Certain common variables, such as parents’ education, race/ethnicity, community type, poverty, family income quartiles, geographic region, and occupation are used by different surveys cited in The Condition of Education 2004. The definitions for these variables can vary from survey to survey and sometimes vary between different time periods for a single survey. This supplemental note describes how several common variables, used in various indicators in this volume, are defined in each of the surveys. In addition, this note describes in further detail certain terms used in several indicators.

Parents' Education

For indicators 3, 8, 9, 10, 11, 25, and 30, parents’ education is the highest level attained by either parent. Indicators 9, 10, and 11 report parents’ highest level of education based on a question in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) that asked students in 8th and 12th grade to indicate the highest level of education completed by each parent. Students could choose from “did not finish high school,” “graduated from high school,” “some education after high school,” “graduated from college,” and “I don’t know.” As of the 2001 assessment, data were not collected at grade 4 because 4th-graders’ responses in previous assessments were highly variable and contained a large percentage of “I don’t know” responses.

Race/Ethnicity

Classifications indicating racial/ethnic heritage are based primarily on the respondent’s self-identification, as in data collected by the Bureau of the Census, or, in rare instances, on observer identification. These categories are in accordance with the Office of Management and Budget’s standard classification scheme.

Ethnicity is based on the following categorization:

• Hispanic or Latino: A person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.

Race is based on the following categorization:

• American Indian or Alaska Native, not Hispanic or Latino: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America) who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment.
  
  
• Asian, not Hispanic or Latino: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam.
  
  
• Black, not Hispanic or Latino: A person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa.
  
  
• Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, not Hispanic or Latino: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands.
  
  
• White, not Hispanic or Latino: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, North Africa, or the Middle East. In The Condition of Education, this category excludes persons of Hispanic origin.

Not all categories are shown in all indicators either because of insufficient data in some of the smaller categories or because sampling plans did not distinguish between groups, such as Asians and Pacific Islanders.

In The Condition of Education 2004, these definitions apply to indicators 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 18, 22, 25, 26, 33, and 38.

Indicators based on the National Household Education Surveys Program (7, 26, and 34) use up to five categories of race/ethnicity: White, non-Hispanic; Black, non-Hispanic; Hispanic; Asian or Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic; and all other races, non-Hispanic. The latter category includes American Indian, Alaska Native, and all other races. Not all categories are shown in all indicators because of insufficient data in some of the smaller categories.

Community Type

In the Bureau of the Census’s Current Population Survey (CPS), community type is a collective term based on the concept of a metropolitan area (MA), “a large population nucleus together with adjacent communities that have a high degree of economic and social integration with that core.” MAs are designated and defined by the Office of Management and Budget, following standards established by the interagency Federal Executive Committee on Metropolitan Areas, with the aim of producing definitions that are as consistent as possible for all MAs nationwide. (See http://www.census.gov/prod/cen1990/cph-s/cph-s-1-1.pdf (15mb) and http://www.census.gov/population/www/estimates/metroarea.html for more details.)

In order to be designated as an MA, an area must meet one or both of the following criteria: (1) include a city with a population of at least 50,000 or (2) include a Census Bureau-defined urbanized area and a total MA population of at least 100,000 (75,000 in New England). Under the standards, the county (or counties) that contains the largest city in the area is the “central county” (or counties) and includes all adjacent counties that have at least 50 percent of their population in the urbanized area surrounding the largest city. Additional ‘‘outlying counties’’ are included in the MA if they meet specified requirements of commuting to the central counties and selected requirements of metropolitan character (such as population density and percent urban). In New England, MAs are defined in terms of cities and towns, following rules analogous to those used with counties elsewhere.

All territory, population, and housing units inside of MAs are characterized as metropolitan. Any territory, population, or housing units located outside of an MA is defined as nonmetropolitan.

In large MAs, the individual counties (or other geographic entities) included may be combined into Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) or Primary Metropolitan Statistical Areas (PMSAs) within the MA. These MSAs and PMSAs may then be further grouped into even larger Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Areas (CMSAs). These PMSAs and CMSAs may span states. As of June 1999, there were 258 MSAs and 18 CMSAs in the United States, which included a total of 72 PMSAs.

The largest city in each MSA/CMSA is designated a central city, and additional cities may qualify as such if specified requirements are met concerning population size and commuting patterns. In June 1999, there were 532 central cities in the United States plus 12 in Puerto Rico.

The Census also divides the entire geographic area of the United States into urbanized, urban, and rural areas. The boundaries of these geographical areas generally follow the contours of areas classified according to the metropolitan, central city, and nonmetropolitan classification, but there are both urban and rural territories within both metropolitan and nonmetropolitan areas.

An urbanized area consists of one or more “central places” and the adjacent densely settled surrounding “urban fringe” that together have a minimum population of 50,000 people. A “place” is either an incorporated governmental unit, such as a city, village, borough, or town, or a Census Designated Place (CDP), which is an unincorporated population cluster for which the Census Bureau delineates boundaries in cooperation with state and local agencies. The urban fringe is generally all the contiguous territory around the central place(s) having a density of at least 1,000 persons per square mile. The urban fringe also includes outlying territory of such density if it is connected to the contiguous area by roads of certain minimum length.

