The chief goal of the NHES is to describe Americans’ educational experiences, thereby offering policymakers, researchers, and educators a variety of statistics on the condition of education in the United States. To monitor educational trends over time, NHES conducts repeated measurements of the same phenomena in different years. The NHES has also fielded one-time surveys on topics of interest to the Department of Education.
The NHES has been conducted approximately every other year since 1991. There was a 5-year gap in data collection between 2007 and 2012 when the NHES switched from a telephone survey to a mail survey. Surveys include:
| Surveys | Data Collection Years |
| Adult Education | 1991, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005 |
| Before- and After-School Programs and Activities | 1999, 2001, 2005 |
| Early Childhood Program Participation | 1991, 1995, 1999, 2001, 2005 |
| Parent and Family Involvement in Education | 1996, 1999, 2003, 2007 |
| Civic Involvement | 1996, 1999 |
| Household Library Use | 1996 |
| School Readiness | 1993, 1999, 2007 |
| School Safety and Discipline | 1993 |
To see the questions asked on these surveys, browse the questionnaires. To view some of the research reports that have been based on the surveys, browse the NHES publications. To download or order CD_ROMs of the data, browse data products.
