Welcome! 2011 NCES Common Core of Data Non-Fiscal Coordinator Training Presented at the 2011 NCES Summer Data Conference

Contact Information Name Phone NCES STAFF Marie Chen-Su Patrick Robert CENSUS STAFF

The Common Core of Data NCES’ annual collection of basic data on public schools systems in the states and state-level jurisdictions in the US and affiliated land areas. CCD nonfiscal information is obtained from state-level education officials through the EDEN/EDFacts data collection system.

CCD Surveys/Components (Non- Fiscal) Public School Universe - Information on all public elementary and secondary schools during a school year, including directory information, membership and total staff FTE Local Education Agency (School District) Universe - Information for the universe of LEAs directory information, membership and staff details State Aggregate - Information on all students and staff aggregated to the state level including number of students by grade and gender level and staff details

CCD Surveys/Components (Non- Fiscal) Local Education Agency Dropout and Completer Files- Information for number of graduates and completers at the agency level. NCES IDs can be used to link to the directory files. Public-use and Restricted-use files are available. State Dropout and Completer Files- Information for number of graduates and completers at the state level

CCD Surveys/Components (Fiscal) F-33 – District Level Fiscal Data The annual district-level collection of revenues and expenditures for public education of grades pre-kindergarten through 12 National Public Education Financial Survey The annual state-level collection of revenues and expenditures for public education of grades pre-kindergarten through 12 Teacher Compensation Survey The Pilot Teacher Compensation Survey (TCS) is a research and development effort to see if it is possible to collect and publish teacher- level compensation data

Role of CCD Coordinators As a CCD Coordinator you have the responsibility for providing data that accurately portrays the state of public elementary/secondary education in your state to the: –United States Department of Education, Institute for Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD)

CCD Coordinators vs. EdFacts Coordinators A CCD Coordinator is the subject matter expert of the data. A EdFacts Coordinator is responsible for submitting the data to NCES through EDEN. It is vital that the two parties (if two different people) work together to submit the data accurately.

Where Can I Find the CCD? CCD Home Page Home page includes links to CCD data & documentation, publications

Other Features on CCD Website State Coordinator’s Corner — Coordinator Contact Information — Links to SEA web sites Data tools — school and district locators —Elementary / Secondary Information System (ElSI) — Build-A-Table (BAT)

How are CCD Data Used? Cited in many nationally recognized reports. Used as a sampling frame for surveys Could be used to distribute resources to schools Link fiscal, nonfiscal, and graduation data at the district and state level

How are CCD Data Used to Help Schools? Several federal programs and charitable foundations use CCD lists and information in selecting schools and school districts to receive funding, computers, and other instructional equipment. They use the NCES ID to verify that the school is legitimate.

Examples of Organizations that Provide Money to Schools using CCD E-Rate Private Grants Other Organizations (Verizon, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, NASA)

Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP) Every school in the 50 states and DC is assigned a locale code based on the reported location address of a school (or mailing address if location address not provided). Incorrect addresses may lead to inaccurate locale codes. This code is a critical factor in eligibility.

CCD Releases To help schools and researchers, NCES has improved the release dates for the universe data: * Pre EdFacts School YearRelease *June October November July May December 2011 (tentative)

T HE CCD P ROCESS FROM EDF ACTS TO NCES Key Players National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) – CCD Data Stewards EDFacts – collects the CCD Non-Fiscal data, and sends data extracts to the U.S. Census Bureau. U.S. Census Bureau – edits the CCD Non-Fiscal Data, and works with EDFacts and CCD Coordinators to verify data and revise errors. Census and other contractors– works with NCES to publish the CCD data.

T HE CCD P ROCESS FROM EDF ACTS TO NCES States submit CCD data to EDFacts. –Please review your Match, Summary, and Edit Reports in EDFacts. –For the most part, Census edits match EDFacts edits. Once a state submits their Directory data to EDFacts, then EDFacts sends all of that state’s CCD data to the U.S. Census Bureau for review. Census loads the data into its CCD Processing System for analysis.