The Census Bureau then defines urban as being all areas that are either urbanized, an incorporated place of 2,500 or more persons, or a CDP of 2,500 or more persons. All territory, population, and housing units not classified as urban are classified as rural.

In the Common Core of Data (CCD), the community type of schools is classified according to a “Locale Code” that is defined according to these Census definitions. The CCD Locale Code is an eight-level classification of the urbanicity of the location address of a school relative to an MSA. The locale code methodology matches the school to the Census block level, and when that match cannot be done, the locale code is assigned using the ZIP code of the school location. Once the Census block is determined, the urban/rural, central city, and metropolitan/nonmetropolitan status of the school is known. The CCD Locale Code is a variable that NCES created for general description, sampling, and other statistical purposes. It is based upon the location of school buildings and in some cases may not reflect the entire attendance area or residences of enrolled students. For example, not all students enrolled in the school may live in the Census block of the school. The codes are assigned to schools by NCES using data provided by the Bureau of the Census matching to the location addresses provided on the CCD. Every school is assigned one of the following locale codes:

• Large city: The school is located in the central city of an MSA or CMSA with a population of 250,000 or more.
  
  
• Midsize city: The school is located in the central city of an MSA or CMSA with a population less than 250,000.
  
  
• Urban fringe of a large city: The school is located in the urban area of an MSA or CMSA containing a large central city but not in any central city of the MSA or CMSA.
  
  
• Urban fringe of a midsize city: The school is located in the urban area of an MSA or CMSA containing a midsize central city but not in any central city of the MSA or CMSA.
  
  
• Large town: The school is located in a nonmetropolitan, urban area with a population of at least 25,000.
  
  
• Small town: The school is located in a nonmetropolitan, urban area with a population between 2,500 and 24,999.
  
  
• Rural, outside an MSA: The school is located in a nonmetropolitan, rural area.
  
  
• Rural, inside an MSA: The school is located in rural area within a metropolitan area.
  
  

School district locale codes are assigned through the use of these school locale codes. If 50 percent or more of students in the district attend schools that are located in a single locale code, that code is assigned to the district. If not, schools are placed into one of three groups: large or midsize city; urban fringe or rural, inside an MSA; and large town, small town, or rural, outside an MSA. The group with the largest number of students is determined, and then the locale code within the group having the largest number of students is assigned to the district. If the number of students between two or more groups is the same, then the largest (i.e., most rural) locale code is assigned. Districts with no schools or students are given a locale code of “N.”

In The Condition of Education 2004, these labels and definitions apply to indicator 35.

Variations of the eight-level CCD Locale Code are used to categorize community type in other NCES surveys.

In the Baccalaureate and Beyond Longitudinal Study (B&B), the community type of a college is determined according to its address using the following seven categories:

• Large central city: in a large central city within an MSA.
  
  
• Midsized central city: in a midsize central city within an MSA.
  
  
• Urban fringe of large city: in the urban fringe of a large central city within an MSA.
  
  
• Urban fringe of midsized city: in the urban fringe of a midsize central city within an MSA.
  
  
• Large town: in a nonmetropolitan, urban area with a population of at least 25,000.
  
  
• Small town: in a nonmetropolitan, urban area with a population between 2,500 and 24,999.
  
  
• Rural: in a rural area within or outside a metropolitan area.

In the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), the community type of a school is categorized according to its address as follows:

• Central city: in a large or midsize central city within an MSA.
  
  
• Urban fringe/large town: in the urban fringe of a large or midsize city; a large town; or a rural area within an MSA.
  
  
• Rural/small town: in a small town or rural area outside of an MSA.

In The Condition of Education 2004, these labels and definitions apply to indicators 5, 9, 10, and 11.

In the Fast Response Survey System (FRSS), the community type of a school is categorized according to its address as follows:

• Central city: in a central city within an MSA.
• Urban fringe: in the urban fringe of a central city within an MSA.
• Small town: an incorporated place or Census-designated place with a population greater than or equal to 2,500 and located outside an MSA or CMSA.
• Rural: in a rural area within or outside a nonmetropolitan area.

In The Condition of Education 2004, these labels and definitions apply to indicators 2 and 27. In indicator 2, rural and small town are combined into one category.

In the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, the community type of a school is categorized according to its school address as follows:

• Urban: in a central city within an MSA.
• Suburban: all other area within an MSA, not including central cities.
• Rural: nonmetropolitan, or not within an MSA.

In The Condition of Education 2004, these labels and definitions apply to indicator 18.

The National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES) relies on the urban/rural/urbanized area classification to categorize community type of a household. The respondent’s community type is assigned to be the community type of the majority of households in the respondent’s residential ZIP Code. The definitions of community type are as follows:

• Urban, inside of urbanized areas: a place and the adjacent densely settled surrounding territory that combined have a minimum population of 50,000.
  
