areas over time. In each round of PISA, one subject is designated as the major domain, although other domains are also assessed. In 2022, the major domain was mathematics and it comprised about half of the main assessment. In prior cycles, the major domain was reading literacy in 2000, 2009, and 2018; mathematics literacy in 2003 and 2012; and science literacy in 2006 and 2015. PISA has also included an optional financial literacy domain since 2012.

To implement PISA, each of the participating education systems scientifically draws a nationally representative sample of 15-year-olds, regardless of grade level. In 2022, a total of 154 schools in the United States participated, with 4,552 students taking part in the core assessment and 1,109 students taking part in the financial literacy assessment. The overall weighted school response rate was 63 percent, and the overall weighted student response rate was 80 percent.

Further information on PISA may be obtained from

Samantha Burg
Reporting and Dissemination Branch
Assessments Division
National Center for Education Statistics
550 12th Street SW
Washington, DC 20202
samantha.burg@ed.gov
https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pisa

Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS)

The Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) is an international large-scale survey of the teachers, teaching, and the learning environments in schools conducted in 2008, 2013, and 2018 by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Data from the survey are based on questionnaire responses from nationally representative samples of teachers and their principals in participating countries and education systems.

The main objective of TALIS is to provide accurate and relevant international indicators on teachers and teaching, with the goal of helping countries review current conditions and develop informed education policy. The survey’s core target population is International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) level 2 (lower secondary) teachers and school principals. ISCED level 2 corresponds to grades 7, 8, and 9 in the United States.

The sample design for TALIS 2018 was a stratified systematic sample, with the school sampling probability proportional to the estimated number of ISCED 2 teachers within each school. Samples were drawn using a two-stage sampling process. In the first stage, a sample of schools was drawn; in the second stage, a sample of teachers within each selected school was drawn.

A minimum sample size of 4,000 teachers from a minimum of 200 schools was required for each participating education system. Replacement schools were identified at the same time the TALIS sample was selected by designating the two neighboring schools in the sampling frame as replacement schools. Within schools, a sample of 20 teachers was to be selected in an equal probability sample unless fewer than 20 teachers were available (in which case all teachers were selected).

Each education system collected its own data following international guidelines and specifications. The technical standards required that eligible teachers were those teaching at least one ISCED Level 2 class, regardless of subject matter. School principals or head administrators of each sampled school were also asked to participate. School principal and teacher data were collected independently so that teacher eligibility was not dependent on principal participation (or vice versa).

The response-rate target was at least 75 percent of schools and at least 75 percent of teachers across the participating schools in each education system. A minimum participation rate of 50 percent of schools from the original school sample and 75 percent of schools after replacement was required in order for an education system’s data to be included in the main international comparisons. Education systems were allowed to use replacement schools (selected during the sampling process) to increase the response rate as long as the 50 percent benchmark before replacement had been reached.

The data collected by each participating education system was adjudicated to ensure that it met the TALIS technical standards for data collection. The principal and teacher data were adjudicated separately. For school-level data, adjudication depended only on school data (the principal participation); for teacher-level data, adjudication depended only on teacher data (50 percent of teachers in the school had to participate).

The United States first participated in TALIS in 2013, along with 37 other education systems. The most recent round of data collection was in 2018, with 49 education systems participating. U.S. results for the 2018 administration of TALIS are available at https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/talis/talis2018/, and full results from all three rounds of TALIS are available at https://www.oecd.org/education/talis/.

Further information on TALIS may be obtained from

Mary Coleman
International Assessment Branch
Assessments Division
National Center for Education Statistics
550 12th Street SW
Washington, DC 20202
mary.coleman@ed.gov
https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/talis/