A small bright spot for Nevada in newest NAEP

An article in today's (Nov. 1, 2011) Education Week notes that, "Nevada registered statistically significant gains in both 8th grade reading and math compared with 2009, in both cases climbing 4 points. The state also saw 2-point gains in 4th grade reading and math, but neither was deemed statistically significant.
Keith W. Rheault, Nevada’s superintendent of public instruction, who was invited to comment on this year’s results at a press conference scheduled for this morning, said in prepared remarks that he was pleased to see the gains in his state, especially amid challenging economic times."
Given that the educational news about Nevada is usually so grim, I thought it worth a mention. Recent NAEP data is here: http://www.nationsreportcard.gov/

NCSER releases training videos for NLTS2 users...

The National Center for Special Education Research has released video training modules for the National Longitudinal Transition Study-2 (NLTS2). The NLTS2 data training modules are intended to be a resource to researchers who would like to use the NLTS2 dataset to conduct research addressing students with disabilities.
Links to all videos are here: http://ies.ed.gov/ncser/projects/nlts2/training.asp

America’s Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2011

The new report fro ChildStats is available here: http://childstats.gov/
This data-rich interagency report (including contributions from NCES) provides information on areas including health, education, economics, demographics and families.

Projections of Education Statistics to 2019

New report out from NCES that covers "statistics on enrollment, graduates, teachers, and expenditures in elementary and secondary schools, and enrollment and earned degrees conferred expenditures of degree-granting institutions. For the Nation, the tables, figures, and text contain data on enrollment, teachers, graduates, and expenditures for the past 14 years and projections to the year 2019. For the 50 States and the District of Columbia, the tables, figures, and text contain data on projections of public elementary and secondary enrollment and public high school graduates to the year 2019."
I will also put a link to this source in the Education subject guide on the "Statistics and Demographics" page. http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2011017

Visualizing Data with Gapminder

This remarkable website, Gapminder, developed in Sweden allows you to visualize data "some 500 indicators (relating to health, income, education, energy, the environment, technology, and more.)" from such standard sources as the United Nations, World Bank, and OECD. Watch this 4 minute video to get a sense of what it can do. http://www.gapminder.org/videos/200-years-that-changed-the-world-bbc/
There is definitely a learning curve (here is a page with a 2.5 minute tutorial to get started) but it's a rich resource for teaching and presenting the possibilities of data. 

New IPEDS data released

Findings from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) fall 2009 data collection,  includes three survey components: institutional characteristics for 2009-10 (e.g.,  degrees offered, type of program, application information, tuition and other costs); the number and type of degrees conferred from July 2008 through June 2009; and 12-month enrollment data for the 2008-09 academic year.
Among other findings:

• An increasingly higher percentage of women are getting higher education degrees (2- and 4-year)
• Tuition has increase across the spectrum of higher education institutions (duh!)

To view the full report please visit: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2010161

Check out the new Almanac of Higher Education

The Chronicle's new Almanac is out. Go through the libraries' journal title search so you get access from off campus. Check out Nevada's demographic profile (right hand column).

Updated public school data (2008-2009)

NCES has released the 2008-09 school year data from the State Nonfiscal Survey of Public Elementary/Secondary Education Survey of the Common Core of Data (CCD) survey system. The accompanying First Look presents national and state level data on student enrollment by grade and by race/ethnicity within grade, the numbers of teachers and other education staff, and several student/staff ratios for the school year.


To view the full First Look report please visit:
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2010347

The recession will impact children for years to come

According to a report just released by the Foundation for Child Development, numerous indicators of child well-being are headed in a negative direction as a result of the recession. Education Week notes, "More children will live in poverty this year. More will have two parents who are unemployed. Fewer children will enroll in prekindergarten programs, and fewer teenagers will find jobs. More children are likely to commit suicide, be overweight, and be victimized by crime." The full report, "Child and Youth Well-Being Index," is available here: http://www.fcd-us.org/usr_doc/FINAL_2010_CWI_Annual_Release.pdf
Project director, Kenneth Land, is sociology and demography professor at Duke and a Fellow of the American Statistical Association, the Sociological Research Association, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, and the American Society of Criminology.

