A Vision and Roadmap for Education Statistics (2022) / Chapter Skim
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3 Prioritize Topics, Data Content, and Statistical Information to Maintain Relevance
3 Prioritize Topics, Data Content, and Statistical Information to Maintain Relevance
Pages 63-78
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From page 63... ...
This chapter also elaborates on the important high-value topics in education, discussing the data-content needs and areas in which NCES can advance those topics. While survey research has been NCES's standard approach to data collection, some of these needs might best be met through administrative data and linkages to other data sources.
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From page 64... ...
ALIGN ACQUIRED DATA CONTENT WITH HIGH-PRIORITY TOPICS AND QUESTIONS NCES performs, and has performed, a wide variety of data collections, ranging from relatively small surveys on highly specific topics (e.g., through the now discontinued Fast Response Survey System [FRSS] and the current School Pulse Panel)
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From page 65... ...
. By contrast, an organizational structure focused on the primary data source of individual surveys may leave impor tant topics unaddressed or inconsistently handled.
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From page 66... ...
The National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 and earlier studies also collected a household items index. Household items also can be used as a measure of cultural capital, which is another potentially important factor in education.
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From page 67... ...
The Parent and Family Involvement Survey collects data on parent involvement and school choice. NCES developed the Department of Education (ED)
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From page 68... ...
Relating equity data to specific topics of interest, such as student achievement or literacy, is another application. NCES has several surveys of this type, including NAEP, Education Longitudinal Study, PIAAC, and SSOCS, though other surveys could be appropriate depending on the analytic goal.
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From page 69... ...
The Common Education Data Standards program is critical in setting standards for state data systems and could be a vehicle through which NCES could lead on equity-related efforts, by helping states collect more disaggregated data on race/ethnicity, gender identity, and other data on populations of interest. Additional types of data could be used to address equity issues.
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From page 70... ...
NCES measures CTE that occurs within high schools and traditional postsecondary education but lacks robust data on the growing number of noncredit and certificate programs for adult learners that are operated by community colleges and private providers. With CTE, NCES may also need to broaden the types of data it collects; for example, retention and attainment of a degree or certificate may be less important than measuring participants' success in obtaining jobs or upgrading occupational skills.
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From page 71... ...
Sometimes others might pay NCES to add modules on special topics, either incorporating a module within a survey (as the National Science Foundation did when adding a teacher transcript request form to the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, or by conducting a follow-up survey (as performed by the University of Texas at Austin when conducting a midlife follow-up of High School & Beyond respondents) .9 8 Daphne Greenberg, "A Vision and Roadmap for Education Statistics," presentation to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, August 23, 2021.
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From page 72... ...
that affect their success in education, and linking to measures of such services provides a more complete picture of the students' situations. For example, 22 percent of states link child care data with social-services data and 16 percent link it with health data.10 At another level, 30 percent of states link early childhood education programs with workforce data to examine issues such as supply and demand, professional development, and supports to retain an effective early-childhood-education workforce)
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From page 73... ...
Document the Broader Educational Environment Much of what happens in education is affected by the educational environment, which might be broadly defined as including administrative infrastructure (e.g., workforce development, curricula, finance and management, and school context) , educational tools (e.g., use of technology and online teaching)
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. These data allow researchers to examine students' progress through secondary and postsecondary education, and support policy analysis (e.g., examining the impact of high school graduation requirements on students' course taking and achievement [Chaney et al., 1997]
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Finally, NCES could collect additional data on school context, which involves many concepts related to students' learning environments. For example, school context data includes state policy contexts, school sectors or types (e.g., charter, magnet, private, virtual, and traditional public schools)
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From page 76... ...
When students interact with digital learning tools, data can be collected to monitor student learning and what facilitates it. NAEP collects data on digital NAEP testtakers, measuring how long students spend on each question and how that correlates with response accuracy.15 IES has created a competition called XPRIZE to encourage the collection and analysis of such data,16 and supports SEERNet as another research tool.17 Though NCES does not conduct evaluations, it can and should create data systems to facilitate research.
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From page 77... ...
Although that diversity may sometimes complicate education research, it also represents an opportunity for experimentation. By tracking the diversity of educational environments, NCES can both provide preliminary data that might be used to examine the impacts of various policies and practices, and also help researchers to design specialized samples for investigating education issues.
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From page 78... ...
There may be situations in which data collections on mandated topics could be reduced in scope, still meet the mandates, but leave more resources for other topics. CONCLUSION 3-1: Congressional mandates constrain NCES's data collection priorities yet may no longer reflect what is important for understanding contemporary education.
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