Listed below are the primary NCES databases that are used for the analysis of career/technical education issues. The surveys are grouped by category: secondary, postsecondary and adult, and longitudinal studies.
Secondary Studies
High School Transcript Studies. Complete high school transcripts collected in conjunction with the National Assessment of Educational Progress and the Educational Longitudinal Study provide data on CTE coursetaking and credits earned, and are used to describe CTE concentrators and trends in CTE coursetaking over time.
Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) . Data from the School, School Administrator, and Teacher Questionnaires are used to provide counts and descriptions of the public schools that offer career academies and the teachers who provide CTE instruction.
Postsecondary and Adult Studies
Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) . Data from the Completions, Institutional Characteristics, and Fall Enrollment components are used to provide counts of postsecondary educational institutions that offer career programs and confer credentials in career fields of study, and are used to provide counts of postsecondary credentials awarded in those fields.
National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) . Data from the Student Record data collections and Student Telephone Interview are used to provide counts and descriptions of undergraduates majoring in career fields of study and the credentials that they seek.
National Household Education Survey (NHES) . Data from the Adult Education Interview are used to describe work-related coursetaking among adults and the providers of those work-related courses.
Longitudinal Studies
National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88) . Data from the base-year questionnaires and follow-up surveys are used to describe the postsecondary enrollment, remedial coursetaking, majors, postsecondary attainment, and labor market outcomes of a longitudinal sample by the number of occupational credits they earned while in high school.
Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS) . Data from the base-year and follow-up surveys, along with high school transcript data, are used to provide counts and descriptions of schools offering CTE and occupational programs, and of students attending those schools.
Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS) . Data from the base-year NPSAS and its BPS follow-up surveys are used to provide counts of credential-seeking beginning postsecondary students by their major and the credential they seek, and are used to describe these students’ postsecondary persistence, credential attainment, and labor market outcomes.
