NCES Blog

National Center for Education Statistics

NCES Welcomes a New Commissioner

We are excited to welcome Dr. James Lynn Woodworth to his new position as Commissioner of NCES. Dr. Woodworth comes to the Center with a range of experience in the field of education. Before joining NCES, Dr. Woodworth worked as lead quantitative research analyst at the Center for Research on Educational Outcomes (CREDO) at Stanford University. His areas of research include charter schools, online education, and school closures.

Prior to his work at CREDO, Dr. Woodworth served as a Distinguished Doctoral Fellow in the Department of Education Reform at the University of Arkansas, where he earned a doctorate in Education Policy. Dr. Woodworth also has a master’s degree in educational leadership and a bachelor’s degree in music education. He was a public high school teacher for 11 years before pursuing a research career.

The experiences of our nation’s young children from kindergarten through fourth grade

By Jill Carlivati McCarroll and Gail M. Mulligan

In 2014–15, boys had higher fourth-grade math scores than girls, but no significant differences were found in boys’ versus girls’ fourth-grade reading knowledge and skills. These findings come from the most recent data release for the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 2010–11 (ECLS-K:2011). A recently released report provides a first look at the status of students who were in kindergarten for the first time during the 2010-11 school year and were in fourth grade in 2014-15. The longitudinal nature of this study allows for a comparison of trends over time. For example, differences in math scores between boys and girls were also observed in third grade but not in earlier grades. No significant differences in reading results for boys and girls have been detected in any grade between kindergarten and fourth. More data on assessment scores, as well as the demographic and family characteristics of the cohort of students who were first-time kindergartners in 2010-11, are available in the reports.

The series of Early Childhood Longitudinal Studies are consistently some of the most popular NCES studies due in large part to the fact that they provide comprehensive and reliable data on important topics such as child development, school readiness, and early school experiences. The ECLS-K:2011 was designed to provide data that can be used to describe and to better understand children’s development and experiences in the elementary grades, and how children’s early experiences relate to their later development, learning, and experiences in school. The study is longitudinal, meaning that it followed the same group of children over time; in the case of the ECLS-K:2011, children were followed from their kindergarten year (the 2010-11 school year) until the spring of 2016, when most of the children were in the fifth grade.

All planned waves of data through fifth grade have been collected and staff at the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) are hard at work releasing reports of the findings as well as the data from all rounds of the study. Researchers, educators, policy makers, and other interested members of the public now have access to much of the important data from the ECLS-K:2011, with additional reports and data releases on their way.

The diverse sample of children who participated in the ECLS-K:2011 is nationally representative of students who were in kindergarten in U.S. schools in the 2010-11 school year. Information on children’s cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development was collected every year using direct child assessments and surveys for the adults central to the children’s education. Adults surveyed for the study included the children’s parents/guardians, their teachers, their school administrators, and their kindergarten before- and after-school care providers. Topics covered by the surveys included the children’s home environment, home educational activities, school environment, classroom environment, classroom curriculum, teacher qualifications, and before- and after-school care. 

Public-use data from the kindergarten through fourth-grade rounds of the ECLS-K:2011 are now available online. A restricted-use dataset with data from the kindergarten through fourth-grade rounds is also available to qualified researchers with an IES Restricted-use Data License. For information on licensing, please see https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/licenses.asp. The schedule of future data releases is available on the ECLS website.

For more information on the ECLS-K:2011 as well as the other ECLS studies, please see our homepage or email the ECLS study team at ECLS@ed.gov.  

NCES Fast Facts Deliver Data to Your Door

By Molly Fenster, American Institutes for Research

Have you ever wondered how many public high school students graduate on time? Or wanted to know the types of safety and security measures schools use, or the latest trends in the cost of a college education? If so, the NCES Fast Facts website has the answers for you!

Launched on March 1, 1999, the Fast Facts site originally included 45 responses to the questions most frequently asked by callers to the NCES Help Line. Today, the more than 70 Fast Facts answer questions of interest to education stakeholders–such as a teacher, school administrator, or researcher–as well as college students, parents, and community members with a specific interest or data need. The facts feature text, tables, figures, and links from various published sources, primarily the Digest of Education Statistics and The Condition of Education, and they are updated periodically with new data from recently released publications and products. 

For example, the screenshot below shows one of the most accessed Fast Facts on high school dropout rates:

Access the site for the full Fast Fact, as well as links to “Related Tables and Figures” and “Other Resources” on high school dropout rates.

The other facts on the site feature a diverse range of topics from child care, homeschooling, students with disabilities, teachers, and enrollment, to graduation rates, educational attainment, international education, finances, and more. The site is organized to provide concise, current information in the following areas:

  • Assessments;
  • Early Childhood;
  • Elementary and Secondary;
  • Library;
  • Postsecondary and Beyond; and
  • Resources.

