Common Core of Data Glossary

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Added Agency —An agency that is reported for the first time although it has been in operation for more than 1 year.

Added School —A school that is reported for the first time although it has been in operation for more than 1 year.

Administrative and Service Agency —Includes supervisory unions and regional education service agencies. (See also "Supervisory Union" and "Regional Education Service Agency".)

Alternative Education School —A public elementary/secondary school that (1) addresses needs of students that typically cannot be met in a regular school, (2) provides nontraditional education, (3) serves as an adjunct to a regular school, or (4) falls outside the categories of regular, special education, or vocational education.

Bureau of Indian Education School and District —A school or district that is directly funded by Bureau of Indian Education (formerly Bureau of Indian Affairs), U.S. Department of the Interior.

Changed Agency School —A school that is affiliated with a different local education agency than was reported on the previous year’s Common Core of Data.

Changed Boundary Agency —An agency that was included in the prior year’s Common Core of Data, but that has undergone a significant change in geographic boundaries or instructional responsibility.

Charter School —A school providing free public elementary and/or secondary education to eligible students under a specific charter granted by the state legislature or other appropriate authority, and designated by such authority to be a charter school.

City Locale —See "Locale, Urban-Centric."

Closed Agency —An agency that was operating in the prior year, but is closed in the current reporting year.

Closed School —A school that was operating in the prior year, but is closed in the current reporting year with no expectation of re‑opening.

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Elementary/Secondary Education —Programs providing instruction, or assisting in providing instruction, for students in prekindergarten, kindergarten, grades 1 through 12, and ungraded programs.

Federally Operated Education Agency —A federally operated agency that is charged, at least in part, with providing elementary and/or secondary instruction or support services.

Full-Time Equivalency (FTE) —The amount of time required to perform an assignment stated as a proportion of a full-time position and computed by dividing the amount of time employed by the time normally required for a full-time position.

Future Agency —An agency that is scheduled to become operational within 2 years.

Future School —A school that is scheduled to become operational within 2 years.

Inactive Agency —An agency that is temporarily closed and expected to reopen within 3 years.

Inactive School —A school that is temporarily closed and expected to reopen within 3 years.

Independent Charter Agency —A school district that includes only charter schools, typically a single school that was authorized under the charter.

Local Education Agency (LEA) —The agency at the local level whose primary responsibility is to operate public schools or to contract for public school services.

Local Education Agency Type —A classification of educational agencies according to the level of administrative and operational control. The types are: (1) local school district that is not a component of a supervisory union, (2) local school district that is a component of a supervisory union, (3) supervisory union administrative center, (4) regional education services agency, (5) state-operated agency, (6) federally operated agency, (7) charter agency, and (8) other education agencies.

Locale Code, Metro-Centric —See "Locale, Metro-Centric."

Locale Code, Urban-Centric —See "Locale, Urban-Centric."

Locale, Urban-Centric —An indication of school’s location relative to a populous area. The locales assigned to school districts are based on the locale code of their schools, weighted by the size of the schools’ membership. The urban-centric locale assignment system has been used starting in 2006–07. Definitions for the geographic terms, such as urbanized area and urban cluster, can be found at the following website: http://www.census.gov/geo/reference/terms.html

The locale code categories are defined below. —

City, Large: Territory inside an urbanized area and inside a principal city with population of 250,000 or more.

City, Mid-size: Territory inside an urbanized area and inside a principal city with population less than 250,000 and greater than or equal to 100,000.

City, 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.

Suburb, Mid-size: Territory outside a principal city and inside an urbanized area with population less than 250,000 and greater than or equal to 100,000.

Suburb, 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.

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

Town, 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.

Rural, 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.

Rural, Remote: Census-defined rural territory that is more than 25 miles from an urbanized area and is more than 10 miles from an urban cluster.

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Magnet School or Program —A special school or program designed to attract students of different racial/ethnic backgrounds for the purpose of reducing, preventing, or eliminating racial isolation (50 percent or more minority enrollment); and/or to provide an academic or social focus on a particular theme (e.g., science/mathematics, performing arts, gifted/talented, or foreign language).

New Agency —An agency that is opened for the first time within the reported school year.

New School —A school that is opened for the first time within the reported school year.

Nonoperating Agency —An agency that does not provide services during the reported school year. Include inactive, closed, and future agencies.

