What's New for April 2013

NCES Releases Revenues and Expenditures for Public Elementary and Secondary School Districts: School Year 2009-10 (Fiscal Year 2010) (April 30, 2013)
In FY 10, current expenditures per pupil in the 100 largest public school districts ranged from a low of $5,528 in Alpine School District, Utah to a high of $19,184 in New York City School District, NY. Expenditures per pupil were next highest in Boston City Schools, MA ($19,169); Montgomery County Schools, MD ($15,582); Atlanta Public Schools, GA ($15,043); Baltimore City Schools, MD ($14,711); and Howard County Schools, MD ($14,704). In FY 10, local education agencies received $75.3 billion from the federal government for public elementary and secondary education, which represents an increase of 32.7 percent from FY 09.

Economics 2012 (April 24, 2013)
This new report from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reveals how well 12th-grade students know and apply the concepts of microeconomics, macroeconomics, and international trade in real-world contexts.

NCES Releases “The Adult Education Training and Education Survey (ATES) Pilot Study: Technical Report.” (April 9, 2013)
As part of a larger inter-agency effort to develop new federal data on adults’ education and training for work, NCES developed and pilot-tested of a set of survey items on certification, licensure, and educational certificates. The pilot test concluded that the main item on certification and licensure provides a valid measure of these credentials, and that three additional items, on the credential provider, occupational field of the credential, and whether the credential is required for work, can be used to provide key information on these credentials. The use of proxy respondents was also found to be acceptable for measuring (only) key characteristics. For subbaccalaureate certificates, the pilot test produced equivocal results, leading to the recommendation for further work specifically on this educational credential. This pilot study was undertaken for questionnaire and procedural development purposes only. The estimates from this report should not be cited as population estimates because the sample design and data collection procedures were not intended for that purpose, but rather to support the evaluation of questionnaire items. To view the full report please visit http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2013190 For more information about NCES’ interagency work on adult education and training, please visit the website for the Interagency Working Group on Expanded Measures of Enrollment and Attainment (GEMEnA). [link to http://nces.ed.gov.surveys/gemena]

Federal Student Loan Debt Burden of Noncompleters (April 9, 2013)
NCES has released "Federal Student Loan Debt Burden of Noncompleters," which focuses on the median cumulative federal education debt (Stafford and Perkins loans) accrued by students who do not complete a postsecondary degree or certificate (“noncompleters”) within 6 years of first enrolling. It is based on data from the two most recent longitudinal studies of beginning postsecondary students conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics: students who first enrolled in 1995-96 (and left without a degree as of 2001) and those who first enrolled in 2003-04 (and left without a degree as of 2009).