Frequently asked questions about ED Data Express
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The Consolidated State Performance Report (CSPR) is a mandated annual reporting tool to collect K-12 education performance data for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Data are collected through the CSPR are submitted in two parts. Part I of the CSPR requests information related to the five ESEA goals, established in the Consolidated State Application, and provides data for the Annual Report to Congress on ESEA programs, as described in section 1111(h)(4) of the Act. Part II of the CSPR requests information related to state activities and outcomes of specific ESEA programs. Part II provides data for program offices to assess program performance, monitor program requirements, and other reporting requirements. The CSPR is the primary source of data for ED Data Express. More information on each state’s report can be found on ED’s Web site: www.ed.gov/admins/lead/account/consolidated/index.html (TOP)
EDFacts is a U. S. Department of Education initiative to put performance data at the center of policy, management and budget decisions for all K-12 educational programs. EDFacts centralizes performance data supplied by K-12 state education agencies (SEAs) with other data assets, such as financial grant information, within ED to enable better analysis and use in policy development, planning and management. EDFacts is the current vehicle for collecting 60 percent of the state data for the CSPR. For more information, please visit the following Web site: www.ed.gov/edfacts (TOP)
States are required to submit information about their methods for making determinations about adequate yearly progress (AYP), levels of student performance, calculations for graduation rates, and other components of their accountability systems. This information helps ED and the public understand how they are calculating the data that they report to EDFacts/CSPR. Each state’s accountability workbook can be found at: www.ed.gov/admins/lead/account/stateplans03/index.html (TOP)
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education. NCES fulfills a Congressional mandate to collect, collate, analyze, and report complete statistics on the condition of American education; conduct and publish reports; and review and report on education activities internationally. The Common Core of Data (CCD) is a U.S. Department of Education database providing data on public elementary and secondary education in the United States. CCD is a comprehensive, annual, national statistical database of all public elementary and secondary schools and school districts, which contains data that are designed to be comparable across all states. The data are supplied by state education agency officials and include information that describes schools and school districts, including name, address, and phone number; descriptive information about students and staff, including demographics; and fiscal data, including revenues and current expenditures. For more information about NCES, please go to the following Web site: www.nces.ed.gov. For more information about CCD, please go to the following Web site: www.nces.ed.gov/ccd (TOP)
The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is the only nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America's students know and can do in various subject areas. Assessments are conducted periodically in mathematics, reading, science, writing, the arts, civics, economics, geography, and U.S. history. Since NAEP assessments are administered uniformly using the same sets of test booklets across the nation, NAEP results serve as a common metric for all states and selected urban districts. The assessment stays essentially the same from year to year, with only carefully documented changes. This permits NAEP to provide a clear picture of student academic progress over time. For more information, visit: www.nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard (TOP)
The College Board is a not-for-profit membership association whose mission is to connect students to college success and opportunity. One of the programs supported by the College Board is the Advanced Placement Program. The College Board collects and analyzes information on the Advanced Placement exam. Information about The College Board and Advanced Placement Program can be found at the following Web site: www.collegeboard.com (TOP)
The Budget Service is an office at the U.S. Department of Education that collects and publishes detailed information about ED’s budget, by state and by program. Their tables can be viewed on their Web site: www.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/tables.html (TOP)
The State Snapshot page of ED Data Express is designed to allow users to see a quick snapshot of important data for one state. From the home page, users can click on the U.S. map, choose a state from the drop-down menu, or select the State Snapshots tab at the top of the screen. Clicking on the U.S. map will take the user to a larger version of the map. Users can either select a state by using their mouse to click on that state on the map, or use the drop-down menus. Once a state has been selected, the user will be redirected to a profile for that state, which displays key data using charts, graphs, and tables. From this page, the user can link to tables that display all data currently on the site. (TOP)
The Data Element Explorer Graph and Table tool displays one data element for all states (and the nation, if applicable). Users can access this tool by clicking "Start Exploring Data Elements" in the Data Element Explorer section of the home page, or by selecting the Data Elements tab at the top of the screen. This will take the user to the Data Element Selection page, which has a series of drop down menus that allow users to narrow down the data element list. Selecting a category will populate the groups list with the groups associated with that category. The user can narrow the search further by choosing a specific group and subgroup. If the user has selected a specific category, group, and subgroup, the data element list will only contain data elements associated with that subgroup. If the user knows the name of the specific data element they want to view, they can go directly to the data element list without first narrowing their search. Data elements are listed in alphabetical order.
