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Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Minorities
NCES 2010-015
July 2010

Appendix A - Guide to Sources

The indicators in this report present data from a variety of sources. The sources and their definitions of key terms are described below. Most of these sources are federal surveys and many are conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The majority of the sources are sample surveys; these are the sources of the estimates for which standard errors are provided on the NCES website: http://nces.ed.gov/. A few sources are universe surveys, meaning that they collect information on the entire population of interest, and therefore there are no standard errors because there is no error introduced by sampling. All of the definitions of key terms appear after the description of the data source to which they apply.

Some of the indicators in this report use different data sources or different definitions of terms to present estimates on similar variables. It is important to note that comparisons between estimates with such differences should be made with caution, if at all, because differences in populations, methodologies, question phrasing, and other factors may compromise such comparisons.

American College Testing Program (ACT)

ACT (formerly the American College Testing Program) is an independent, not-for-profit organization that provides services in the broad areas of education and workforce development. ACT scores represent a self-selecting sample, and therefore are not necessarily representative of the population as a whole.

Students taking the ACT college entrance exam are asked to self-select one of the following racial/ethnic groups to describe themselves: African-American/Black, American Indian/Alaskan Native, Caucasian-American/White, Mexican-American/Chicano, Asian-American/Pacific Islander, Puerto Rican/Hispanic, Other, Multiracial, or prefer not to respond.

Indicator 15.2 includes data on the ACT, presented for the following mutually exclusive race/ethnicity categories: White (non-Hispanic), Black (non-Hispanic), Mexican-American, or Puerto Rican/Other Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic), and American Indian/Alaska Native (non-Hispanic). Since students could only select one racial/ethnic category, all persons of Hispanic origin are included in one of the two Hispanic categories, regardless of race. Data for students who selected the categories "Other," "Multiracial," or "Prefer not to respond" are not separately shown, but these data are included in the totals.

For more information on the ACT, see http://www.act.org/news/data.html.

The College Board

The College Board is a not-for-profit membership association whose mission is to connect students to college success and opportunity. The College Board conducts the SAT and Advanced Placement (AP) testing. Scores on tests conducted by the College Board are not necessarily representative of the population as a whole as test-takers are self-selected.

Advanced Placement (AP) Program

Students taking an AP test are asked to select one of the following categories to describe their race/ethnicity: American Indian/Alaskan; Asian/Asian American; Black/Afro-American; Latino: Chicano/Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Other Latino; White; and Other.

Indicator 14 presents data from the AP program, and presents data on the following mutually exclusive race/ethnicity categories: White (non-Hispanic), Black (non-Hispanic), Hispanic, Asian (non-Hispanic), and American Indian/Alaska Native (non-Hispanic). The category Hispanic includes the Chicano/Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Other Latino categories listed above. Since students could only select one racial/ethnic category, all persons of Hispanic origin are included in the Hispanic category, regardless of race. Data for students who selected the category "Other" are not separately shown, but these data are included in the totals.

SAT

Students taking the SAT are asked to select one of the following categories to describe their race/ethnicity: American Indian or Alaskan Native; Asian, Asian American, or Pacific Islander; African American or Black; Latino: Chicano/Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Other Latino; White; and Other.

Indicator 15.1 reports SAT data. This indicator uses the following mutually exclusive race/ethnicity categories: White (non-Hispanic), Black (non-Hispanic), Mexican American, Puerto Rican, Other Hispanic/Latino, Asian/Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic), and American Indian/Alaska Native (non-Hispanic). In table 15.1a, Mexican American, Puerto Rican, and Other Hispanic/Latino were combined into the category labeled Hispanic. Since students could only select one racial/ethnic category, all persons of Hispanic origin are included in one of the three Hispanic categories, regardless of race. Data for students who selected the category "Other" are not separately shown, but are included in the totals.

For more information on the College Board, see http://professionals.collegeboard.com/data-reports-research.


U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau

American Community Survey (ACS)

The American Community Survey (ACS) is a sample survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. The ACS was first implemented in 1996 and expanded in scope in subsequent years. The ACS will replace the long-form survey in the 2010 Decennial Census.

The race/ethnicity questions in the ACS are the same as in the Decennial Census (see p. XX). Therefore, prior to 1999, respondents could choose only one race, but from 2000 on respondents could choose one or more races. The ACS also asks respondents to write in their ancestry or ethnic origin.          

