NCES Blog

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has introduced a new resource page for the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) Outcome Measures (OM) survey component. This blog post provides an overview of the webpage and is the first in a series of blog posts that will showcase OM data.

Measuring Student Success in IPEDS: Graduation Rates (GR), Graduation Rates 200% (GR200), and Outcome Measures (OM) is a new resource page designed to help data reporters and users better understand the value of OM data and how the OM survey component works, particularly when compared with the Graduation Rates (GR) and Graduation Rates 200% (GR200) survey components.

The OM survey component was added to IPEDS in 2015–16 in an effort to capture postsecondary outcomes for more than so-called “traditional” college students. From 1997–98 to 2015–16, IPEDS graduation rate data were collected only for first-time, full-time (FTFT) degree/certificate-seeking (DGCS) undergraduates through the GR and GR200 survey components. Unlike these survey components, OM collects student outcomes for all entering DGCS undergraduates, including non-first-time students (i.e., transfer-in students) and part-time students.

Outcome measures are useful as characteristics of students vary by the level of institution. In 2009, some 4.7 million students began at 2-year postsecondary institutions, and 25 percent were full-time students who were attending college for the first time. During the same period, some 4.5 million students began at 4-year institutions, and 44 percent were first-time, full-time students.¹

The new resource page answers several important questions about OM, GR, and GR200, including the following:

• Which institutions complete each survey component?
• Does the survey form vary by institutional type?
• What student success measures are included?
• Which students are included in the cohort?
• What is the timeframe for establishing student cohorts?
• Which subgroups (disaggregates) are included?
• What is the timing of data collection and release?

In answering these questions, the resource page highlights that OM provides a more comprehensive view of student success than do GR and GR200. Furthermore, it suggests that OM, GR, and GR200 are not directly comparable, as the survey components differ in terms of which institutions complete them, which students are captured, and how each measures cohorts. Here are some of the key differences:

• Institutions with FTFT cohorts complete the GR and GR200 components, whereas degree-granting institutions complete the OM component.
• GR and GR200 include only FTFT DGCS undergraduates, whereas OM includes all DGCS undergraduates.
• GR and GR200 cohorts are based on a fall term for academic reports and a full year (September 1–August 31) for program reporters, whereas OM cohorts are based on a full year (July 1–June 30) for all degree-granting institutions.

Finally, the resource page outlines how OM works, including how cohorts and subcohorts are established, which outcomes are collected at various status points, and when the public have access to submitted data. Exhibit 1 presents the current 2021–22 data collection timeline, including the cohort year, outcome status points, data collection period, and public release of OM data.

Exhibit 1. 2021­–22 Outcome Measures (OM) data collection timeline (2013–14 entering degree/certificate-seeking cohort)

NCES staff presented information on reading data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Studies (ECLS) Program at the June 2021 Institute of Education Sciences (IES)/Council of the Great City Schools (CGCS) Reading Summit. The ECLS data cover a wide range of reading-related topics, such as children’s reading knowledge and skills, home literacy activities, and teachers’ instructional practices. The presentation included a brief overview of three ECLS program studies and the reading-related data collected by each. In addition, the presentation included a discussion of the resources available to either see what research has been conducted with the data or explore the data independently. As the focus of the presentation was on data available to the public for secondary analysis, its target audience was researchers and others with a data science focus.

Access the Reading Summit presentation—Reading Data Available from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Studies (ECLS)—and handout below to learn more about ECLS reading data.

• Video presentation
• Presentation slides
• Resources handout

Be sure to also check out this blog post to learn more about the work highlighted at the IES Reading Summit.

By Jill Carlivati McCarroll, NCES

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought enormous challenges to the education system, including a historic decline in enrollment in fall 2020—the largest since during World War II. Due to the relatively small decrease in the number of teachers, there was a significant drop in the pupil/teacher ratio.  

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) releases key statistics, including school staffing data, compiled from state administrative records through the Common Core of Data (CCD). In 2019, about 48 percent of public school staff were teachers (3.2 million) and 13 percent were instructional aides (0.9 million). NCES’s new School Pulse Panel survey found that in January 2022, about 61 percent of public schools with at least one vacancy reported that the pandemic increased the number of teacher and staff vacancies, and 57 percent of schools with at least one vacancy found that the pandemic forced them to use teachers outside their normal duty areas.

Pupil/teacher ratios provide a measure of the quantity of instructional resources available to students by comparing the number of students with the total full-time equivalent (FTE) of all teachers, including special education teachers. The public and private elementary and secondary average class size is larger than the pupil/teacher ratio since it normally does not factor into team teaching, specialty teachers, or special education classes. Between fall 2019 and fall 2020, enrollment in public elementary and secondary schools¹ decreased by 2.7 percent.² This decrease was larger than the 0.2 percent (6,700)³ decrease in the number of public school teachers. Since fall 2020, public school enrollment decreased by a larger amount than did the number of teachers. Thus, the pupil/teacher ratio declined in school year 2020–21 by a relatively large 0.5 pupils per teacher, from 15.9 to 15.4 pupils per teacher (figure 1). This is the largest 1-year decrease in more than 4 decades. In comparison, the pupil/teacher ratio for private schools was 11.4 in 2019–20 (the latest year of actual data available). It is worth noting that pupil/teacher ratios vary across schools with different characteristics (table 208.10).