Selecting a data element will take the user to a page for that element. The Graph and Table tool is the first of four tabs in this section. The values for the data element for each state will be displayed on a bar graph. Under the bar graph is a table that lists each state and its value. The table can be sorted by state or by value by using the up and down arrows next to the column titles. Selecting data elements that are text values instead of numeric values will produce a table, but not a graph. Using the arrows on the value column will sort the data elements in alphabetical order. (TOP)
Users can access the mapping tool by starting with the steps described in the question above (How do I use the Data Element Explorer — Graphs and Tables). Once a data element has been selected, the user should select the "Data Mapping" tab. The values for the data element for each state will be displayed on a map of the United States. Under the map is a table that lists each state and its value. As the user moves the sliders or enters values in the text boxes to adjust the range of values they want to see displayed, the colors of the states on the map will shift based on the criteria. Symbols in the table will also shift to indicate if the value is greater than, less than, or within the selected range. (TOP)
Users can access the trend line tool by starting with the steps described in the question above (How do I use the Data Element Explorer — Graphs and Tables). Once a data element has been selected, the user should select the "Trend Line" tab. If a trend line is appropriate for the selected data element, the user will see a list of states. The user can select a state name to see its trend line. (TOP)
Users can access the conditional analysis tool by starting with the steps described in the question above (How do I use the Data Element Explorer — Graphs and Tables). Once a data element has been selected, the user should select the "Conditional Analysis" tab. There will be a series of dropdown menus that will allow the user to set a condition for their selected data element based on another data element on the site. The user should first select the data element they want to use as a condition. Then, they should select an operator (e.g., "greater than" or "less than") and a value. Clicking on the "Results" button will produce a table the displays values that meet the selected criteria. A tutorial on this page provides detailed instructions for using this tool. (TOP)
The Build a State Table page is the most flexible tool on the site. It allows users to build custom tables by selecting the states and data elements they are interested in viewing. From the home page, users can either click on "Build Table Now" in the Build a State Table section of the home page, or select the State Tables tab at the top of the screen, which will take the user to a state and indicator selection screen. From there, the user can select specific states and data elements. Clicking on "Display Report" at the bottom of the screen will pull up a table for the selected states and data elements. Next to the indicator name is a graph icon. Clicking on the icon will bring up a graph of the information in the table. From this page, users can also download the data into Excel. A tutorial can be accessed from the selection page that provides detailed instructions for using this tool. (TOP)
Clicking on the numbers or question mark symbols next to data elements opens a footnote for that data element. The footnotes contain several fields. The “Description” field defines the data element and includes any other necessary information to help users understand the data being displayed. The “Academic Year” is the school year that the data represent. The “Grade” is the student grade level in school, as applicable. The “Source” field provides a link to the original source of the data. (TOP)
Clicking on the letters next to the state names in a table opens a state specific note for that data element. The note contains information specific to that state and data element to help users better understand the data. (TOP)
In addition to the three data tools, the site includes a Resources page and a Definitions page. The Resources page includes data-related U.S. Department of Education sites and external sites focused on education data. External resources should not be construed or interpreted to be endorsed by the U.S. Department of Education or any private organization or business listed herein. The Definitions page provides explanations of key education terms. (TOP)
Data.gov, data.ed.gov, and the ed.gov home page all host links to ED Data Express. (TOP)
The site currently includes school counts, student counts, advanced placement test data, state test data, NAEP data, funding data, highly qualified teacher data, school choice and supplemental educational services, adequate yearly progress data, counts of schools in need of improvement, statistical components, AYP components, annual measureable objectives, and other accountability workbook data. (TOP)
If data elements are sourced from the CSPR, the five most recently available years of data are included. These will be data from school years (SY) 2004-05 to 2008-09. The site includes the most recent year of data available for CCD, NAEP, and College Board data elements (with the exception of NAEP average scale scores, for which the site includes four years of data in order to graph trend lines). Previous years of CCD and NAEP data can be found on their Web sites (www.nces.ed.gov/ccd; www.nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard). Budget data included consist of baseline data from FY 2001, and the most recent finalized fiscal year data. Accountability Workbook data are primarily the most current data, but include annual measurable objectives for all school years between 2000-01 and 2014-15. (TOP)
For most of the data in the CSPR, the date of the report matches the school year of data. For example, most data in the 2008-09 CSPR will be from SY 2008-09. However, there are a few data elements that will be from different school years. States lag in reporting their graduation rates, so the 2008-09 CSPR contains SY 2007-08 graduation rates. School improvement statuses are projected for the next school year, so in the 2008-09 CSPR, schools in need of improvement, corrective action, and restructuring will be for SY 2009-10. This is indicated in the footnotes by differentiating between the academic year of the data and the collection year of the CSPR. (TOP)
