American Community Survey (ACS)

The American Community Survey (ACS) is a sample survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. The ACS was first implemented in 1996 and has expanded in scope in subsequent years. The ACS will replace the long-form survey in the Decennial Census by 2010.

For more information on the American Community Survey, click here.

Common Core of Data (CCD), Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey

The Common Core of Data (CCD) is a universe survey database with comprehensive, annually updated information. The Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey compiles data from state education agencies based on school records to provide a complete listing of all public elementary and secondary schools in the country and basic information and descriptive statistics on all schools, their students, and their teachers. American Indian/Alaska Native students on reservations are not included in the Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey.

For more information on the CCD, click here.

Fast Response Survey System (FRSS)

The Fast Response Survey System (FRSS) was established in 1975 to collect issue-oriented data quickly and with minimum response burden. The FRSS, whose surveys collect and report data on key education issues at the elementary and secondary levels, was designed to meet the data needs of Department of Education analysts, planners, and decisionmakers when information could not be collected quickly through NCES's large recurring surveys.

For more information on the FRSS, click here.

National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is a nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America's students know and can do in various subject areas. For over three decades, assessments have been conducted periodically in reading, mathematics, science, writing, history, geography, and other subjects.

For more information on NAEP, click here.

The National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES)

The National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES) was developed by NCES to complement its institutional surveys. This program is the principal mechanism for addressing topics that cannot be addressed in institutional data collections. By collecting data directly from households, NHES enables NCES to gather data on a wide range of issues, such as early childhood care and education, children's readiness for school, parent perceptions of school safety and discipline, before- and after-school activities of school-age children, participation in adult and continuing education, parent involvement in education, and civic involvement.

For more information on the NHES Program, click here.

The Private School Universe Survey (PSS)

The target population for the PSS consists of all private schools in the United States that meet the NCES definition (i.e., a private school is not supported primarily by public funds, it provides instruction for one or more of grades K-12 or comparable ungraded levels, and it has one or more teachers. Organizations or institutions that provide support for homeschooling without offering classroom instruction for students are not included.). The PSS, conducted every 2 years, began with the 1989-90 school year and was administered again in 1991-92, 1993-94, 1995-96, 1997-98, 1999-2000, 2001-02, 2003-04.

For more information on the PSS, click here.

Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS)

SASS has four core components: the School Questionnaire, the Teacher Questionnaire, the Principal Questionnaire, and the School District Questionnaire, which was known as the Teacher Demand and Shortage Questionnaire until the 1999–2000 SASS administration. These questionnaires are sent to respondents in public, private, and Bureau of Indian Affairs/tribal schools. In 1999-2000, public charter schools were also included in the sample. For the 2003–04 SASS, a sample of public charter schools are included in the sample as part of the public school questionnaire.

For more information on SASS, click here.