Indicators 2, 3, 4, 8.2, 18.1b, and 27b present the following mutually exclusive race/ethnicity categories: White (non-Hispanic), Black (non-Hispanic), Hispanic, Asian (non-Hispanic), Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic), American Indian/Alaska Native (non-Hispanic), and Two or more races (non-Hispanic). Data on persons who identified themselves as "Some other race" are included in the totals, but these data are not separately shown. All persons of Hispanic origin are included in the Hispanic category regardless of the race option(s) chosen. Therefore, persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race.

Indicators 2, 4, 8.2, 18, and 27 include "Snapshots" that provide statistics on more detailed ancestry subgroups for Hispanics and Asians. Due to sample size limitations, several subgroups have been combined into broader categories. The Hispanic ancestry categories presented in this report are Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, Salvadoran, Other Central American (includes Costa Rican, Guatemalan, Honduran, Nicaraguan, Panamanian, and Other Central American), South American (includes Argentinean, Bolivian, Chilean, Colombian, Ecuadorian, Peruvian, Uruguayan, Venezuelan, and Other South American), and Other Hispanic or Latino (includes Spaniard and All other Spanish/Hispanic/Latino). The Asian ancestry categories presented in this report are Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese, and Other Asian (includes Taiwanese, Bangladeshi, Cambodian, Hmong, Indonesian, Laotian, Malaysian, Pakistani, Sri Lankan, Thai, and Other Asian).

For more information on the American Community Survey, see http://www.census.gov/acs/www/.

Current Population Survey (CPS)

The Current Population Survey (CPS) is a monthly sample survey of households conducted by the Census Bureau for the Bureau of Labor Statistics to obtain information on the labor force characteristics of the U.S. population. Supplementary questions are often added to the CPS interview in a particular month to gather in-depth information on specific aspects of the labor force or other topics. For example, the Annual Social and Economic Supplement in March includes questions on income and work experience.

CPS respondents are asked to identify their race. Between 1979 and 2002, respondents were asked to choose one of the following race categories: White, Black, Asian or Pacific Islander, or American Indian/Aleut/Eskimo. For 2003 and later years, respondents were asked to choose from White, Black or African American, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and American Indian/Alaska Native; respondents had the option to select more than one race category from that list. Also, in 2003 and subsequent years, respondents were asked to specify whether or not they were of Hispanic origin after answering the race question.

Indicators 5, 18.1a, 19, 23, 27a, 28, and 29 use data from the CPS. In each of these indicators, data are presented for the following mutually exclusive race/ethnicity categories: White (non-Hispanic), Black (non-Hispanic), Hispanic, Asian (non-Hispanic), Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic), and American Indian/Alaska Native (non-Hispanic). All persons of Hispanic origin are included in the Hispanic category regardless of the race option(s) chosen. Therefore, persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race. In Indicators 18.1 and 27a,data for the categories Asian and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander are combined for 2003 and later years in order to provide continuity with previous years of data and in order for cell sizes to meet reporting standards.

For more information on the CPS, see http://www.census.gov/cps/.

Decennial Census, Population Estimates, and Population Projections

The Decennial Census is a universe survey mandated by the U.S. Constitution. It is a questionnaire sent to every household in the country, and it is composed of seven questions about the household and its members (name, sex, age, relationship, Hispanic origin, race, and whether the housing unit is owned or rented). The Census Bureau also produces annual estimates of the resident population by demographic characteristics (age, sex, race, and Hispanic origin) for the nation, states, and counties, as well as national and state projections for the resident population. The reference date for population estimates is July 1 of the given year. With each new issue of July 1 estimates, the Census Bureau revises estimates for each year back to the last census. Previously published estimates are superseded and archived.

