NCES Blog

In April, several NCES experts presented at the AERA 2022 Annual Meeting, a 6-day event focused on the theme of “Cultivating Equitable Education Systems for the 21st Century.” Access their presentations below to learn more about their research.

• A Closer Look at Private School Student Performance: Using National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Data to Understand the Composition and Performance of Catholic School Students
   
• Initial Efforts and Early Thoughts From Exploring Current and Potential Poverty Metrics Using the National Center for Education Statistics Spatially Interpolated Demographic Estimates Project
   
• The Feasibility of Collecting School Pension Data: An Evaluation of Data from the Pilot School Pension Survey (SPS)
   
• NCES Perspective: A Vision and Roadmap for Education Statistics, a National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) Report
   
• SLDS Capacity Survey: Prerelease Findings

Be sure to follow NCES on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay up-to-date on NCES presentations at upcoming conferences and events.

By Megan Barnett, AIR

The emergence of the coronavirus pandemic 2 years ago shifted not only how students received educational services around the world but also how the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) carried out its mission, which is to collect, analyze, and report statistics on the condition of education in the United States.

NCES has conducted several surveys to measure educational enrollment, experiences, and outcomes as part of existing data collections and created new, innovative, and timely data initiatives. NCES is currently fielding more than 15 projects with information related to the pandemic. Since early 2020, NCES has collected information about educational experiences of students from elementary through postsecondary institutions. A few of the data collections will extend beyond 2022, providing rich data resources that will document changes in the educational landscape throughout the lifecycle of the pandemic.

NCES Coronavirus Pandemic Data Collection Coverage

In order to respond to the call for information about how students learned during widespread school disruptions, NCES modified existing and created new data collection avenues to receive and report vital information in unprecedented ways. Below are summaries of some of the data products available.

• The NAEP Monthly School Survey provided data during the beginning of 2021 on instructional modes offered from schools that served fourth- and eighth-graders. With participants from schools that were part of the NAEP 2022 assessments, this survey was the program’s first-ever monthly data collection and dissemination activity. It answered questions about what learning opportunities schools offered to students across states and how student enrollment changed each month overall and by race/ethnicity.
   
• NCES created the School Pulse Panel in 2021 to provide reliable data on school reopening efforts in public elementary, middle, and high schools nationally. NCES released 2021 summer and early fall results in December and has provided monthly updates since February 2022. The latest results show that the pandemic increased the teacher and staff vacancies in nearly a quarter of participating public schools.
   
• Through our existing administrative data collections, NCES has released enrollment estimates for fall 2020 at the public elementary and secondary levels as well as at the postsecondary level. These data reveal a drop in enrollment compared with 2019—prior to the pandemic.
   
• In February 2022, NCES released a report titled Impact of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic on Public and Private Elementary and Secondary Education in the United States (Preliminary Data): Results from the 2020–21 National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS). This report provides data on changes to instruction, support, and resources in public and private elementary and secondary schools during the pandemic.
   
• In June 2021, NCES released a report titled 2019–20 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:20): First Look at the Impact of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic on Undergraduate Student Enrollment, Housing, and Finances (Preliminary Data). This report focuses on how the pandemic affected postsecondary student experiences.
   
• To support parents, educators, and researchers, NCES created a Coronavirus Pandemic Information and Resource page. This page contains common questions related to the pandemic and its impact on education.

Looking ahead, NCES will provide NAEP data on how student performance has changed in various subjects since the coronavirus pandemic began. NCES will also collect and report information about learning contexts, which are critical for understanding educational outcomes. NCES will also develop a new system to share pandemic-related data collected across the center.

All of these resources are currently available or will be available on the NCES website.

By Ebony Walton and Josh DeLaRosa, NCES

In observation of Women’s History Month, this blog post presents NCES findings on the learning experiences of female students throughout their education careers as well as the characteristics of female teachers and faculty.

K–12 Education

• In 2019, a larger percentage of U.S. female 12th graders (51 percent) than male 12th graders (42 percent) reported that they were somewhat or more likely to pursue a career in science. Explore more science assessment data from NAEP.
   
• In 2017–18, women made up 89 percent of public school teachers at the elementary level, 72 percent at the middle school level, and 60 percent at the high school level. Explore more data about elementary and secondary school teachers by sex.

Postsecondary Education

• In 2018–19, female students earned 82 percent of master’s degrees conferred in health professions and related programs. Explore more data on master’s degrees earned by females in other fields.
   
• In fall 2019, women made up half (50 percent) of all faculty members at degree-granting postsecondary institutions. Explore more data about the number of postsecondary faculty by sex and by sex, race/ethnicity, and academic rank.

Resources to Learn More

• Undergraduate Enrollment (Condition of Education indicator): Learn how undergraduate female enrollment changed between 2009 and 2019.
   
• Table 318.10 (Digest of Education Statistics): Explore how the number of degrees awarded to female students has changed since academic year 1869–70.
   
• International Data Explorer (IDE): Learn about the education of women and girls across the world.

