When the COVID-19 pandemic drove schools online in March 2020, state education leaders were left without access to data needed to understand how best to support students. The pandemic revealed the strengths and limitations of state education data systems while inspiring new strategies for collecting, reporting and using data. In 2021, DataSmith…

State law requires that Ohio's superintendent of public instruction annually report on the status of implementation of special education and related services for children with disabilities. This includes the number of children identified with disabilities and the number of identified children receiving services. The Ohio Department of Education…

"Stackable credential programs" are designed to make it easier for students to earn multiple postsecondary certificates or degrees in a field as they advance in their careers. To examine the stacking of credentials in Ohio and inform ongoing efforts to scale stackable credential programs, the Ohio Department of Higher Education and the…

In 2019, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) began exploratory data collection for the School Pension Survey (SPS). The SPS is a new data collection of elementary/secondary school teacher pension data collected at the school district level. The SPS was developed primarily in response to public demand for data on teacher and other…

This quantitative study was designed to investigate whether a relationship existed between reading achievement and instructional modality during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the fall of 2020, school districts developed return-to-school plans that outlined if they would provide in-person, hybrid, or remote instruction to students following the state…

The school meal programs provide nutritious meals to millions of students each day. In fiscal year 2023, federal spending for these programs was $21 billion. It is unclear how many charter schools participate in these programs or what factors can affect their participation. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) was asked to review charter…

This report explores the Annie E. Casey Foundation's Deep-End Initiative, which is helping juvenile justice jurisdictions safely and significantly reduce youth confinement -- especially for young people of color. In America today, youth of color are consistently over-represented in courtrooms and detention centers, youth prisons and other…

The work of the National Forum on Education Statistics (Forum) is a key aspect of the National Cooperative Education Statistics System (Cooperative System). The Cooperative System was established to produce and maintain, with the cooperation of the states, comparable and uniform education information and data that are useful for policymaking at…

This appendix supplements the report "Stackable Credential Pipelines in Ohio: Evidence on Programs and Earnings Outcomes" (ED613593). In the appendix, the authors provide more details about the data and empirical approach, additional information about the samples, and some alternative results from analyses related to those that appear in…

State postsecondary education data systems are vital information assets for policymakers, researchers, and the public. The Communities of Practice project (funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation) at the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) builds upon SHEEO's ongoing efforts to measure the capacity and effective…

This report presents school-level finance data on expenditures by function from the School-Level Finance Survey (SLFS). The SLFS is an extension of two existing collections being conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in collaboration with the Census Bureau: the School District Finance Survey (F-33) and the state-level…

This paper introduces a Patron Counting and Analysis (PCA) system that leverages Wi-Fi-connection data to monitor space utilization and analyze visitor patterns in academic libraries. The PCA system offers real-time crowding information to the public and a comprehensive visitor analysis dashboard for library administrators. The system's…

This chapter explores how the Wisconsin Technical College System Student Success Center and the Success Center for Ohio Community Colleges provided support that encouraged data-informed decision-making among 2-year college stakeholders. A case study for each Center is presented to illustrate data-related strategies and lessons learned. The…

State and local education agencies across the country face challenges related to understanding and managing their teaching staff to best help students learn. Statewide longitudinal data systems (SLDSs) offer valuable information about teacher labor markets that can be used to analyze supply and demand, inform budget and staffing decisions, and…

Open-access colleges are an important pathway to economic mobility for millions of Americans. But graduation rates at these colleges are low--for example, only 36 percent of first-time, full-time freshmen at community colleges graduate within three years. Over the last two decades, MDRC and others have conducted research to build the evidence base…