Census respondents self-report race and ethnicity. In the 2000 Census, they were first asked, "Is this person Spanish/Hispanic/Latino?" and then given the following options: No, not Spanish/Hispanic/Latino; Yes, Puerto Rican; Yes, Mexican, Mexican American, Chicano; Yes, Cuban; and Yes, other Spanish/Hispanic/Latino (with space to print the specific group). The next question was "What is this person's race?", and the options were White; Black, African American, or Negro; American Indian or Alaska Native (with space to print the name of enrolled or principal tribe); Asian Indian; Japanese; Native Hawaiian; Chinese; Korean; Guamanian or Chamorro; Filipino; Vietnamese; Samoan; Other Asian; Other Pacific Islander; and Some other race. The last three options included space to print the specific race. The 2000 Census was also the first time that respondents were given the option of choosing more than one race. The Census population estimates program modified the enumerated population from the 2000 Census to produce the population estimates base for 2000 and onward. As part of the modification, the Census Bureau recoded the "Some other race" responses from Census 2000 to one or more of the five OMB race categories used in the estimates program (U.S. Department of Commerce 2008). Prior to 2000, the Census Bureau combined the categories Asian and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander. For all years, all persons of Hispanic origin were included in the Hispanic category regardless of the race option(s) chosen. Therefore, persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race.

Indicators 1 and 2 use data from the Decennial Census and the Census population estimates and projections program.

For more information, see http://www.census.gov.

Decennial Census terms:

Poverty
To define poverty, the Census Bureau utilizes a set of money income thresholds that vary by family size and composition. A family, along with each individual in it, is considered poor if the family's total income is less than that family's threshold. The poverty thresholds do not vary geographically and are updated annually for inflation using the Consumer Price Index. The official poverty definition counts money income before taxes and does not include capital gains and noncash benefits (such as public housing, Medicaid, and food stamps).


U.S. Department of Education

Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP)

The Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) assesses progress in implementing the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), including state and local efforts to provide (1) free and appropriate public education to children with disabilities and (2) early intervention services to infants and toddlers with disabilities. Prior to the IDEA Amendments of 1997, disabled children whose parents enrolled them in private schools were also required to have Individualized Education Plans (IEPs). Beginning in 1997, parentally placed private school children were required to have "service plans," rather than IEPs, to denote the fact that IEP is a term used in the definition of Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE), which does not apply to families who choose to place their children in private schools. Children who are placed in or referred to private schools by a public agency are still required to have IEPs (U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services 2000).

States are required to report counts of children who have IEPs or service plans. Each child can only be reported in one of the following race/ethnicity categories: American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian or Pacific Islander, Black, Hispanic, and White. Since children may only be reported in one category, all children of Hispanic origin are reported as Hispanic, regardless of race, and are not included in any of the four race categories.

Indicator 8.1 reports OSEP data. The mutually exclusive race/ethnicity categories are White (non-Hispanic), Black (non-Hispanic), Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic), and American Indian/Alaska Native (non-Hispanic).

 For more information about OSEP, see http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/osers/index.html.

OSEP terms:

Child with a disability
This term refers to a child ". . . having mental retardation, a hearing impairment including deafness, a speech or language impairment, a visual impairment including blindness, serious emotional disturbance (hereafter referred to as emotional disturbance), an orthopedic impairment, autism, traumatic brain injury, another health impairment, a specific learning disability, deaf-blindness, or multiple disabilities, and who, by reason thereof, needs special education and related services." (34 Code of Federal Regulations §300.7(a)(1))

Specific learning disability
". . . a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding or in using language, spoken or written, that may manifest itself in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write, spell, or to do mathematical calculations, including conditions such as perceptual disabilities, brain injury, minimal brain dysfunction, dyslexia, and developmental aphasia. The term does not include learning problems that are primarily the result of visual, hearing, or motor disabilities, of mental retardation, of emotional disturbance, or of environmental, cultural, or economic disadvantage." (34 Code of Federal Regulations §300.7(c)(10))

Mental retardation
". . . significantly subaverage general intellectual functioning, existing concurrently with deficits in adaptive behavior and manifested during the developmental period, that adversely affects a child's educational performance." (34 Code of Federal Regulations §300.7(c)(6))

Speech or language impairment
". . . a communication disorder, such as stuttering, impaired articulation, a language impairment, or a voice impairment, that adversely affects a child's educational performance." (34 Code of Federal Regulations §300.7(c)(11))

Hearing impairment
". . . an impairment in hearing, whether permanent or fluctuating, that adversely affects a child's educational performance but that is not included under the definition of deafness in this section."
Although children and youth with deafness are not included in the definition of hearing impairment, they are counted in the hearing impairment category. (34 Code of Federal Regulations §300.7(c)(5))

