Datasets for the Study of Education

PRI WorkshopOctober 21, 2010

U.S. National Longitudinal Datasets

National Center for Education Statistics

• Produce a number of studies focusing on education

• List of available studies and data can be found at: http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/

NCES: Longitudinal Education Focus

• Early Childhood Longitudinal Study: Birth and Kindergarten Cohorts

• National Education Longitudinal Study Program– NLS72– HS&B– NELS:88– ELS:2002– HSLS:09

Early Childhood Longitudinal Study: Birth Cohort (ECLS-B)

• Nationally representative sample of 14,000 children born in 2001

• Study population included diverse socioeconomic and racial/ethnic backgrounds

• Follow-ups conducted at 9mos, 2yrs and Pre-school

• Surveyed children, parents, child-care providers and teachers

ECLS-B

• Provides information on children’s cognitive, social, emotional and physical development across settings

• Mothers/fathers surveyed at each wave• Children observed/participated in

assessments at each wave• Child care providers, educators and school

administrators included in later waves

ECLS-B

• Special considerations– Micro-data are only available via secure data

license 2 yrs after each wave collection– 9mo data are available publicly via the NCES

online Data Analysis System (DAS)– Information on children’s elementary schools is

available by linking with the Common Core of Data (CCD) and Private School Survey (PSS) universe files

Early Childhood Longitudinal Study: Kindergarten Cohort (ECLS-K)

• Kindergarten class of 1998-99 followed through 8th grade

• Nationally representative sample of approximately 21,000 kindergartners from about 1,000 kindergarten programs (both private and public)

• Follow-ups at 1st, 3rd, 5th and 8th grades

ECLS-K

• Similar focus to ECLS-B• Surveyed children, parents, teachers and

school administrators• How early experiences relate to later

development, learning and school experience• Child direct assessments: reading, math,

general knowledge/science, social/emotional, and physical

ECLS-K

• Special considerations– Child direct assessment instruments and rating

scales are copyrighted and only available with license

– Restricted versions of data are only available via secure data license

• Public data for some waves available on NCES website

National Education Longitudinal Studies Program

• NELS Program consists of 5 studies:– National Longitudinal Study of the High School

Class of 1972 (NLS:72)– High School and Beyond (HS&B)– National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988

(NELS:88)– Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002)– High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09)

NLS:72

• Sample taken from the HS senior class of 1972 with a supplementary senior sample in 1973

• Collected HS records and post-secondary transcripts

• Focused on transition from HS to post-secondary education and/or to the labor force

• Data collected between 1972 and 1986• Data available from NCES from DAS

HS&B

• 2 Cohorts: 1980 Senior Class and 1980 Sophomore Class

• Both surveyed biannually through 1986• 1980 Sophomore class surveyed again in 1992• Focused on transition from HS to post-

secondary education and/or labor force• Cumulative public data available via DAS• Restricted cumulative data available via secure

data license

NELS:88

• Initiated in 1988 with cohort of 8th graders• 4 follow-ups conducted in 1990, 1992, 1994,

and 2000• 10th grade cohort added at 1st follow-up• 12th grade cohort added at 2nd follow-up• Surveyed students, parents, teachers, and

school administrators

NELS:88

• Students surveyed on:– School, work and home experiences– Educational resources and support– Parent/peer role in their education– Neighborhood characteristics– Educational and occupational aspirations

• Public data available for 1994, 2000• Restricted use data available with secure data

license

ELS:2002

• Sample of approximately 15,000 HS sophomores from 750 schools in 2002

• 2004 added sample of HS seniors• Students, parents, teachers and school

administrators surveyed• Follow-ups at 2004 and 2006; 2012 planned

ELS: 2002

• Collected information on:– Achievement scores– HS/college transcripts– HS early completion and drop-outs– Student attitudes/experiences– College applications, enrollments, aid offers– Employment, earnings, living situations

• Public data available on NCES online Education Data Analysis Tool (EDAT)

• Restricted data available via secure data license

HSLS:09

• Sample of 21,000 9th graders from 944 schools• 1st follow-up scheduled for 2012• Focus on what students decide to pursue in

regards to science, engineering, math• Includes new assessments in algebra, reasoning,

problem-solving• New inclusion of school counselors• Will produce national level data but also state

level data for 10 states

Contextual Data Sets

Schools, School Districts, & Neighborhoods

Linking Contexts to Individuals

Individual Data(i.e. NELS:88)

All schools(i.e. CCD, PSS)

Neighborhood(i.e. Census)

All school districts

(i.e. CCD, SDDS)