T HE CCD P ROCESS FROM EDF ACTS TO NCES Census analyzes and produces three major CCD file groups for NCES for each school year: –Preliminary file with approved Directory –CCD file with all data approved except dropouts and completers –Dropout and Completer File

T HE CCD P ROCESS FROM EDF ACTS TO NCES Directory File Review –School and Agency Match All match errors must be resolved. Census will attempt to resolve your match errors without contacting states; however we may not be able to resolve all of them without your help. –Edit Reports All critical errors Invalid Addresses and Phone Numbers Changes in School / Agency Type and Charter field

T HE CCD P ROCESS FROM EDF ACTS TO NCES CCD File Review –Summary Reports Cross file errors (Students and Staff) –SNF<LEA, SNF<SCH, LEA<SCH CY/PY changes that are greater than 10% for totals –Edit Reports All critical errors that we cannot resolve internally. Significant non-critical errors –Changes in School Flags (Magnet, Shared, Title 1) –Large changes in CY/PY data (Staff, Membership, Lunch, Special Education, etc…)

T HE CCD P ROCESS FROM EDF ACTS TO NCES Dropout and Completer File Review –Summary Reports Cross file errors (Grads) –SNF<LEA CY/PY changes that are greater than 10% for totals –Edit Reports All critical errors that we cannot resolve internally. –400 and 20 Rules. –Dropouts and Grads in grades that are not offered. Significant non-critical errors –Large changes in CY/PY data

T HE CCD P ROCESS FROM EDF ACTS TO NCES CCD Schedule –Directory File: Delivered to NCES in May NCES will release data in July 2011 (Final Directory Data and Preliminary Data for Total Membership, Total Teachers at the LEA level, and School Flags). –CCD File: Delivery to NCES in September NCES plans to release data at the end of 2011 or early –Dropout / Completer File: Delivery to NCES in April NCES will release data in Early Fall 2012.

T HE CCD P ROCESS FROM EDF ACTS TO NCES Changes to CCD –NCES will begin publishing: LEA membership by race/grade/gender Reconstituted flag

T HE CCD P ROCESS FROM EDF ACTS TO NCES Questions?

E RROR R EPORTS NCES has improved the timelines on when you receive error messages concerning the data Our goal is to make the procedure to be as efficient and helpful as we can We work every year with EdFacts to improve their edits and better align them with our own

E RROR R EPORTS How would you like to receive the error reports? Which way would be the best for you to review / fix the problems? Receive them all at one time? Receive them immediately when you report the data? By groups of data (directory, membership and staff, graduates)? -

E RROR R EPORTS How do you handle the error reports? When you receive the error reports, what procedures do you do to correct the errors? Verify that is an error? Work with other offices in your state? Contacts the schools or districts involved? -

E RROR R EPORTS How would you handle the following errors? The number of the students at the LEA level exceed the state level by 5,000 There are zero reported dropouts in a district with 1,000 students

E RROR R EPORTS How would you handle the following errors? A school appears to have been closed and then reopened in the same year Twenty schools all have the same physical address

E RROR R EPORTS What you should do if you can fix the data? Resubmit the data through EdFacts. Let Census know so they will know to expect it.

CCD Data Quality Issues Over the Past Few Years

I NVALID L OCATION A DDRESS AND P HONE N UMBERS What are the issues? States are reporting invalid location addresses -Ex. - PO Box, district address for school address, ‘No Address Found’, etc… -Location addresses are used to assign geography data. -REAP uses the geography data to distribute funds to schools. States are reporting invalid phone numbers -Ex or

I NVALID L OCATION A DDRESS AND P HONE N UMBERS What does Census do to resolve the issue(s)? We use valid prior year data if available. We use the school/agency website to find valid addresses and phone numbers. We state coordinators our findings for verification and approval. If we don’t hear back from state, then we will use the revised address and phone number data.