2010 Condition of Education available

"The National Center for Education Statistics today released The Condition of Education, a Congressionally mandated report to the nation on education in America today. It covers all aspects of education, with 49 indicators that include findings on enrollment trends, demographics, and outcomes.

The report projects that public school enrollment will rise from 49 million in 2008 to 52 million by 2019, with the largest increase expected in the South. Over the past decade, more students attended both charter schools and high-poverty schools (those in which more than 75 percent of the students qualified for free or reduced-price lunch). One in six U.S. students attends a high-poverty school; and the number of charter school students has tripled since 1999."

The report is also linked under the Statistics and Demographics tab on the Education subject guide.

NCES Releases 2009 Digest of Education Statistics

"The "Digest of Education Statistics, 2009" is the 45th in a series of publications initiated in 1962. The Digest's primary purpose is to provide a compilation of statistical information covering the broad field of American education from prekindergarten through graduate school. The Digest contains data on a variety of topics, including the number of schools and colleges, teachers, enrollments, and graduates, in addition to educational attainment, finances, and federal funds for education, libraries, and international comparisons."
To view the full reports please visit:
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2010013 (Digest) and
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2010014 (Mini-Digest)

NCES report on alternative schools

This report presents data from a recent district ... survey about alternative schools and programs available to students during the 2007-08 school year. Alternative schools and programs are specifically designed to address the educational needs of students at risk of school failure in a setting apart from that of the regular public school...The study includes information on the availability and number of alternative schools and programs, the number of students enrolled in alternative schools and program, and district policy on returning students to a regular school. Findings include:

• In the 2007–08 school year, 64 percent of districts reported having at least one alternative school or program for at-risk students
• There were 646,500 students enrolled in public school districts attending alternative schools and programs for at-risk students in 2007–08

To view the full report please visit http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2010026

NCES report on public elementary-secondary schools: 2007-2008

While the largest school districts represented less than 1 percent of all districts during the 2007-08 school year, they served 12.5 percent of public school students. The National Center for Education Statistics has released "Numbers and Types of Public Elementary and Secondary Local Education Agencies From the Common Core of Data: School Year 2007-08." This report presents selected findings on the numbers and types of public elementary and secondary local education agencies in the United States and the territories in the 2007-08 school year, using data from Public Elementary/Secondary Local Education Agency Universe Survey of the Common Core of Data survey system. Findings include:

* There were 17,775 operating local education agencies in the 2007-08 school year, and among those agencies, 13,924 were regular school districts.

* Approximately 699,000 students enrolled in the 2,012 independent charter agencies, districts in which all schools were charter schools.

* Twenty-seven of the 13,924 active regular school districts enrolled 100,000 or more students.

To view the full report please visit:
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2010306

New report from NCES on HS graduation and dropout rates

"High School Dropout and Completion Rates in the United States: 2007"
includes national and regional population estimates for the percentage of students who dropped out of high school between 2006 and 2007, the percentage of young people who were dropouts in 2007, and the percentage of young people who were not in high school and had some form of high school credential in 2007.

Annual data from 1972-2007 reveals trends by race, gender, income and other characteristics. State, regional and national level data is provided.
To view the full report please visit:
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2009064

Projections of Education Statistics to 2018

This updated report has also been added to the Statistics tab in my Education guide.
"It includes statistics on enrollment, graduates, teachers, and expenditures in elementary and secondary schools, and enrollment and earned degrees conferred expenditures of degree-granting institutions. For the Nation, the tables, figures, and text contain data on enrollment, teachers, graduates, and expenditures for the past 14 years and projections to the year 2018. For the 50 States and the District of Columbia, the tables, figures, and text contain data on projections of public elementary and secondary enrollment and public high school graduates to the year 2018."

A Wealth of Data: The new Higher Ed Almanac is out

Even though prices are posted for print and online purchase, lots of data at the state and national level is available from the Chronicle's new edition of The Almanac of Higher Education. Basic demographics, students enrollments, faculty salaries and more.