Nonoperating School —A school that does not provide services during the reported school year. Includes inactive, closed, and future schools.

Operating Agency —An agency that provides services during the reported school year. Includes continuing, added, reopened, changed boundary, and new agencies.

Operating School —A school that provides services during the reported school year. Includes continuing, added, reopened, changed agency, and new schools.

Operational Status, Agency —Classification of the operational condition of an agency. Classifications include continuing, added, reopened, changed boundary, new, closed, temporarily closed and may reopen within 3 years, and scheduled to be operational within 2 years.

Operational Status, School —Classification of the operational condition of a school. Classifications include currently operational (“continuing”); added; reopened; changed agency; new; temporarily closed and may reopen within 3 years (“inactive”); closed; and scheduled to be operational within 2 years (“future”).

Pupil/Teacher Ratio —The ratio of pupils to teachers within an entity (i.e., state, school district, or school). The district-level pupil/teacher ratio uses the total of pupils and the total FTE number of teachers reported in the schools associated with the school district. The pupil/teacher ratio does not represent class size, but rather is a district-level measure of pupils and teachers.

Regional Education Service Agency —An agency created for the purposes of providing specialized educational services to other education agencies.

Regular School —A public elementary/secondary school providing instruction and education services that does not focus primarily on special education, vocational/technical education, or alternative education, or on any of the particular themes associated with magnet/special program emphasis schools.

Regular School District —An agency responsible for providing free public education for school-age children residing within its jurisdiction. This category excludes local supervisory unions that provide management services for a group of associated school districts; regional education service agencies that typically provide school districts with research, testing, and data processing services; state and federally operated school districts; and other agencies that do not fall into these groupings.

Reopened School —A school that was closed in the prior year and is reopened during the reported school year.

Reportable Program —A program within a school that may be self-contained, but does not have its own principal.

Rural Locale —See "Locale, Urban-Centric."

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School —An institution that provides educational services and (1) has one or more grade groups (prekindergarten through grade 12) or is ungraded, (2) has one or more teachers to give instruction, (3) is located in one or more buildings or sites, (4) has an assigned administrator, (5) receives public funds as primary support, and (6) is operated by an education agency.

School Type —A classification of schools based on the type of instruction conducted by the school. Each school is assigned only one type. The types are: (1) regular school, (2) special education school, (3) vocational education school, (4) alternative/other school, and (5) reportable programs.

Shared Time School —A school in which some or all of the students are enrolled at a different school of record and attend the shared time school on a part-day basis: for example, a regional vocational center attended by students from multiple high schools on a part-day basis.

Special Education School —A public elementary/secondary school that focuses primarily on special education—including instruction for students with any of the following conditions: autism, deaf-blindness, developmental delay, hearing impairment, mental retardation, multiple disabilities, orthopedic impairment, serious emotional disturbance, specific learning disability, speech or language impairment, traumatic brain injury, visual impairment, and other health impairments—and that adapts curriculum, materials, or instruction for students served.

State Education Agency (SEA) —An agency of the state charged with primary responsibility for coordinating and supervising public instruction, including setting standards for elementary and secondary instructional programs.

State-Operated Agency —An agency that is charged, at least in part, with providing elementary and/or secondary instruction or support services. Examples include elementary/secondary programs operated by the state for the deaf or blind and programs operated by state correctional facilities.

Student —An individual for whom instruction is provided in an elementary or secondary education program that is not an adult education program and is under the jurisdiction of a school, school system, or other education institution.

Student Membership —Annual headcount of students enrolled in school on October 1 or the school day closest to that date. In any given year, some small schools will not have any students.

Suburb Locale —See "Locale, Urban-Centric."

Supervisory Union —An education agency where administrative services are performed for more than one school district by a common superintendent.

Teacher —A professional school staff member who instructs students in prekindergarten, kindergarten, grades 1 through 12, or ungraded classes, and maintains daily student attendance records.

Town Locale —See "Locale, Urban-Centric."

Unified School District —School district that provides both elementary and secondary education services and instruction.

Vocational Education School —A public elementary/secondary school that focuses primarily on providing formal preparation for semiskilled, skilled, technical, or professional occupations for high school-age students who have opted to develop or expand their employment opportunities, often in lieu of preparing for college entry.

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