How do I get my states school or district NCES ID codes, how about for new schools?
You can find a school or district ID code by using the locators. The easiest way to do this is by typing in the city, state, and the first word from the school name. The NCES School ID is a 12 digit code, the first 7 digits of this code are the NCES District ID. The data on the locator are from the 2005-06 school year. There is a list of 2006-07 schools and 2006-07 districts from those states that have already submitted their 2006-07 data to NCES.
What should I look for in my edit report?
There are really several edit reports; each one is specifically designed to help us get your data into the CCD system as accurately and efficiently as possible for us and with as little extra involvement as possible for you. The first report we send you is the State Data Summary. This is created as soon as we have translated your data submission into a standard format and is sent by e-mail so that you should have it within a few days of our receiving your files. You should immediately look to see whether the totals we show for your state are what you would expect them to be. In this way we can catch any systemic problems before going too far with processing. These problems can often be corrected with a phone call.
In the same package we send a Match Report which alerts you to records which our computer can't figure out what to do with, such as schools which were on the file last year and have disappeared without a trace. We ask you to confirm or correct the status of these schools and agencies so that we can properly account for them.
After we have established a firm file, we then run a report that highlights records containing data outside of expected ranges. (You may have already run this report if have elected to use our edit program.) These often turn out to be O.K., but even if they are we have an obligation to show our reviewers and our data users that we have confirmed them. Of course, there are also real errors that are found and corrected through this process.
By using the CCD Edit Software you can make the edit process much easier by catching these errors and warnings before you submit your file.
What about the new race/ethnicity standards?
As you probably know, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has specified that all Federal agencies use an expanded set of racial/ethnic categories in the classifying of individuals for statistical purposes. The new set of categories includes the provision that individuals may identify themselves as being in as many categories as they wish. The problem for CCD and other data collections that collect aggregate data is that guidelines have not been drawn up for the counting of these individuals. All USED data collections dealing with aggregate racial/ethnic counts will continue to use the old categories, with slight modifications, until a single method of collecting these data is agreed upon.
What is the Dropout Definition?
The CCD dropout definition is based on a "snapshot" count
of students at the beginning of the school year: A dropout
is an individual who:
We are changing CCD coordinators, who do we tell and how?
Since the CCD Coordinator is given the responsibility of
representing a state's statistics to NCES, and therefore to
the world, a state official at a higher level in the organization
than the Coordinator should write a letter to Lee Hoffman informing her that a new CCD Coordinator has been designated. Operationally, it is also desirable for the old Coordinator to use the CCD Administrative website to inform CCD Operations staff at Census of the change, so that materials and communications will be sent to the right person.
What training sessions and meetings do you have each year for CCD data reporters?
There are many other opportunities for state and local education staff to be informed about and involved with NCES and ED data collection issues, often at no cost to the state or local agency except for the staff member's time. Among them are the MIS Conference in February, the NCES Fellows Program, several Technical Review Panels, and the various meetings of the Forum and associated committees. State and local staff who participate in these activities may find that they are better able to interpret Federal data requests and to provide better data. This may be to their benefit as well as to the Nation's. To see a current listing of NCES sponsored conferences and trainings go to the NCES Conference/Training Connection.
I have an idea for a change in the survey, whom should I tell?
If it's a change of content, or a suggestion for a new item,
send it to John Sietsema or Lee Hoffman.
We've found over the years that many things that states see
as changes in reporting practice are in fact existing options
that they have not exercised. We encourage you to give us
lots of feedback so we can help you report with a minimum
of burden.