Viewed over a longer term, the pupil/teacher ratio in public schools in 2019–20 (15.9) was only slightly lower than in 2010–11 (16.0), so nearly all the change during the 2010–11 to 2020–21 period occurred in the last year. The pupil/teacher ratio for private schools decreased from 12.5 in 2010–11 to 11.4 in 2019–20.

The emergence of the coronavirus pandemic 2 years ago shifted not only how students received educational services around the world but also how the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) carried out its mission, which is to collect, analyze, and report statistics on the condition of education in the United States.

NCES has conducted several surveys to measure educational enrollment, experiences, and outcomes as part of existing data collections and created new, innovative, and timely data initiatives. NCES is currently fielding more than 15 projects with information related to the pandemic. Since early 2020, NCES has collected information about educational experiences of students from elementary through postsecondary institutions. A few of the data collections will extend beyond 2022, providing rich data resources that will document changes in the educational landscape throughout the lifecycle of the pandemic.

NCES Coronavirus Pandemic Data Collection Coverage

In order to respond to the call for information about how students learned during widespread school disruptions, NCES modified existing and created new data collection avenues to receive and report vital information in unprecedented ways. Below are summaries of some of the data products available.

• The NAEP Monthly School Survey provided data during the beginning of 2021 on instructional modes offered from schools that served fourth- and eighth-graders. With participants from schools that were part of the NAEP 2022 assessments, this survey was the program’s first-ever monthly data collection and dissemination activity. It answered questions about what learning opportunities schools offered to students across states and how student enrollment changed each month overall and by race/ethnicity.
   
• NCES created the School Pulse Panel in 2021 to provide reliable data on school reopening efforts in public elementary, middle, and high schools nationally. NCES released 2021 summer and early fall results in December and has provided monthly updates since February 2022. The latest results show that the pandemic increased the teacher and staff vacancies in nearly a quarter of participating public schools.
   
• Through our existing administrative data collections, NCES has released enrollment estimates for fall 2020 at the public elementary and secondary levels as well as at the postsecondary level. These data reveal a drop in enrollment compared with 2019—prior to the pandemic.
   
• In February 2022, NCES released a report titled Impact of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic on Public and Private Elementary and Secondary Education in the United States (Preliminary Data): Results from the 2020–21 National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS). This report provides data on changes to instruction, support, and resources in public and private elementary and secondary schools during the pandemic.
   
• In June 2021, NCES released a report titled 2019–20 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:20): First Look at the Impact of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic on Undergraduate Student Enrollment, Housing, and Finances (Preliminary Data). This report focuses on how the pandemic affected postsecondary student experiences.
   
• To support parents, educators, and researchers, NCES created a Coronavirus Pandemic Information and Resource page. This page contains common questions related to the pandemic and its impact on education.

Looking ahead, NCES will provide NAEP data on how student performance has changed in various subjects since the coronavirus pandemic began. NCES will also collect and report information about learning contexts, which are critical for understanding educational outcomes. NCES will also develop a new system to share pandemic-related data collected across the center.

All of these resources are currently available or will be available on the NCES website.

By Ebony Walton and Josh DeLaRosa, NCES

In observation of Women’s History Month, this blog post presents NCES findings on the learning experiences of female students throughout their education careers as well as the characteristics of female teachers and faculty.

K–12 Education

• In 2019, a larger percentage of U.S. female 12th graders (51 percent) than male 12th graders (42 percent) reported that they were somewhat or more likely to pursue a career in science. Explore more science assessment data from NAEP.
   
• In 2017–18, women made up 89 percent of public school teachers at the elementary level, 72 percent at the middle school level, and 60 percent at the high school level. Explore more data about elementary and secondary school teachers by sex.

Postsecondary Education

• In 2018–19, female students earned 82 percent of master’s degrees conferred in health professions and related programs. Explore more data on master’s degrees earned by females in other fields.
   
• In fall 2019, women made up half (50 percent) of all faculty members at degree-granting postsecondary institutions. Explore more data about the number of postsecondary faculty by sex and by sex, race/ethnicity, and academic rank.

Resources to Learn More

• Undergraduate Enrollment (Condition of Education indicator): Learn how undergraduate female enrollment changed between 2009 and 2019.
   
• Table 318.10 (Digest of Education Statistics): Explore how the number of degrees awarded to female students has changed since academic year 1869–70.
   
• International Data Explorer (IDE): Learn about the education of women and girls across the world.

By Kyle Argueta, AIR