Longitudinal data on late high school dropouts from NCES

It appears we are disproportionately failing to graduate those students already most disadvantaged. From the report summary...

"....presents information about selected characteristics and experiences of high school sophomores in 2002 who subsequently dropped out of school. It also presents comparative data about late high school dropouts in the years 1982, 1992, and 2004. The findings only address dropping out in late high school and do not cover students who dropped out before the spring of 10th grade. For this reason, the reported rates are lower than those based on the students' entire high school or earlier school career. Key findings include the following:

* Forty-eight percent of all late high school dropouts come from families in the lowest quarter (bottom 25 percent) of the socioeconomic status distribution, and 77 percent of late high school dropouts come from the lowest half of the socioeconomic status distribution.

* Most late high school dropouts (83 percent) listed a school-related (versus a family- or employment-related) reason for leaving. These reasons included missing too many school days, thinking it would be easier to get a GED, getting poor grades, and not liking school.

* The overall late high school dropout rate was lower in 2004 than in 1982 (7 percent versus 11 percent, respectively) and lower in 1992 than in 1982 (6 percent versus 11 percent), but it showed no statistically significant difference in 2004 compared with 1992."

To view, download and print the report as a PDF file, please visit:
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2009307

NAEP at a glance

"The Nation's Report Card: 2007 At A Glance" is a new brochure that provides an overview of the NAEP activities surrounding the math, reading, and writing assessments. "At a Glance" summarizes the results of each 2007 assessment for the nation, states, and selected urban districts [Las Vegas is not one of the 11 urban districts reported--pm].

The results presented in "At a Glance" examine the change over time in average scores for all students, in addition to the changes in the gender and racial/ethnic achievement gaps observed in the 2007 assessments. The brochure pairs these results with instructive graphics to help you understand the findings. "At a Glance" also notes how many students at each grade level participated in the assessments and breaks down percentages of certain demographic details of participants, including race/ethnicity, school type, and percentage of accommodated students. Find the "At a Glance" publication at
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2009486

Interactive data charts available from Google

Still somewhat limited in their coverage but great fun to play with, you can now find population or unemployment data for states and counties and then interact with the data (do comparisons across counties, states, to the whole U.S., etc.). This is a Google search tool imposed on Bureau of Labor Statistics and U.S. Centus data. Go to Google's regular search screen (Google.com) and enter, for example, population nevada or unemployment rate clark county
Here are some sample graphs:

• http://www.google.com/publicdata?ds=usunemployment&met=unemployment_rate&idim=county:CN320230:CN320030

• http://www.google.com/publicdata?ds=uspopulation&met=population&idim=state:32000&idim=county:32003:32023:06001

Google's blog entry is here:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/adding-search-power-to-public-data.html

Thanks to librarian Michael Yunkin for bringing this to my attention! I'll add this to the "Statistics and Demographics" tab of the Education subject guide, too.

Fiscal year 2007 data on revenues/expenditures for public elementary & secondary schools

"The Common Core of Data (CCD) is an annual collection of public elementary and secondary education data by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in the Institute of Education Sciences. The data are reported by state education agencies (SEAs). The finance data are reported to the U.S. Census Bureau, which acts as the data collection agent for NCES. Student membership data are reported to the U.S. Department of Education’s EDFacts data collection system. This report presents findings on public education revenues and expenditures using fiscal year 2007 (FY 07) data from the National Public Education Financial Survey (NPEFS) of the CCD survey system. Programs covered in the NPEFS include regular, special, and vocational education; charter schools (if they reported data to the SEA); and state-run education programs (such as special education centers or education programs for incarcerated youth).

The CCD NPEFS is a universe collection of public elementary and secondary education finance data reported annually by SEAs in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the four other jurisdictions of American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The NPEFS provides SEA-level data for all revenues and expenditures associated with each reporting state or jurisdiction, including revenues by source and expenditures by function and object." (from the Introduction at http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2009/expenditures/)

Links to all Table data (also available in Excel format) are here: http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2009/expenditures/tables.asp

Link to the full report is here: http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2009337