The website at the National
Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is remarkable. Public-use NCES datasets,
with electronic codebooks and data-analysis systems, are available free. Some
datasets can be downloaded directly on-line, while others are
sent to you on a CD-ROM in the mail, on request.
NCES also provides
prompt and friendly user-support for its data products. Information
about each dataset is provided on the web, often along with summary
statistics. Each dataset has a support
person to respond to your phone or email questions. For
most datasets, NCES also maintains a database of FAQs, technical
reports, substantive findings, users' names and affiliations, etc. It
even gives away software (called DAS)
for obtaining summary statistics interactively from the datasets
or for conducting statistical analyses that take account of the
complex survey sample design (called AM).
National
Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL). Nationally-representative
assessment of the literacy skills of adults in English, on-going
since 1992.
National
Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Nationally-representative
assessment of US students' skills in art, civics, geography, history,
math, reading, science, and writing, on-going since 1969. Not
longitudinal at the individual student level.
Early Childhood Longitudinal
Study (ECLS). Nationally-representative
longitudinal data on the development and early school experiences for
two cohorts of children. The Kindergarten Cohort contains
23,000 kindergartners who were first surveyed in 1998 and will be followed
through 5th grade. The Birth Cohort contains
15,000 children who will be followed from birth in 2000 up through
1st grade.
High
School & Beyond (HS&B). Longitudinal
data on the educational and work trajectories of seniors and sophomores
from 1980 through 1992.
National
Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS88). Longitudinal
data on the life, educational and work trajectories of an 8th grade
cohort, beginning in 1988 with follow-up surveys in 1990, 1992,
1994, and 2000.
National
Household Education Survey (NHES). A household-based
system to collect data on the educational activities of the U.S.
population, in 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1999, and 2001.
National
Longitudinal Study of the Class of 1972 (NLS72). Longitudinal
data on the trajectories of young adults as they move through high
school, postsecondary education and into work, from 1972 through
1986.
Schools
and Staffing Survey (SASS). Longitudinal
data on teachers, principals, schools and school districts in the
US public and private education system. To be administered
next in the 2003-2004 school year.
School
Survey on Crime and Safety (SSOCS). Data on
crime and safety from a nationally-representative sample of 3000 US
elementary and secondary public schools from principals, administered
first in 2000 and then every two years.
Baccalaureate
and Beyond (B&B). Longitudinal data
on education and employment experiences (including, in the teaching
profession) for a cohort of students who completed a bachelor's
degree in 1992-93, with follow-ups in 1994 and 1997.
Integrated
Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). Repeated
cross-sectional data collected from providers of postsecondary
education on student enrollments and completions, faculty and staff,
finances, etc.
National
Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF). Repeated
cross-sectional data on a nationally-representative sample of full-and
part-time faculty at public/private, not-for-profit, 2/4-year institutions
in the USA, conducted first in 1987-88 and repeated in 1992-93 and
1998-99, with the next data collection planned for 2003-04.
Civic
Education Study (CivEd). Provides (1999)
data on what 9th grade children (or their equivalent) knew
about democratic practices and institutions in the USA and 28 other
countries.
International
Survey of Adults (ISA). A comparative
study of adult skills across participating countries, including
the USA.
Program
for International Student Assessment (PISA). An
assessment of 15-year-olds' reading, math, and science literacy
across 32 countries. Organized by the OECD and administered
first in 2000.