CSPR data will be updated every year in the spring, once states have submitted and certified their finalized data. The data will be for the prior school year. For example, data for SY 2008-09 were uploaded in spring of 2010. All other data elements are updated on a rolling basis as new data become available. (TOP)
States first submit Part I of their CSPR data in mid-December. Data submitted are from the prior school year (e.g. the 2008-09 data were first submitted in December 2009). After states have submitted their data, they are reviewed by staff at the U.S. Department of Education. Any questions or comments that come up during the review process are compiled and returned to the states. The states then have an opportunity to update their data files and resubmit them in March of each year. During each submission process, state data are not transmitted to ED until they certify that they are correct. Part II of the CSPR follows the same process on a later time frame. States initially submit their data in February of each year, and then resubmit the data in April following ED’s review. (TOP)
NAEP and CCD data are reviewed by using a set of statistical standards that involves a multi-stage review process. NCES has published a statistical standards document that details this process. Complete information about their data review process can be found on their Web site: www.nces.ed.gov/StatProg/index.asp (TOP)
The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) is a federal law that affords parents the right to have access to their children's education records, the right to seek to have the records amended, and the right to have some control over the disclosure of personally identifiable information from the education records. When a student turns 18 years old, or enters a postsecondary institution at any age, the rights under FERPA transfer from the parents to the student ("eligible student"). The FERPA statute is found at 20 U.S.C. § 1232g and the FERPA regulations are found at 34 CFR Part 99. More about FERPA can be found at www.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/index.html (TOP)
In order to prevent the possible disclosure of personally identifiable information, ED applies masking techniques to any publically released student data. Student data submitted through the CSPR are suppressed based on several rules. First, all data are compared against each state’s reporting n-size (reporting group size can be found on the site under “AYP Statistical Components”). Each state determines, and reports through their accountability workbook, the count of students that there must be for a data element in order for it to be reported. If the student count falls below that value, it is suppressed. Additionally, any percentage that is based on a count of students that is less than the reporting n-size is suppressed. After any data meeting these criteria are suppressed, any remaining percentages that are above 97% or less than 3% are also suppressed. Cells with a dash indicate that the state did not submit data, which could mean that the data are missing or not applicable. Zero counts that do not fall under the other suppression rules are also replaced with a dash. NCES uses a variety of masking techniques on their data, which are described in their Statistical Standards: www.nces.ed.gov/StatProg/confproc.asp. The College Board also protects personally identifiable data, described in their Guidelines for the Release of Data: www.professionals.collegeboard.com/data-reports-research/ap (TOP)
The Web site contains several symbols that will appear in data tables. An “n<” means that the data have been suppressed, based on the state’s reporting n-size. A “> 97%” means that the value is higher than 97 percent. A “< 3%” means that the value is less than 3 percent. These symbols are applied to student data that are determined to be personally identifiable. A dash (-) indicates that the data are not available. A “†” symbol means not applicable. A “‡” symbol is used for NCES and NAEP data to indicate that their reporting standards were not met. A “#” symbol means that the value rounds to zero. (TOP)
Although many of the data elements on this site can be compared, users should not compare student achievement data on state tests or state-defined graduation rate data across states. States are responsible for developing their own standards and assessment systems against which they measure student performance, and therefore the percentage of students who are proficient has different meanings depending on the standards that the state has developed. Student achievement data should be looked at as a snapshot of how the individual state’s students performed against its own standards. Similarly, states define their own graduation rates, so those data elements also cannot be compared. Users who want to compare student achievement or graduation rates among states should use NAEP scores and the average freshman graduation rate (AFGR), which are standardized statistics created by NCES. (TOP)
Many states have altered their standards or assessment systems from year to year, so it is frequently not possible to compare student achievement on state tests from year to year. (TOP)
There are no national data for many data elements on the site. In many cases, accountability data are not applicable at the national level. Additionally, in cases where data cannot be compared between states, it is not appropriate to include national data. National totals are created by aggregating state-level data. If states did not report data, they will be excluded from the national totals, so national data may not accurately represent national trends. National data should be interpreted as the total count or percentage of available data. (TOP)
State by state proficiency levels can be found in state Accountability Workbooks, which are located on the following web site: http://www2.ed.gov/admins/lead/account/stateplans03/index.html (TOP)
One quintile is 1/5 of the distribution of all the data displayed in the map. The data are divided into 5 equal subgroups (quintiles) within the state, ranging from highest to lowest. Each quintile contains as near as possible 20% of the distribution. (TOP)