By Kyle Argueta, AIR

As 2021—another unprecedented year—comes to a close and you reflect on your year, be sure to check out NCES’s annual list of top web hits. From reports and Condition of Education indicators to Fast Facts, APIs, blog posts, and tweets, NCES releases an array of content to help you stay informed about the latest findings and trends in education. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay up-to-date in 2022!
 

Top five reports, by number of PDF downloads

1. Condition of Education 2020 (8,376)

2. Digest of Education Statistics 2019 (4,427)

3. Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Groups 2018 (3,282)

4. Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2019 (2,906)

5. Trends in High School Dropout and Completion Rates in the United States: 2019 (2,590)

Top five indicators from the Condition of Education, by number of web sessions

1. Students With Disabilities (100,074)

2. Racial/Ethnic Enrollment in Public Schools (64,556)

3. Characteristics of Public School Teachers (57,188)

4. Public High School Graduation Rates (54,504)

5. Education Expenditures by Country (50,20)

Top five Fast Facts, by number of web sessions

1. Back-to-School Statistics (162,126)

2. Tuition Costs of Colleges and Universities (128,236)

3. Dropout Rates (74,399)

4. Graduation Rates (73,855)

5. Degrees Conferred by Race and Sex (63,178)

Top five NCES/EDGE API requested categories of social and spatial context GIS data, by number of requests

1. K–12 Schools (including district offices) (4,822,590)

2. School Districts (1,616,374)

3. Social/Economic (882,984)

4. Locales (442,715)

5. Postsecondary (263,047)

Top five blog posts, by number of web sessions

1. Understanding School Lunch Eligibility in the Common Core of Data (8,242)

2. New Report Shows Increased Diversity in U.S. Schools, Disparities in Outcomes (3,463)

3. Free or Reduced Price Lunch: A Proxy for Poverty? (3,457)

4. Back to School by the Numbers: 2019–20 School Year (2,694)

5. Educational Attainment Differences by Students’ Socioeconomic Status (2,587)

Top five tweets, by number of impressions

1. CCD blog (22,557)

Every year, NCES releases #EdData from the Common Core of Data (#CCD), @usedgov’s primary database on public #K12 education in the U.S.

Learn how to access CCD data at the state, district, & school levels in our NEW blog: https://t.co/bONms7GVaL #EdStats pic.twitter.com/AJMeErNWun

— NCES (@EdNCES) January 14, 2021

2. NAEP dashboard (21,551)

Want to learn about @NAEP_NCES assessment scores for public, private, and charter school students this #SchoolChoiceWeek?

Visit our dashboard to explore #EdStats by student characteristics, average scores, and NAEP achievement levels: https://t.co/vZUL2qhjV1 pic.twitter.com/r5fBeYzC35

— NCES (@EdNCES) January 25, 2021

3. IPEDS data tools (21,323)

DYK? You can explore #postsec data trends, generate custom tables, & compare institutions using @ipeds_nces #DataTools.

Access more #HigherEdStats here: https://t.co/r0jDASliq0 pic.twitter.com/QCoN4Skkkj

— NCES (@EdNCES) January 26, 2021

4. ACGR web table (19,638)

NEW STAT: The 2018–19 national adjusted cohort #GraduationRate (ACGR) for all racial & ethnic subgroups, economically disadvantaged & limited English students ↑ from the previous year.

Students w/ disabilities showed the largest increase. Find the data: https://t.co/TO9m6u6NQp pic.twitter.com/LKhOEejCiP

— NCES (@EdNCES) March 25, 2021

5. Kids’ Zone (19,390)

The NCES Kids’ Zone features an Educators’ Corner to help you find education resources, tools, and #EdStats.

Visit the Educators’ Corner here: https://t.co/V89Ic3TsRs pic.twitter.com/mKMLD6K3CN

— NCES (@EdNCES) April 9, 2021

By Megan Barnett, AIR

On August 24, 2021, President Biden announced the appointment of Dr. Peggy G. Carr as Commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) at the U.S. Department of Education. Prior to serving as the Commissioner, Carr was the Associate Commissioner for Assessment at NCES, where she oversaw the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and a portfolio of large-scale international assessments, including the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) and Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). Carr also served as Acting Commissioner of NCES between 2016 and 2018.

Since joining NCES in the early 1990s, Carr has played a lead role in planning, directing, and managing NAEP and the international assessments through several major milestones, such as the transition from paper-and-pencil assessments to digitally based ones. During her decades-long tenure with NAEP, Carr managed all aspects of its technical infrastructure, including item development, data collections, scoring, psychometrics, analysis, and reporting. Most recently, in January 2021, at the request of Secretary Cardona’s office and in response to an IES Executive Presidential Order to gather data on school openings and modes of instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic, Carr led the development and implementation of the NAEP 2021 Monthly School Survey. The survey reported crucial information on the reopening of schools for in-person learning from February through June of 2021, and it will provide valuable context for understanding student achievement results from the upcoming NAEP assessments in 2022.

Before coming to NCES, Carr served as the chief statistician for the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. While in this role, she applied statistics and survey methods to the field of discrimination in U.S. schools and institutions.

Carr received her B.S. in psychology, with a concentration in statistics, from North Carolina Central University. She earned her M.S. and Ph.D. in developmental psychology from Howard University.