  
• Urban, outside of urbanized areas: an incorporated or unincorporated place outside of urbanized areas with a minimum population of 2,500, with the exception of rural portions of extended cities.
  
  
• Rural: an area that is not classified as urban, either inside or outside of urbanized areas.

Extended cities are areas that have expanded in recent years to include territory that is essentially rural in character. Since the 1960 Census, these areas have been designated as rural rather than urban, as they would otherwise be according to the definition of “urban,” as including all the area of a “place.”

In The Condition of Education 2004, these labels and definitions apply to indicators 25 and 33.

Poverty

Data on household income and the number of people living in the household are combined with estimates of the poverty threshold published by the Bureau of the Census to classify children (or adults) as “poor” or “nonpoor” in indicators 12, 13, and 25. Children (or adults) in families whose incomes are at or below the poverty threshold are classified as poor; those in families with incomes above the poverty threshold are classified as nonpoor. The thresholds used to determine whether an individual is poor or nonpoor differ for each survey year. The weighted average poverty thresholds for various household sizes for 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2001, and 2003 are shown in the table on the next page.

Indicators 12, 13, and 25 modify the categories of poverty, to include the “poor,” “near-poor,” and “nonpoor.” Poor is defined to include those families below the poverty threshold, near-poor is defined as those at 100—199 percent of the poverty threshold, and nonpoor is defined as those at 200 percent or more than the poverty threshold.

Indicator 8 employs the Census poverty thresholds for 1998 in determining the number of family risk factors.

Eligibility for the National School Lunch Program also serves as a measure of poverty status. The National School Lunch Program is a federally assisted meal program operated in public and private nonprofit schools and residential child care centers. Unlike the poverty thresholds discussed above, which rely on dollar amounts determined by the Bureau of the Census, eligibility for the National School Lunch Program relies on the federal income poverty guidelines of the Department of Health and Human Services. To be eligible for free lunch, a student must be from a household with an income at or below 130 percent of the federal poverty guideline; to be eligible for reduced-price lunch, a student must be from a household with an income at or below 185 percent of the federal poverty guideline. Title I basic program funding relies on free-lunch eligibility numbers as one (of four) possible poverty measures for levels of Title I federal funding. In The Condition of Education 2004, eligibility for the National School Lunch Program applies to indicators 2, 9, 10, and 24.

Family Income Quarters

Indicators 19, 37, and 38 use family income quarters in their analyses. Indicator 19 collapsed the four quarters calculated from the Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study (BPS) data into three categories: the lowest 25 percent of the student population (lowest quarter); the middle 50 percent of the student population (two middle quarters); and the highest 25 percent of the student population (highest income quarter). Indicator 38 collapsed the four quarters calculated from B&B data into the same three categories. Indicator 37 retained all four quarters calculated from NPSAS data and labeled the lowest 25 percent of the student population “lowest quarter,” the second lowest 25 percent of the student population “lower middle quarter,” the second highest 25 percent of the student population “upper middle quarter,” and the highest 25 percent of the student population “highest income quarter.” Family income was determined for the year before students enrolled in postsecondary education. Family income was used for dependent students (i.e., those under age 24) and student income was used for independent students. Dependent and independent student quarters were calculated separately and then combined into one income variable.

Geographic Region

The regional classification systems on the next page represents the four geographical regions of the United States as defined by the Bureau of the Census and the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), both of the U.S. Department of Commerce. In The Condition of Education 2004, indicators 3, 4, 12, and 25 use the Bureau of the Census system. Indicators 2 and 27 use the Bureau of Economic Analysis system. The Bureau of the Census’ Midwest region includes the same states as the BEA’s Central region.

Occupation

Indicator 7 uses the occupation groups in the 2003 National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES), Adult Education for Work-Related Reasons Survey (AEWR—NHES:2003) that were aggregated from a set of 22 categories from the Standard Occupational Classification (SOC) categories. The professional or managerial group consisted of the following occupations: executive, administrative, and managerial occupations; engineers, surveyors, and architects; natural scientists and mathematicians; social scientists, social workers, religious workers, and lawyers; teachers: college, university, and other postsecondary institutions; counselors, librarians, and archivists; teachers, except postsecondary institutions; health diagnosing and treating practitioners; registered nurses, pharmacists, dietitians, therapists, and physician’s assistants; writers, artists, entertainers, and athletes; and health technologists and technicians. The service, sales, or support group consisted of technologists and technicians, except health; marketing and sales occupations; administrative support occupations, including clerical; service occupations; and miscellaneous occupations. The trades consisted of agricultural, forestry, and fishing occupations; mechanics and repairers; construction and extractive occupations; precision production occupations; production working occupations; transportation and material moving occupations; and handlers, equipment cleaners, helpers, and laborers.

NOTE: Poverty thresholds for 2003, revised January 22, 2004; for 2001, September 24, 2002; for 1999, 1993, 1996, and 1999, August 22, 2002.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, NCES. National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES), 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1999, 2001, and 2003.

Bureau of Census, Regional Classification

BEA Regional Classification