Introduction

This report presents findings on the numbers and types of public elementary and secondary local education agencies (LEAs) in the United States and other jurisdictions¹ in the 2010–11 school year, using data from the Local Education Agency Universe Survey of the Common Core of Data (CCD) survey system. CCD is an annual collection of data that are reported by state education agencies to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) through the U.S. Department of Education's EDFacts data collection system.

The purpose of this report is to introduce new data through the presentation of tables containing descriptive information; therefore, the selected findings chosen for this report demonstrate the range of information available when using CCD. The selected findings do not represent a complete review of all observed differences in the data and are not meant to emphasize any particular issue. This revised report includes updates to the tables and findings that reflect the 2010–11 provisional version 2a of the LEA universe file

The Local Education Agency Universe Survey Data File can be used to report the numbers and types of LEAs. Information about LEAs also includes operational status (new, continuing, closed, etc.); the number of teachers, aides, administrators, student support, and other staff members; and the total number of prekindergarten through grade 12 students and of students in ungraded classes.

State education agencies follow standard definitions for the data items they report to CCD via the EDFacts collection system. In some cases, state education agencies may be unable to report a data item or may not be able to follow the definition exactly. For example, a state may not be able to report the number of teachers in an LEA causing the total number of teachers to be missing. Alternatively a state may be able to report the total number of teachers in an LEA, but not be able to report kindergarten teachers separately from elementary teachers. Fifty states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Bureau of Indian Education reported the 2010–11 CCD data through the EDFacts collection system; the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam reported directly to CCD. American Samoa and the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) did not report data for the 2010–11 school year.

Not all LEAs are responsible for educating students. For example, some regional education service agencies and supervisory unions provide administrative, research, or other services to regular school districts but do not enroll students.

While tables include data for all of CCD respondents, "United States" and "reporting states" totals in the tables are limited to the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The totals do not include data from the Bureau of Indian Education, DoDEA, Puerto Rico, or the other jurisdictions of American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, or the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Appendix A: Methodology and Technical Notes provides more information about the survey content and methodology. Appendix B: Common Core of Data Glossary provides definitions for CCD data items. More information about CCD surveys and products is available at http://nces.ed.gov/ccd.

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