What is SDDS?
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What is SDDS?
The School District Demographics System (SDDS) is a Web-based resource operated by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) of
the U.S. Department of Education. SDDS enables access to school district demographic and related geographic data that is not available in
any other form. SDDS was initially developed to provide access to the 2000 School District Special Tabulation (STP2) and
corresponding 1990 Census SDST. SDDS has evolved as more recent data have become available through the American Community Survey
School District Special Tabulations. SDDS includes only summary data tabulated for geographic areas from public use
data files. SDDS includes no data for/about individuals.
The purpose of SDDS is to help community leadership, educators, researchers and analysts, libraries and information providers, students,
and the public to access and use demographic data to help them better understand current demographic characteristics, patterns and change
taking place, as well as plan for improved educational programs and opportunities.
SDDS data include:
- Characteristics of children pre-primary, primary and secondary school age by:
- All children under 18 years of age and not high school graduates (ages 18-19)
- for those enrolled
- for those enrolled in public school
- for those enrolled in private school
- for those not enrolled
- Education provider resource requirements (how many classrooms where, etc.) and facilitate development of planning
- Characteristics of children enrolled in public versus private school
- Characteristics of school age children not enrolled in school
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Components of SDDS
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Data Tables
Data Tables interactively access school district demographics from the 1990 Census, Census 2000, and more recent American Community Surveys.
The focus of this section is to provide data for a school district, county, American Indian Area, state or the U.S. Selection of the tabulation
universe refers to total population universe or one of the School District Special Tabulation universes.
The term “table” refers to set of one or more summary statistic demographics organized with respect to the overall demographic measure (e.g.
population by age) and universe (e.g., total population or Hispanic. One table might refer to one item (e.g., total population)
or many items (e.g., population by age).
The term “table” has been popularized with the way that data have been organized for presentation for the past several decennial censuses
and the American Community Survey. In this context, the term “table” has nothing to do with data file/database structuring but
rather a way to provide a shorthand description to a set of related data items. Table references are used with table numbers;
e.g., Table P53 from Census 2000 always refers to Median Household Income in 1999 (one subject matter item); Table B01001 from the American
Community Survey refers to Population by Gender and Age (49 subject matter items).
After selecting a statistical program, geography, tabulation universe and table, the data for that selection combination are displayed and
may be optionally printed.
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Snapshot Reports
Most of the SDDS features described above are focused on accessing demographic and related geographic data. There are many other
related data that are 1) collected by the Department of Education by school district and 2) can sometimes be useful in presenting a more
holistic view of the school district demographic-economic characteristics.
The Snapshot Reports feature enables selection of these additional types of subject matter data and display in the following ways:
Overview
Select Snapshot Reports>Overview to view a summary report for a selected district. The summary report features include:
- a map showing the location/boundary of the district (from Map Viewer)
- a chart graphic showing the population by gender/age (from ACS)
- a table showing selected Common Core of Data
User Notes: Only states that have data available are shown in the drop-down menu.
Demographics
Select Snapshot Reports>Demographics to view a summary demographics report for a selected district. The summary demographics
report is structurally similar to the Overview report and includes:
- a map showing the location/boundary of the district (from Map Viewer)
- a chart graphic showing the housing and family status by tenure (from ACS)
- links for display of the population by race/ethnicity data tables (from ACS)
- display of the population by race/ethnicity data
User Notes: Only states that have data available are shown in the drop-down menu.
Economics
Select Snapshot Reports>Economics to view a summary economics report for a selected district. The summary economics report is
similar to the Overview report and includes:
- a map showing the location/boundary of the district (from Map Viewer)
- a chart graphic showing the poverty characteristics (from ACS)
- links for display of selected economic-related data tables (from ACS)
- display of the selected economic-related data
User Notes: Only states that have data available are shown in the drop-down menu.
Employment
Select Snapshot Reports>Employment to view a summary employment report for a selected district. The summary employment report
is structurally similar to the Overview report and includes:
- a map showing the location/boundary of the district (from Map Viewer)
- a chart graphic showing the employment status by gender/age (from ACS)
- links for display of the employment related data tables (from ACS)
- display of the employment related data
User Notes: Only states that have data available are shown in the drop-down menu.
Financial
Select Snapshot Reports>Financial to view a summary financial report for a selected district. The summary financial report is
structurally similar to the Overview report and includes:
- a map showing the location/boundary of the district (from Map Viewer)
- chart graphic showing the revenue and expenditure by type (from CCD)
- display of selected revenue/expenditure items (CCD)
User Notes: Only states that have data available are shown in the drop-down menu.
Occupation
Select Snapshot Reports>Occupation to view a summary occupation report for a selected district. The summary occupation report
is structurally similar to the Overview report and includes:
- a map showing the location/boundary of the district (from Map Viewer)
- a chart graphic showing the employment by gender/class (from ACS)
- links for display of the occupation related data tables (from ACS)
- display of the occupation related data
User Notes: Only states that have data available are shown in the drop-down menu.
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Map Viewer
The Map Viewer provides access to interactive mapping. Use this feature to view school district boundaries in the context of
a region, other school districts and other types of geography. The Map Viewer can also display demographic data, available
elsewhere in SDDS in tabular format, as thematic patterns. For example, view median household income by school district for
all school districts in a region. The thematic pattern shows levels of median household income (or any subject item selected)
as different colors, hatch patterns, or gradations of a selected color.
Use the Map Viewer to visually examine the set of school districts in a state/region for which the American Community Survey (ACS) data
are available. That is, by displaying a thematic map of the ACS 06-08 total population by school district for Texas, only
those districts included in the ACS 06-08 3-year estimates are shown.
Use the Map Viewer to visually determine where a school district is located in a region. Query by name or code and view the
highlighted location. Relate the school district name to geocode in a similar manner.
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Download Data
The Download Data feature is similar in scope and operation to the Data Tables operation. The difference is that Download Data
enables the selection of up to 20 tables and the option to download/save these data on your computer for further local processing.
See Data Tables [link to above] for related details.
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Profiles
The Profiles feature displays a “comparative analysis” view of two selected school districts for any one of the statistical datasets
supported. Unlike the Data Tables, the Profile data display is comprised of a set of pre-selected subject matter items
from the corresponding statistical program. Use the Profiles feature when seeking a school district demographic overview
for one district or to compare these summary items for two school districts.
The Profiles feature also enables viewing a multi-year profile for a selected school district. The multi-year profile shows a
table with data for the school district for each year for which the data are available for the SDDS demographic datasets.
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Download Maps
Use the Download Maps feature to download map files of school district boundaries in shapefile format. Shapefiles will
only be of interest to users who have software that can process shapefiles on their computer. The shapefiles are downloaded
in zip/compressed format. For example, the Texas school district boundary shapefile is downloaded as a single ZIP file.
The ZIP file must be expanded to use the shapefile.
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