I NVALID L OCATION A DDRESS AND P HONE N UMBERS What can states do to help prevent/resolve the issue(s)? Please verify our research, update your databases with this information, and resubmit to EDFacts. Create edits in your process that looks for PO Boxes and duplicate addresses. Communicate with your schools and districts the importance of reporting valid location addresses and phone numbers.

I NVALID L OCATION A DDRESS AND P HONE N UMBERS Questions?

G RADES O FFERED AND M EMBERSHIP D ATA What are the issues? Many states have grades offered files that do not correspond to their membership files. – Example – school offers 12 th grade, but 12 th grade membership is blank. – Example – school reports 12 th grade membership, but does not include 12 th grade in their grades offered file. Difficulty populating blank membership and grades offered data.

G RADES O FFERED AND M EMBERSHIP D ATA What does Census do to resolve the issue(s)? Census contacts states coordinators to make them aware of the discrepancy. Census creates business rules to populate blank membership and grades offered data. Census calculates GSLO and GSHI based on the grades offered and membership data.

G RADES O FFERED AND M EMBERSHIP D ATA What can states do to help prevent/resolve the issue(s)? Review your EDFacts / Census Edit Reports to identify discrepancies between grades offered and membership. Report ‘0’ or ‘Missing’ for total membership in all grades that you offer.

G RADES O FFERED AND M EMBERSHIP D ATA Questions?

F REE OR R EDUCED P RICED L UNCH D ATA What are the issues? Some states are reporting Free Lunch data that exceeds their membership data. Free Lunch data should include students that are eligible to participate in the Free Lunch Program. You should assign free lunch students to the school where they sit, which is not necessarily the school where they receive the free lunch. The Free Lunch data is the main socio-economic indicator on the CCD file that many researchers use as a school level poverty indicator.

F REE OR R EDUCED P RICED L UNCH D ATA What does Census do to resolve the issue(s)? We send states a list of schools where Free Lunch exceeds membership. If states do not resolve these errors, then we set the Free Lunch data equal to total membership minus 3.

F REE OR R EDUCED P RICED L UNCH D ATA What can states do to help prevent/resolve the issue(s)? Please review your EDFacts / Census Edit Reports to identify cases where Free Lunch exceeds total membership. Inform your schools on the importance of reporting the Free Lunch data for eligible students at the schools where they sit, not necessarily the schools where they receive the free lunch.

F REE L UNCH D ATA Questions?

D ROPOUTS AND C OMPLETERS What are the issues? -Timeliness: Reporting delays are most significant for the 040 (completers) and 032 (dropouts) files. -For the collection these were due 1/31/2011 -Data doesn’t always add up: Some states have major differences between the dropout rates and the graduation rates suggesting inaccurate data.

D ROPOUTS AND C OMPLETERS What does NCES do to resolve the issue(s)? -PSC and Census are in close contact, monitoring the status of all dropout and completer file submissions -NCES will be less likely to grant significant deadline extensions -NCES will impute data for any states that cannot meet deadlines or do not respond to Census/NCES data quality inquiry.

D ROPOUTS AND C OMPLETERS What can states do to help prevent/resolve the issue(s)? -Report data in a timely manner. -Report accurate data. -Respond to Census data quality inquiries in a timely manner

D ROPOUTS AND C OMPLETERS Questions?

C ROSS -L EVEL D ATA Q UALITY I SSUES What are the issues? -Σ[school] > Σ[agency] -Σ[school] > state -Σ[agency] > state -Σ[school] > agency *frequently and by 10% or more -Double counting at the school or agency levels

What does NCES do to resolve the issue(s)? -PSC and Census will be in close contact, alerting you to these data errors. -NCES will use the higher-level data to adjust the lower- level data so that the lower-level aggregates don’t exceed the higher-level aggregates. -What accounts for the discrepancies between the school and agency -level data? C ROSS -L EVEL D ATA Q UALITY I SSUES

What can states do to help prevent/resolve the issue(s)? -Report accurate data. -Audit your data before submitting. -Respond to Census data quality inquiries in a timely manner. C ROSS -L EVEL D ATA Q UALITY I SSUES

Questions? C ROSS -L EVEL D ATA Q UALITY I SSUES

D ATA T IMELINESS What are the issues? -Data users want the data on a regular, timely basis. -Some states are unable to meet deadlines. -NCES has been left holding up file production due to a few late reporters. -Schools and districts are having a hard time applying for grants because grant providers don’t have data to work with.