Visual impairment including blindness
". . . an impairment in vision that, even with correction, adversely affects a child's educational performance. The term includes both partial sight and blindness." (34 Code of Federal Regulations §300.7(c)(13))

Autism
". . . a developmental disability significantly affecting verbal and nonverbal communication and social interaction, generally evident before age 3, that adversely affects a child's educational performance. Other characteristics often associated with autism are engagement in repetitive activities and stereotyped movements, resistance to environmental change or change in daily routines, and unusual responses to sensory experiences. The term does not apply if a child's educational performance is adversely affected primarily because the child has an emotional disturbance, as defined in paragraph (b)(4) of this section." (34 Code of Federal Regulations §300.7(c)(1)(i))

Emotional disturbance (previously termed serious emotional disturbance)
"The term means a condition exhibiting one or more of the following characteristics over a long period of time and to a marked degree that adversely affects a child's educational performance: (A) An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors; (B) An inability to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers; (C) Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances; (D) A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression; or (E) A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems. The term includes schizophrenia. The term does not apply to children who are socially maladjusted, unless it is determined that they have an emotional disturbance." (34 Code of Federal Regulations §300.7(c)(4))

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES)

Common Core of Data (CCD), Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey

The Common Core of Data (CCD) is a universe survey database with comprehensive, annually updated information. The Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey compiles data from state education agencies based on school records to provide a complete listing of all public elementary and secondary schools in the country and basic information and descriptive statistics on all schools, their students, and their teachers. Data are collected for a particular school year via an online reporting system open to state education agencies during the school year. Beginning with the 2006–07 school year, nonfiscal CCD data are collected through the Department of Education's Education Data Exchange Network (EDEN). Since the CCD is a universe collection, CCD data are not subject to sampling errors.

Indicators 7 and 18.2 report CCD data. The mutually exclusive race/ethnicity categories for CCD, which are presented in these indicators, are White (non-Hispanic), Black (non-Hispanic), Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic), and American Indian/Alaska Native (non-Hispanic). All students of Hispanic origin are included in the Hispanic category regardless of their race.

In 2006–07, Kentucky and New York did not report graduate counts by race/ethnicity. In addition, race/ethnicity graduate counts for the District of Columbia were suppressed due to inaccuracy. Further, the averaged freshman graduation rates (AFGR) (indicator 18.2) could not be calculated by race/ethnicity for Nevada as enrollments by race/ethnicity were not reported for the 2004–05 school year. Data for each of these states were included in the totals, but these data were excluded in the race/ethnicity categories for the AFGR, and data for the District of Columbia, Kentucky, and New York were excluded in the race/ethnicity categories for the number of graduates. In 2006–07, the number of graduates and the percentage of total graduates were: 2,944 (0.1 percent) for the District of Columbia, 39,099 (1.4 percent) for Kentucky, 16,455 (0.6 percent) for Nevada, and 168,333 (5.8 percent) for New York.

For more information on the CCD, see http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/index.asp.

CCD terms:

Locale
A school's locale is classified based on its address, according to a mix of classifications from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Census Bureau. The Census Bureau updated its classification system after the 2000 Decennial Census, and the CCD adopted these new standards for the 2002–03 data collection. The definitions are as follows:

City
Large              Territory inside an urbanized area and inside a principal city with population of 250,000 or more
Midsize           Territory inside an urbanized area and inside a principal city with population less than 250,000 and greater than or equal to 100,000
Small              Territory inside an urbanized area and inside a principal city with population less than 100,000

Suburb
Large               Territory outside a principal city and inside an urbanized area with population of 250,000 or more
Midsize           Territory outside a principal city and inside an urbanized area with population less than 250,000 and greater than or equal to 100,000
Small               Territory outside a principal city and inside an urbanized area with population less than 100,000

Town
Fringe              Territory inside an urban cluster that is less than or equal to 10 miles from an urbanized area
Distant            Territory inside an urban cluster that is more than 10 miles and less than or equal to 35 miles from an urbanized area
Remote            Territory inside an urban cluster that is more than 35 miles from an urbanized area

Rural
Fringe              Census-defined rural territory that is less than or equal to 5 miles from an urbanized area, as well as rural territory that is less than or equal to 2.5 miles from an urban cluster
Distant            Census-defined rural territory that is more than 5 miles but less than or equal to 25 miles from an urbanized area, as well as rural territory that is more than 2.5 miles but less than or equal to 10 miles from an urban cluster
Remote            Census-defined rural territory that is more than 25 miles from an urbanized area and is also more than 10 miles from an urban cluster

For more information on locale codes, see http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/rural_locales.asp.

Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort of 2001

The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS-B) is designed to provide decision-makers, researchers, child care providers, teachers, and parents with nationally representative information about children's early learning experiences and the transition to child care and school. Children's physical and cognitive development, care, and learning experiences at home and school are measured from birth through kindergarten entry using standardized assessments.

At the 9-month parent interview, respondents indicated whether the child belonged to one or more of 14 race categories: (1) White, (2) Black or African American, (3) American Indian or Alaska Native, (4) Asian Indian, (5) Chinese, (6) Filipino, (7) Japanese, (8) Korean, (9) Vietnamese, (10) Other Asian, (11) Native Hawaiian, (12) Guamanian or Chamorro, (13) Samoan, and (14) Other Pacific Islander. Data were collected on Hispanic ethnicity as well; specifically, respondents were asked whether the child was of Hispanic or Latino origin. A child's ethnicity was classified as Hispanic if a parent respondent indicated the child's ethnicity was Hispanic, regardless of the race identified. During the 2-year parent interview, for cases that were identified as being of American Indian/Alaska Native descent in the 9-month collection
(by either the birth certificate data or during the parent interview), parent interview respondents
were asked to confirm that the child was of American Indian/Alaska Native descent. If the parent interview respondent indicated "no," the case was reclassified as the race/ethnicity specified by the parent interview respondent. Similar procedures were repeated at the preschool round.

Indicators 6 and 10 report ECLS-B data. The mutually exclusive race/ethnicity categories presented in these indicators are White (non-Hispanic), Black (non-Hispanic), Hispanic, Asian (non-Hispanic), Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic), American Indian/Alaska Native (non-Hispanic), and Two or more races (non-Hispanic). All children of Hispanic origin are included in the Hispanic category regardless of the race option(s) chosen. Therefore, children of Hispanic origin may be of any race.

Further information on the ECLS-B may be obtained from http://nces.ed.gov/ecls/Birth.asp.

High School Transcript Study Tabulations

High school transcript studies have been conducted since 1982 and are associated with a major NCES data collection. The studies collect information that is contained in a student's high school record—courses taken while attending secondary school, information on credits earned, when specific courses were taken, and final grades.

Studies were conducted of the coursetaking patterns of 1998, 2000, and 2005 high school graduates. For these studies, NCES collected high school transcripts from a nationally representative sample of both public and private schools that had been selected to participate in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). A representative sample of graduating seniors within each school was selected. Most of the transcripts collected were those of students who participated in the NAEP assessments that year. After collection, the courses appearing on the student transcripts were coded using the Classification of Secondary School Courses, which contains over 2,200 course codes. Actual course content may vary widely among schools.

NAEP reports data on student race/ethnicity based on information obtained from school rosters. Indicator 13 reports the following race/ethnicity categories: White (non-Hispanic), Black (non-Hispanic), Hispanic, Asian American/Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic), American Indian (non-Hispanic), and Unclassified. Unclassified students are reported in the total, but not separately shown. All students of Hispanic origin are classified as Hispanic, regardless of race.

For more information on the High School Transcript Studies, see http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/hst.

Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS)

The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the postsecondary survey that preceded it, the Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS), are systems of universe surveys that collect data from all institutions whose primary mission is the provision of postsecondary education. The surveys collect institution-level data in such areas as enrollments, program completions, faculty, staff, and finances. HEGIS was conducted in 1980, 1984, and 1985, while IPEDS has been conducted annually from 1986 on. This report uses the IPEDS Fall Enrollment survey and Completions survey.

Beginning in fall 2008, the IPEDS data collection began phasing out the category "first-professional" degree. Institutions had the option to report programs previously classified as first-professional programs and awards as first-professional as master's degrees, if appropriate, or under one of three types of doctor's degrees: doctor's—research/scholarship, doctor's—professional practice, or doctor's—other. In this publication, table 26.1 provides estimates based on the old classification. Estimates from institutions who provided information based on the new classification were cross-walked back to the old categories. Therefore, estimates in table 26.1 may not match estimates reported in other publications. 

