Information collections displayed on ED Data Express:

What is the Consolidated State Performance Report?

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)

What is EDFacts?

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 70 percent of the state data for the CSPR. For more information, please visit the following Web site: www.ed.gov/edfacts (TOP)

What are Accountability Workbooks?

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. States that are approved to implement ESEA flexibility have provided addendums to their Workbooks, which will update some of the content. Each state’s accountability workbook can be found at: www.ed.gov/admins/lead/account/stateplans03/index.html  (TOP)

What are NCES and CCD?

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)

What is the National Assessment of Educational Progress?

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)

What is The College Board?

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)

What is Budget Service?

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)

   

Navigating ED Data Express:

How do I use the State Snapshots page?

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 choose a state from the drop-down menu or select the State Snapshots tab at the top of the screen. Clicking on the State Snapshots tab will take the user to an image of a U.S. 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. Data elements are organized into groupings; clicking on the plus (+) or minus (-) signs next to a grouping will cause it to expand or collapse. From this page, the user can link to the Data Element Explorer for an individual data element of interest, or link to the Build a State Table page. More information about how to navigate this page is described in its tutorial. (TOP)

How do I use the Data Element Explorer — Graphs and Tables?

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 on any of the tools in the Data Element Explorer box on the Home Page, by clicking "Explore Data Elements", 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. The user can also select which tool they want to use to view the data, by clicking on one of the tool icons. If no tool is selected, it will default to Graphs and Tables.

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)

How do I use the Data Element Explorer — Data Mapping?

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)

How do I use the Data Element Explorer — Trend Lines?

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)

How do I use the Data Element Explorer — Conditional Analysis?

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)

How do I use the Build a State Table page?

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. To see all elements, use the plus (+) signs to expland the categories, groups, and subgroups. 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)

What information is in the footnotes?

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)

What information is in the state-specific data element notes?

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)

What other information is on the site besides the three data tools?

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 included on ED Data Express:

What data elements are currently on the site?

The site currently includes school counts, student counts, advanced placement test data, state test data, NAEP data, funding data, program participation 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)

How frequently will the data be uploaded?

Most data will be updated annually in the summer, after states have submitted and certified their data. The data will be for the prior school year. For example, data for SY 2011-12 were uploaded in summer of 2013.  (TOP)

   

Reviewing and Protecting Information:

What is the review process for EDFacts/CSPR data?

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)

What is the review process for NAEP and CCD data?

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)

What is FERPA?

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)

How is personally identifiable information protected on this site?

In order to prevent the possible disclosure of personally identifiable information, ED applies privacy protections to FERPA-protected, publically released data. Data about student outcomes that are submitted through the CSPR are suppressed based on several rules, depending on the structure of the data. (1) For outcome data that is based on a percentage of a total, percentages based on a count of less than 10 students are suppressed. Complementary suppression is applied to another group, if necessary, to protect the suppressed group. Results approaching 0% or 100% for any larger group of students are top and bottom coded. The magnitude of the top and bottom coding depends on the size of the student group, with a larger band for smaller student count. (2) For outcome data that is not based on a percentage of a total, and value of 3 or fewer is suppressed. These rules were first applied to data on the 2011-12 school year; prior year data were protected based on each state's reporting n-size from their Accountability workbook. Cells with a dash indicate that the state did not submit data, which could mean that the data are missing, not available, or not applicable. 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)

   

Interpreting and using the data:

What do the symbols in the tables mean?

The Web site contains several symbols that will appear in data tables. An “n<” means that the data have been suppressed. A “>” or "<" followed by a number means that top and bottom coding has been applied, and the value is greater than or less than the value displayed. 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)

Can data be compared across states?

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 defined their own graduation rates prior to the 2009-10 school year, so those data elements also cannot be compared. Starting in 2010-11, most states transitioned to using the regulatory adjusted cohort graduation rate, which is designed to be a commonly defined rate. While these changes make the rates more comparable, states still have slight differences in how they have implemented these rates, so comparisons should still be made with caution. Users who want to compare student achievement or graduation rates across states should use NAEP scores and the average freshman graduation rate (AFGR), which are standardized statistics created by NCES.  (TOP)

Can data be compared across years?

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. States transitioned to using the regulatory adjusted cohort graduation rate in the 2010-11 school year, so those rates should not be compared to prior years of data. (TOP)

How is national level data calculated and when is it provided?

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)

Where can I find information about each state's proficiency levels?

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)

What is a Quintile?

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)