The Feasibility of Collecting School Pension Data: An Evaluation of Data From the Pilot School Pension Survey (SPS) School Year 2016–17 (FY 17)

The pilot School Pension Survey (SPS) collected pension and social security status data from 9 state education agencies (SEAs) in its first year. The R&D report provides a discussion of respondents' ability to report survey data items including unit response rates (percentage of school units where at least one SPS data variable was collected), item response rates; whether states have the administrative records available to report pension-related data; data quality issues; data anomalies; and edit procedures. The SEA and LEA respondent burden, as well as the advantages and challenges of collecting pension data are also discussed. Finally, the report discusses whether the benefits of the SPS outweigh the challenges.