Data Files

The U.S. TALIS data are made available in three versions, each of which includes school and teacher data. The differences between these versions is summarized in the table below and described in detail in the following paragraphs. Several NCES and other online tools and tutorials focused on TALIS are available on the Analyzing Tools page to help users explore the TALIS data.

Table 1: Comparing three versions of TALIS U.S. data for each cycle

Cycle	TALIS International U.S. data files include	TALIS U.S. national public-use data files include	TALIS U.S. national restricted-use data files include
2008	NA	NA	NA
2013	International variables Weight variables and replicate weights	International variables Weight variables and replicate weights U.S.-specific variables	International variables Weight variables and replicate weights U.S.-specific variables Restricted variables
2018	International variables Weight variables and replicate weights	U.S.-specific variables	Restricted variables

NA: Not applicable, since the United States did not participate in TALIS 2008.

The TALIS data for the United States exist in the following three forms:

TALIS International U.S. data files
The U.S. international data files are part of the TALIS international database and are directly comparable to the data files of other participating education systems in the TALIS international database. They include all of the international variables, weight variables, and replicate weights necessary for analyses and allow comparisons of the United States with any of the other education systems participating in TALIS in virtually all respects. The U.S. international data files are available from the OECD at http://www.oecd.org/education/talis/talis-2018-data.htm. Note that they do not include the U.S.-specific adaptations or additions made to the U.S. versions of the questionnaires.

TALIS U.S. national public-use data files
The main purpose of the U.S national public-use data files is to provide access to U.S.-specific variables that are not available in the international files:

The 2013 U.S. national public-use data files include all variables in the U.S. international data files (including weight variables and replicate weights) and the U.S.-specific variables that are not part of the U.S. international data files (e.g., professional development opportunities related to the Common Core standards).
The 2018 U.S. national public-use data files are considered add-on files. They include the U.S.-specific variables, but not the international variables, weight variables, or replicate weights. Therefore, they must be merged with the international data files for analysis

U.S. national public-use data files are available from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) by download from the “Data Products” link at the TALIS Publications and Products page. The public-use data files include teacher and school data in SPSS, SAS, and ASCII text format; SPSS and SAS control files for reading the ASCII data to produce SPSS and SAS data files; codebooks; illustrative merging code; a Read Me file; a Quick Guide; and technical reports, which also include a User Guide.

TALIS U.S. national restricted-use data files
U.S. national restricted-use data files can only be obtained by completing a restricted-use license agreement with NCES. Unlike the U.S. public-use data files, the restricted-use datasets contain any internationally or nationally restricted-use variables, including the NCESSCH (the NCES unique public school identification code) and PPIN (the private school’s unique identification number). These two variables allow users with restricted-use licenses to link TALIS school ID numbers to the school ID numbers as they appear in the publicly available Common Core of Data (CCD) and the Private School Universe Survey (PSS). Because these data can reveal the identities of participating U.S. schools, the restricted-use data files are only made available to those who obtain a NCES restricted-use data license. To learn about the licensing process, please visit https://nces.ed.gov/statprog/instruct.asp.

The 2013 U.S. national restricted-use data files include all variables included in the U.S. national public-use files and additional, restricted variables
The 2018 U.S. national restricted-use data files are considered add-on files. They include the restricted variables, but not the international variables, weight variables, replicate weights, or U.S.-specific variables. Therefore, they must be merged with the international data files for analysis.

The content of the U.S. national restricted-use data files and the associated documentation are described on the product web page under the “Data Products” link on the TALIS Publications and Products page.