Introduction Letter
Forum Organizational Hierarchy
As a new Forum member, what do I need to know?
If you are a local education agency (LEA) representative
If you are a state education agency (SEA) representative
If you are a national association representative
(Before getting too far into Forum matters, visit the
list of Commonly Used Forum Acronyms)
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Welcome to the National Forum on Education Statistics! As a new member of the National Forum on Education Statistics, you are in a position to contribute to the work of an organization that is committed to improving the quality of education data throughout the nation while, at the same time, minimizing data burden on schools, local education agencies, and state education agencies. Accomplishing this task is hard work, as is producing the Forum's free data guides and best practice documents. Forum members bring expertise and enthusiasm to the organization's work, but before doing so, it sometimes takes new members some time to become acclimated to the way the Forum operates. The Forum Steering Committee hopes that this New Members' Page will help to prepare you for the experience of joining the Forum. It will still take some time to get to know the organization's people and culture, but hopefully some of the procedural questions that often arise can be addressed here so that your first meeting will be more enjoyable and productive. Sincerely, The Forum Steering Committee P.S. The best way to get involved with the Forum is to do exactly that—get involved. Join a task force, roll up your sleeves, and get to know the people and processes that make up the National Forum on Education Statistics! |
Mandated by the Hawkins-Stafford Education Improvement Amendments of 1988 (Public Law 100-297), the National Cooperative Education Statistics System (Cooperative System) was established to produce and maintain, with the cooperation of the States, comparable and uniform educational information and data that are useful for policy making at the federal, state, and local levels. To assist in meeting this goal, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) established the National Forum on Education Statistics to improve the collection, reporting, and use of elementary and secondary education statistics. In addition to the National Forum on Education Statistics (for elementary and secondary education), there are two other National Cooperative Education Statistics System entities: the National Postsecondary Education Cooperative (NPEC), which addresses the needs of postsecondary education, and the Library Statistics Program, which collects, processes, and disseminates data on academic libraries, public libraries, school library media centers, and state library agencies.
The Forum was established by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) of the U.S. Department of Education in 1989 to create a voluntary, democratic, and participatory federal-state group that identifies education data needs at the national, state, and local levels. In 1996, Forum membership was extended to incorporate local education agency perspectives as well.
The major purposes of the Forum are to:
More succinctly, the Forum was created to improve the quality, comparability, and utility of elementary and secondary education data.
For more information about the Forum's purpose and history, visit About the Forum.
The Forum Steering Committee oversees and coordinates all Forum activities. Members of the Steering Committee include the Forum chair, vice chair, and immediate past chair, and the chairs, vice chairs, and NCES liaisons for the three standing committees. The chairperson of the Forum leads the Steering Committee. The Commissioner of the NCES is a member ex officio.
National Education Statistics Agenda Committee (NESAC)
The National Education Statistics Agenda Committee (NESAC) addresses ways to improve the quality of education data to fulfill the Cooperative System's legislative mandate to improve the quality of data for education policy making at all levels of government. The committee has as its mission the development of a national education statistics agenda, that is, the identification of issues and policy concerns bearing on the development of comparable and effective nationwide elementary and secondary education data collection, reporting, and use, focusing on the major areas of student, staff, fiscal, institutional, and other information that yields valuable perspective on education in the United States.
Policies, Programs, and Implementation Committee (PPI)
The Policies, Programs, and Implementation (PPI) Committee deliberates on the major functions and general effectiveness of the Cooperative System. Specifically, PPI focuses on addressing ways to assist SEAs and school districts in improving their ability to collect and report comparable, accurate, and timely data, and enhancing coordination among federal agencies, and between federal and state agencies. In addition, PPI addresses ways to reduce paperwork burdens at all levels of government, and to explore ongoing and emerging issues such as data sharing and confidentiality of education records. PPI is also responsible for recommending amendments to the Policy and Procedures Manual and reviewing and recommending the formation of new task forces.
Technology Committee (TECH)
The Technology Committee (TECH) is concerned with new and proven technology strategies to improve the exchange of student and staff information and the technical infrastructure that supports this exchange. It promotes the development and adoption of standards for electronic data exchange, and sponsors pilot and developmental projects in the exchange of data about students and education staff, as well as examining the impact of new technologies on information exchange. The committee produces "best practices" guides to help schools, school districts and state education agencies make good decisions about selecting hardware, software, and networking services for information management and dealing with issues such as data security, data quality, and the integration of information systems to support effective decision making.
Attendance Task Force
The Attendance Task Force is developing an exhaustive and mutually-exclusive list of attendance codes to provide the basis for accurate comparisons between districts and states. The attendance codes will also categorize reasons for nonattendance. For more information visit the Attendance Task Force page.
Crisis Data Management Task Force
The Crisis Data Management Task Force is developing guidelines that can be used by elementary and secondary education agencies to establish policies and procedures for collecting and managing education data before, during, and after a crisis. This includes scenarios in which the agency is directly or indirectly (e.g., only receiving displaced students) impacted by a disaster. For more information visit the Crisis Data Management Task Force page.
Data Ethics Task Force
The Data Ethics Task Force is developing a Code of Ethics for a broad range of stakeholders in the education data community. The Code will address ethical issues focused on the management and use of education data, with particular emphasis on individually identifiable student and staff data. This Code of Ethics will be philosophical enough to complement, and be customizable to, a wide range of state statutes and regulations. Supporting text will be specific enough to make ethical principles understandable and actionable for staff in an education organization. For more information about the Data Ethics Task Force page.
Longitudinal Data Systems Task Force
The Longitudinal Data Systems (LDS) Task Force will develop a document that identifies lessons learned and effective approaches to designing, implementing, maintaining, and using longitudinal data systems. The task force aims to incorporate many existing resources available on LDSs and to offer SEA and LEA perspectives to help decisionmakers, education experts, and system developers to effectively assemble the many pieces of the LDS puzzle. For more information visit the Longitudinal Data Systems Task Force page.
Metadata Task Force
The Metadata Task Force will develop a document with best practice concepts, definitions, implementation strategies, and templates/tools for an audience of data, technology, and program staff in state and local education agencies. It is hoped that this resource will improve this audience's awareness and understanding of metadata and, subsequently, the quality of the data in the systems they maintain. For more information about the Metadata Task Force, visit the Metadata Task Force page.
Publications of the National Forum on Education Statistics do not undergo the formal review required for products of the National Center for Education Statistics. The information and opinions published here are the product of the National Forum on Education Statistics and do not necessarily represent the policy or views of the U.S. Department of Education or the National Center for Education Statistics.
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