D ATA T IMELINESS What does NCES do to resolve the issue(s)? -PSC and Census will be in close contact, monitoring the status of all file submissions. -NCES will work toward having a set date when CCD data are published. -NCES will impute data for any states that cannot meet deadlines or do not respond to Census/NCES data quality inquiry.

D ATA T IMELINESS What can states do to help prevent/resolve the issue(s)? -Report data in a timely manner. -Report accurate data. -Respond to Census data quality inquiries in a timely manner.

D ATA T IMELINESS Questions?

W HEN IS A S CHOOL IS A N EW S CHOOL ? What are the issues? -There has been some confusion about determining if a school is a new school. -New schools receive new NCES IDs, which can cause problems when looking at data historically.

W HEN IS A S CHOOL IS A N EW S CHOOL ? What are the guidelines from EdFacts? The grade span of the school or LEA changed by more than 3 grades, not including Pre-kindergarten or Kindergarten as grades; The school’s or LEA’s physical location changed and the attendance area changed significantly; Two schools or LEAs of about the same size, or with different grade spans, merge. The two original entities would be closed, and the merged education unit would be reported as a new school or agency.

W HEN IS A S CHOOL IS A N EW S CHOOL ? Reconstituted schools Starting with the data, EdFacts has added a new flag to indicate that a school was reconstituted in that school year. NCES will add this flag to the CCD files.

W HEN IS A S CHOOL IS A N EW S CHOOL ? What does NCES do to resolve the issue(s)? -Census will contact you if a new school looks very similar to a school that closed. This process should occur within 1 month of the submission of the directory. -If the school is determined to not be a new school, the new NCES ID will not be published on the CCD files. -NCES will include the reconstituted flag on the CCD files.

W HEN IS A S CHOOL IS A N EW S CHOOL ? What can states do to help prevent/resolve the issue(s)? -If contacted, work with Census, NCES and PSC to determine if a school should be classified as a new school -If the school is not a new school, resubmit the school data using the former NCES ID.

W HEN IS A S CHOOL IS A N EW S CHOOL ? Questions?

D ETERMINING THE V ALUES OF U NKNOWN D ATA What are the issues? NCES has to interpret the value of data that is not submitted into EdFacts. We have to decide if the value is intended to be: -Zero -Missing -Not Applicable

D ETERMINING THE V ALUES OF U NKNOWN D ATA What is the difference between Missing, Not Applicable and 0? -Missing indicates that the situation exits but you are unable to report the data at this time -Not Applicable means that the value does not apply to that school/agency (9 th graders at a K-6 school) -Reporting zero indicates that the value is a true reported 0.

D ETERMINING THE V ALUES OF U NKNOWN D ATA What does NCES do to resolve the issue(s)? -NCES has developed various business rules to determine the value. -For example, if the school doesn’t offer second grade, then the unreported number of second graders would be not applicable. -If the entire state has unreported data (magnet flags for example), then we need to determine if it is missing or not applicable.

D ETERMINING THE V ALUES OF U NKNOWN D ATA What can states do to help prevent/resolve the issue(s)? -Use the business rules to help you lessen your burden: If you report the school offers a grade, the data is expected for that grade. Don’t report more grades than they actually offer (vocational schools offering K-12). If you report zero for a subtotal, you do not need to report the details.

D ETERMINING THE V ALUES OF U NKNOWN D ATA Questions?

DON’T FORGET! Data for the one-year- later SNF file must be submitted to EdFacts by September 2nd.