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Managing an Identity Crisis: Forum Guide to Implementing New Federal Race and Ethnicity Categories
NFES 2008-802
October 2008

Chapter 5. Getting it Out: Coding, Reporting, Storage, and Bridging

Now that the preparatory work is done, it is time to complete the data entry, perform quality checks, and store and report the data. While individual records should contain the full level of detail on race and ethnicity, ED has provided some guidelines for reporting aggregate data.

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What Do the New Standards Mean to School Districts?
A little preliminary preparation can save considerable time.

  • A data entry screen designed in a simple way, mimicking the actual data collection form, would increase the accuracy of the process.
  • Training should be provided to data entry personnel to ensure the quality of data, and data validity and quality checks should be implemented throughout the process.
  • Though there are 64 possible combinations that can be coded, only 7 categories are required to be reported to ED.  The state may require additional categories, though, based on the demographic characteristics of the communities.