2012 National Board for Education Sciences Annual Report
Briefing Material for Board Members

NCES Activities and Products

Postsecondary Surveys and Programs

• Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) – As the core postsecondary education data collection program for NCES, IPEDS is a system of surveys designed to collect data from all primary providers of postsecondary education. IPEDS is a single, comprehensive system designed to encompass all institutions and educational organizations whose primary purpose is to provide postsecondary education. The IPEDS system is built around a series of interrelated surveys to collect institution-level data in such areas as enrollments, program completions, faculty, staff, finances, and academic libraries.   As a result of the Higher Education Opportunity Act, IPEDS collects data to calculate the average net price at each institution for full-time, first-time degree/certificate-seeking undergraduate students who receive grant and scholarship aid; and for full-time, first-time degree/certificate-seeking undergraduate students who receive Title IV federal student aid. IPEDS Graduation rate data provide information on institutional productivity and help institutions comply with reporting requirements of the Student Right-to-Know Act. In addition, data collected on the race/ethnicity and gender of enrolled students, completers, and fall staff helps institutions comply with the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
• National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) – NPSAS provides student-level demographic and enrollment data, and data on financial aid provided to students by the federal government, the states, postsecondary institutions, employers, and private agencies. Data about family circumstances, demographics, education and work experiences, and student expectations are collected from students through a web-based multi-mode interview (self-administered and computer-assisted telephone interviews (CATI)). Detailed data on participation in student financial aid programs are extracted from Department of Education databases and institutional records. NPSAS provides important contextual information for projects targeted at increasing postsecondary success. NPSAS is also an important source of information on the education of America's veteran population.
• Beginning Postsecondary Students (BPS) – NPSAS data provide the base-year sample for the BPS Longitudinal Study. The BPS longitudinal cohort consists of students beginning their postsecondary education for the first time during the NPSAS year; BPS surveys follow these students over time to examine such issues as persistence and the effects of financial aid on subsequent enrollment. The study collects data on student persistence in, and completion of, postsecondary education programs. Questions about transitions to employment and changes in student goals, marital status, income, and debt are included in the surveys, along with questions about basic background and demographic characteristics. BPS tracks students’ paths through postsecondary education and helps answer questions of policy interest, such as why students leave school, how financial aid influences persistence and completion, and what percentages of students complete various degree programs.
• Baccalaureate and Beyond (B&B) – NPSAS also provides the base-year sample of students for the longitudinal study Baccalaureate and Beyond (B&B). Students obtaining a baccalaureate degree during a NPSAS collection year are eligible for inclusion. The B&B surveys follow these students over time to examine issues such as the transition from college to work and access to graduate school. B&B examines students’ education and work experiences after they complete a bachelor’s degree, with a special emphasis on the experiences of new elementary and secondary teachers. Following several cohorts of students over time, B&B also looks at bachelor’s degree recipients’ income and debt repayment, and entry into and persistence through graduate school programs, among other indicators. It addresses several issues specifically related to teaching, including teacher preparation, entry into and persistence in the profession, and teacher career paths. B&B also gathers extensive information on bachelor’s degree recipients’ undergraduate experience, demographic backgrounds, and their expectations regarding graduate study and work.
• Postsecondary Education Transcript Studies (PETS) – PETS data provide researchers with an important analytic resource, creating opportunities to study course-taking patterns, credit transfer, student momentum and attrition, and the connection among course and major choices, occupations, and wages. Six NCES longitudinal studies have collected postsecondary transcripts, beginning with the high school National Longitudinal Study of 1972.  The BPS:04/09 and the B&B:08 both include transcript studies. NCES anticipates that three additional longitudinal studies now underway, or planned, will also collect and code transcript data. Other existing NCES studies with PETS data include NLS:72, HS&B:80, B&B:93/03, NELS:88, In addition, NCES expects to add postsecondary transcripts to ELS:2002, HSLS:09, and BPS:12/17.
• Postsecondary Education Quick Information System (PEQIS) – NCES established PEQIS to collect timely data on focused issues needed for program planning and policy development with a minimum burden on respondents. In addition to obtaining information on emerging issues quickly, PEQIS surveys are also used to assess the feasibility of developing large-scale data collection efforts on a given topic or to supplement other NCES postsecondary surveys. PEQIS employs a standing sample (panel) of approximately 1,600 postsecondary education institutions at the 2-year and 4-year level. The nationally representative panel includes public and private colleges and universities that award associate, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees. PEQIS can also conduct surveys of state higher education agencies.
• Adult and Career Education (ACE) – The ACE staff is responsible for leveraging existing data sources and for identifying potential new data collection opportunities to increase the nation's understanding of the role of occupational education and training in the preparation of an internationally competitive workforce. The ACE staff draws on data in existing NCES surveys, while coordinating interagency efforts to develop new measures of education, training, and credential attainment for out-of-school youth and adults. The ACE staff uses data from NCES high school transcript studies to provide information on occupationally-specific courses taken during the high school years and data from NCES' longitudinal studies of secondary and postsecondary students to track students through high school and into postsecondary education and the labor market.  Work is underway to improve the collection of data on credential attainment and enrollment, participation and enrollment in traditional formal education and in other types of “non-regular” education, and adult education including adult basic education, adult secondary education, and English as a second language.