Five recently released Fast Facts on ACT scores; science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education; public school students eligible for free or reduced-price lunch; postsecondary student debt; and Historically Black Colleges and Universities offer the latest data on these policy-relevant and interesting education topics.

Join our growing base of users and visit the Fast Facts site today!

NCES hosts 11th Annual Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS) Best Practices Conference

By Charles McGrew and Ross Santy

Representatives from 40 states and 6 territories are gathering in Crystal City, VA this week for the 11th Annual SLDS Best Practices Conference. The conference, starting on Feb 28 and concluding March 2, provides an opportunity for data system leaders from all states, both SLDS program grantees and non-grantee states, to collaborate with and learn from SLDS program officers, the State Support Team of experts and most importantly each other as examples of best practices are presented and shared. Topics on the agenda for this year’s conference include models for hosting statewide data summits, ways to visualize data for improved data use, and effective practices that improve the protection of individual students’ privacy within developed data systems and data sharing agreements.  

To date, the Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS) Grant Program has awarded over $700 million dollars in funds to support states’ and territories’ efforts to collect and use data to improve their decision-making and educational practices. Grants have been awarded for states to improve the quality of their data, with states deciding how to use the grant funds based upon their own specific needs as outlined in their approved applications. Through the SLDS program the Department is able to provide technical support to help all states successfully achieve their objectives. Over the life of the program, 47 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, and American Samoa have received funding through this competitive grant program. Nearly three-quarters of these states have received more than one grant.

 

The Program was authorized in 2002 through the Educational Technical Assistance Act. It is administered by the National Center for Education Statistics within the Institute of Education Sciences. Grants were first awarded in 2006. When the Program started, most states did not have a central database to house data from all their school districts, which hampered their ability to use data effectively to inform state policies and made reporting much more complicated. Five grant rounds later, all states and territories have detailed K-12 data in their states’ data systems, many also connect with postsecondary data, and a growing number are establishing connecting which are focused on workforce outcomes.  Although some grantees have used their systems to reduce the burden and improve the quality of their state and federal reporting, no individual, student-level data are sent to the U.S. Department of Education.

The most recent round of grant awards, made in 2015, allowed states or territories to request funds in support of their efforts to improve data utilization in one or two of the following areas: Financial Equity and Return on Investment, Educator Talent Management, Early Learning, College and Career, Evaluation and Research, and Instructional Support.  A number of states are working to improve linking across data sources to inform broad education and labor force policies, and many others are developing systems with these capabilities. Later this year, NCES will release the results of a 2017 SLDS Survey, which will provide more specific information about state progress, capacity, and self-reported plans for their information systems.

CTE Statistics: New Information on How Adults Prepare for Work

By Lisa Hudson

Education provides students with the knowledge and skills needed to be informed citizens, productive workers, and responsible community members. Meeting one of these goals—preparing students for work—is the main goal of career and technical education (CTE, formerly known as vocational education). To monitor CTE in the United States, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) produces a comprehensive set of statistical data on CTE at the secondary and postsecondary levels, as well as on adult preparation for work. These statistics, and related reports, are available on the CTE Statistics website.

NCES recently released data related to preparation for work, which was collected as part of the 2016 Adult Education and Training Survey (ATES).  The ATES asked a nationally-representative sample of adults about their attainment of two often-overlooked work credentials—licenses and certifications—and about their completion of work experience programs (such as internships and apprenticeships).  The survey also examined the role of education in helping adults attain these credentials and complete these programs.

The data show that 21 percent of adults have a currently active license or certification, with 18 percent reporting they have a license and 6 percent reporting they have a certification (some adults have both). Additionally, completion of degree programs is related to the attainment of these work credentials. For example, having a certification or license is more common among adults who have a college degree than among adults with lower levels of education (see figure).  In addition, about two-thirds of the adults who have completed a certification or licensing program (67 percent) did so in conjunction with coursetaking after high school.



Findings are similar for work experience programs. Overall, 21 percent of adults have completed a work experience program, and 14 percent of adults have completed a work experience program that was part of an educational program after high school.

Finally, the ATES showed that work credentials and work experience programs are particularly common in the health care field. In fact, health care was the most common field in which both licenses and certifications were held (31 percent of credentialed adults), and the most common field in which adults had completed a work experience program (26 percent of program completers) .

The information discussed in this blog is drawn from the ATES “First Look” report. The CTE Statistics website also includes a summary of these key findings, and within the next year additional ATES statistics will be added to the website.  To sign up for automatic email notifications on when new material is added to the CTE Statistics website, visit the IES newsflash (under National Center for Education Statistics, check the box for “Adult and Career Education”).  We look forward to sharing future results with you!