IPEDS asks institutions to provide enrollment and completion data on students based on the following race/ethnicity categories: Black; American Indian/Alaska Native; Asian/Pacific Islander; Hispanic; and White. Each student may only be reported in one category.

Indicators 24 and 26 use data from IPEDS and its predecessor, HEGIS, with the following mutually exclusive race/ethnicity categories: White (non-Hispanic), Black (non-Hispanic), Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic), and American Indian/Alaska Native (non-Hispanic). Persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race.

For more information on HEGIS/IPEDS, see http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/.

National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is a nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America's students know and can do in various subject areas. For over three decades, assessments have been conducted periodically in reading, mathematics, science, writing, history, geography, and other subjects.

NAEP reports data on student race/ethnicity based on information obtained from school rosters. Race/ethnicity categories are White, Black, Hispanic, Asian American/Pacific Islander, American Indian, and Unclassified. All students of Hispanic origin are classified as Hispanic, regardless of race. Information on student eligibility for free or reduced-price lunch (as presented in indicator 7.5) is reported by school administrators in the school background questionnaire.

Indicators 7.5, 11 and 16 provide data fromNAEP, using the following mutually exclusive race/ethnicity categories: White (non-Hispanic), Black (non-Hispanic), Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic), and American Indian/Alaska Native (non-Hispanic). Data on unclassified students are included in the totals, but these data are not separately shown.

For more information on NAEP, see http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/.

NAEP terms:

Achievement levels
In addition to reporting student scale scores, NAEP reports results in terms of achievement levels, which are intended to measure how well students' actual achievement matches the achievement desired of them in different subjects assessed by NAEP.

Basic
Partial mastery of prerequisite knowledge and skills that are fundamental for proficient work at each grade.

Proficient
Solid academic performance for each grade assessed. Students reaching this level have demonstrated competency over challenging subject matter, including subject-matter knowledge, application of such knowledge to real-world situations, and analytical skills appropriate to the subject matter.

Advanced
Superior performance.

The National Household Education Surveys (NHES) Program

The National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES) was developed by NCES to complement its institutional surveys. This program is the principal mechanism for addressing topics that cannot be addressed in institutional data collections. By collecting data directly from households, NHES enables NCES to gather data on a wide range of issues, such as early childhood care and education, children's readiness for school, parent perceptions of school safety and discipline, before- and after-school activities of school-age children, participation in adult and continuing education, parent involvement in education, and civic involvement.

 The 2007 NHES reports data on the following race categories: White, Black or African American, Asian, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, American Indian or Alaska Native, and Other races. NHES allows respondents to choose more than one race. NHES also asked respondents about Hispanic origin; those who were Hispanic were classified as Hispanic, regardless of race.

Indicators 17 and 19 report NHES data on the following mutually exclusive race/ethnicity categories: White (non-Hispanic), Black (non-Hispanic), Hispanic, Asian (non-Hispanic), American Indian/Alaska Native (non-Hispanic), and Two or more races (non-Hispanic). All persons of Hispanic origin were included in the Hispanic category regardless of race. Data on respondents who reported Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander and "Other race" are included in the totals, but these data are not separately shown.

For more information on the NHES Program, see http://nces.ed.gov/nhes/.

National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS)

The National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS) is a comprehensive nationwide study designed to determine how students and their families pay for postsecondary education and describe some demographic and other characteristics of those enrolled. The study is based on a nationally representative sample of students in postsecondary education institutions, including undergraduate, graduate, and first-professional students. Students attending all types and levels of institutions are represented, including public and private not-for-profit and for-profit institutions, less-than-2-year institutions, 2-year institutions, and 4-year colleges and universities. The NPSAS surveys provide information on the price of postsecondary education, the distribution of financial aid, and the characteristics of both aided and nonaided students and their families.

NPSAS asks students to self-report race/ethnicity. Race/ethnicity categories are White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, American Indian, Pacific Islander, and Other. Students may select more than one race and students of Hispanic origin are classified as Hispanic regardless of race.

Indicator 25 presents NPSAS data for the following mutually exclusive race/ethnicity categories: White (non-Hispanic), Black (non-Hispanic), Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic), and American Indian/Alaska Native (non-Hispanic). Students who selected "Other" or specified more than one race are included in the totals, but these data are not separately shown.

For more information about NPSAS, see http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/npsas/.

NPSAS terms:

Total financial aid
The total amount of financial aid received by a student. Includes grants, loans, work-study, or any other types of aid, as well as loans to parents under the PLUS program and veterans' benefits and military education aid.

Total grants
The total amount of grant and scholarship aid received from any source for the NPSAS year. A grant is a type of student financial aid that does not require repayment or employment. Grants include need-based grants, merit-only scholarships, tuition waivers, and employer tuition reimbursements.

Total loans
The total amount of all student loans (federal, state, institutional, and private sector) and federal PLUS loans to parents received during the NPSAS year. Does not include loans from family or friends to the student or commercial loans to parents (such as home equity loans).

School Crime Supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey (SCS/NCVS)

Created as a supplement to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) and co-designed by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), the School Crime Supplement (SCS) survey collects information about school-related victimization, crime, and safety. The SCS is a national survey of about 8,300 students ages 12–18 in U.S. public and private elementary, middle, and high schools.

In the NCVS, a question on Hispanic origin is followed by a question on race. Race categories are White, Black, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and American Indian/Alaska Native. Respondents in 2007 were allowed to specify more than one race. Respondents who identified themselves as Hispanic were classified as Hispanic regardless of their race.

Indicator 22 reports data from the SCS. Table 22b reports the following mutually exclusive race/ethnicity categories: White (non-Hispanic), Black (non-Hispanic), Hispanic, Asian, and Other.  The "Other" category in this case includes data on Native Hawaiians or Other Pacific Islanders, American Indians/Alaska Natives, and persons of two or more races which were combined due to data reporting issues for these groups.

For more information about the SCS, see http://nces.ed.gov/programs/crime/surveys.asp.

Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS)

This report draws upon data from the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), which provides national- and state-level data on public schools and national- and affiliation-level data on private schools. The 2007–08 SASS was collected by the U.S. Census Bureau and sponsored by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). SASS consists of five sets of linked surveys, including surveys of schools, the principal of each selected school, a subsample of teachers within each school, the public school district in which the sample school is located, and public school library media centers.

In 2007–08, there were three types each of teacher and school questionnaires: public (including public charter), private, and Bureau of Indian Education (BIE). For this report, public charter schools are included with public schools, but BIE schools are not. The public school sampling frames for the 2007–08 SASS were created using the 2005–06 NCES Common Core of Data (CCD) Public School Universe Files. In SASS, a school was defined as an institution or part of an institution that provides classroom instruction to students; has one or more teachers to provide instruction; serves students in one or more of grades 1–12 or the ungraded equivalent; and is located in one or more buildings apart from a private home. It was possible for two or more schools to share the same building; in this case they were treated as different schools if they had different administrations (i.e., principals or school head).

Information on the racial and ethnic composition of schools was provided by the school questionnaire. Each respondent to the school questionnaire was asked how many students were in each of the following categories: Hispanic, White (non-Hispanic), Black (non-Hispanic), Asian or Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic), and American Indian/Alaska Native (non-Hispanic). Each student had to be included in only one of these categories. Based on these counts, the percentages of enrolled students who were White (non-Hispanic), Black (non-Hispanic), Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic), and American Indian/Alaska Native (non-Hispanic) were calculated.  

Indicator 9 reports data from SASS, and results are shown separately for schools with varying percentages of White (non-Hispanic), Black (non-Hispanic), Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic), and American Indian/Alaska Native (non-Hispanic) enrollment. 

For more information about the SASS, see http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/sass/.

Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)

Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) (formerly known as the Third International Mathematics and Science Study) is a cross-national comparative study of the performance and schooling contexts of 4th- and 8th-grade students in mathematics and science. TIMSS provides trend data on students' mathematics and science achievement from an international perspective. Through participation in TIMSS, the United States has gained reliable and timely data on the mathematics and science achievement of U.S. students compared to that of students in other jurisdictions. TIMSS is coordinated by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA), with national sponsors in each participating jurisdiction.

Students' races/ethnicities were obtained through student responses to a two-part question. Students were asked first whether they were Hispanic or Latino, and then whether they were members of the following racial groups: American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, or White. Multiple responses to the race classification question were allowed. All students of Hispanic origin are classified as Hispanic, regardless of race. The small numbers of students indicating that they were American Indian or Alaska Native or Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander were combined into a group labeled "Other." This category is reported as part of the total but is not reported separately.

Indicator 12 reports data from TIMSS, and results are shown separately for Whites (non-Hispanic), Blacks (non-Hispanic), Hispanics, Asians (non-Hispanic), and persons of two or more races (non-Hispanic).

For more information about the TIMSS, see http://nces.ed.gov/timss/.


U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

National Vital Statistics System (NVSS)

The National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) is the method by which data on births, deaths, marriages, and divorces are provided to the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The data are provided to NCHS through the Vital Statistics Cooperative Program (VSCP). In 1984 and earlier years, the VSCP included varying numbers of states that provided data based on a 100-percent sample of their birth certificates. Data for states not in the VSCP were based on a 50-percent sample of birth certificates filed in those states. Population data used to compile birth rates are based on special estimation procedures and are not actual counts.

Race and Hispanic ethnicity are reported separately in the NVSS. Data are available for non-Hispanic Whites and non-Hispanic Blacks for 1990 and later; however, for 1980 and 1985, data for Whites and Blacks may include persons of Hispanic ethnicity. For all years, Asian/Pacific Islander and American Indian/Alaska Native categories include persons of Hispanic ethnicity. Indicator 21 uses NVSS natality data. Race/ethnicity categories are White, Black, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander, and American Indian/Alaska Native. Data for specified Hispanic subgroups are shown for these groups: Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Other Hispanic, which includes Central and South American and "other and unknown Hispanic." This indicator excludes data from New Hampshire for 1990–1992 and from Oklahoma for 1990 because information on Hispanic ethnicity was not reported. Since 2003, respondents in 18 states and the District of Columbia had the option of selecting more than one Hispanic origin group. Those respondents who selected more than one Hispanic origin group are classified as "other Hispanic." Changes in the reporting of Hispanic origin, including the reporting of more than one Hispanic origin, have affected the distribution of births among specified Hispanic categories, resulting in increases for "other and unknown Hispanic" and small decreases for the specified Hispanic origin groups.

For more information on the National Center for Health Statistics and the NVSS, see http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss.htm.

Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS)

The National School-Based Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) is one component of the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS), an epidemiological surveillance system developed to monitor the prevalence of youth behaviors that most influence health. The YRBS uses a three-stage cluster sampling design to produce a nationally representative sample of students in grades 9–12 in the United States. 

Race/ethnicity was computed from two questions: (1) "Are you Hispanic or Latino?" (response options were "yes" and "no"); and (2) "What is your race?" (response options were "American Indian or Alaska Native," "Asian," "Black or African American," "Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander," or "White"). For the second question, students could select more than one response option. Students were classified as "Hispanic" if they answered "yes" to the first question, regardless of how they answered the second question regarding race. Students who answered "no" to the first question and selected more than one race/ethnicity in the second category were classified as "Two or more races." Students who answered "no" to the first question and selected only one race/ethnicity were classified as that race/ethnicity.

Indicator 22 uses data from the YRBS. The mutually exclusive race/ethnicity categories reported are White (non-Hispanic), Black (non-Hispanic), Hispanic, Asian (non-Hispanic), Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander (non-Hispanic), American Indian/Alaska Native (non-Hispanic), and Two or more races (non-Hispanic).

For more information on the YRBS, see http://www.cdc.gov/yrbs.

National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH)

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) collects information on the prevalence, patterns, and consequences of drug and alcohol use and abuse in the general U.S. civilian noninstitutionalized population ages 12 and over. NSDUH is an annual sample survey.

The survey asks separate questions about Hispanic ethnicity and race. Respondents' race options are White, Black/African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and Asian. Respondents may choose more than one race.

Indicator 20 uses data from the NSDUH. The mutually exclusive race/ethnicity categories reported are White (non-Hispanic), Black (non-Hispanic), Hispanic, Asian (non-Hispanic), American Indian/Alaska Native (non-Hispanic), and Two or more races (non-Hispanic). The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration did not report estimates on drug use for Native Hawaiians or Other Pacific Islanders; therefore, data for this race group are included in the totals, but these data are not shown separately in indicator 20.

For more information on the NSDUH, see http://oas.samhsa.gov/nsduh.htm.