State policy(i.e. MN state

education data)

Common Core of Data (CCD)• Annual public school and school district data

Collected by NCES, 1986 to present• Basic school and school district characteristics

(i.e. enrollment, % of each race/ethnicity, pupil/teacher ratio; current student expenditure (school district), drop out rate (school district)

• Data link:– PRI Sodapop

• http://sodapop.pop.psu.edu/data-collections/ccd– NCES web site

• http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/

School District Demographics System (SDDS)

• School district demographic and geographic data

• Data and map files are available• Data years: Census 2000, ACS 2005-08• Data link:

http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/sdds/index.aspx

State Data Systems

• Every state has her own education data system. Some are publicly available, and some are only for state internal use

• Most data sets are cross-sectional• In 2009, 20 states win grants to create

longitudinal data systems– Awardees are: Arkansas , Colorado, Florida, Illinois,

Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin

URL: http://www.cde.ca.gov/ds/dc/es/index.asp

URL: http://education.state.mn.us/MDE/Data/Data_Downloads/index.html

Link Contexts to Individuals – Find Out the KEY!

Individual Data(i.e. NELS:88)

All schools(i.e. CCD, PSS)

Neighborhood(i.e. Census)

All school districts

(i.e. CCD, SDDS)

State policy(i.e. MN state

education data)

School id

School District

id

State id/ zipcode

zipcode

Linking to Individual Data : Example 12001-02 CCD school file

Linking to Individual Data : Example 2

• The Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS)

• 4th- and 8th-grade students in many OECD countries• Data years: 1995, 1999, 2003, and 2007• Linking data & key: CCD school file with school id• TIMSS 2011: – More than 60 countries. More than 20,000 students in

more than 1,000 schools across the United States will take the assessment in spring 2011.

– Link the states scores from the national assessment—NAEP-- to TIMSS.

International Datasets

3 Major Datasets• TIMSS– Originally: “Third International Mathematics and

Science Study”– Now: “Trends in International Mathematics and

Science Study”• PIRLS– Progress in International Reading Literacy Study

• PISA– Program for International Student Assessment

2 major organizations

– International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA)• Conducts TIMSS & PIRLS• Major activity is comparative educational studies,

research and training

– Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)• Conducts PISA• Data collection in education and other fields• Collects indicators to inform governments• 32 member countries as of 2010

Data Files

• There are two basic types of data files in these databases– Background Files • Student (TIMSS, PIRLS, PISA) - include test scores• Teacher (TIMSS, PIRLS)• School (TIMSS, PIRLS, PISA)• Home (PIRLS, PISA – Not in the US)

– Achievement Files• These include item responses

Student Background Files

• Contains the responses of the students to a background questionnaire– Attitude towards the subject measured– Personal/academic backgrounds– School experiences– Career/educational goals

School Background Files

• Contains the responses of the school principals or administrators to the school background questionnaire– Curricula– School climate– Staffing levels– Availability of resources and services

Teacher Background Files

• Not a representative sample of teachers• They are teachers who teach a representative

sample of students• Teacher data should be analyzed only in

conjunction with the Student-Teacher Linkage file

• Statements to be made about “...percent of students taught by teachers...”

Home Background• Contains the responses of the parents/ guardian of tested

students to parent/ home background questionnaireIn PIRLS 2006– Early literacy activities– Home educational resources– Language in the home– Out-of-school (literacy) activitiesIn PISA 2006– Parents’ investment in their children’s education– Parents’ views on subject-related issues and careers

• These were not administered in all countries– Not in the United States

Achievement Test Files

• Also called cognitive items files• Contain the responses of students to the items

administered• Students only administered a fraction of the items in test

pool• All students were administered multiple choice and

constructed-response items• In TIMSS and PIRLS raw item responses are provided with

code for scoring • In PISA two files are provided: one with items scored and

the other with raw item responses

How to obtain data & user guide

• http://nces.ed.gov/timss/　 (US) • http://timss.bc.edu/ (Int’l)• http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/pisa/ (US)• http://www.pisa.oecd.org/pages/0,3417,en_3

2252351_32235907_1_1_1_1_1,00.html (Int’l)

Data Almanacs/Compendia

• Files that display weighted summary statistics, by grade, for each participating country on each variable included in background questionnaires and test booklet

• One for each background instrument and by domain

• Extremely useful to elaborate hypothesis

Demonstration using NCES Data Tools

NCES Data Tools

Advantages:• Good when you’re “shopping” for data• Can explore various databases• Can obtain summary statistics and correlational

analysis result – weights are applied Disadvantages:• Needs some practice• Advanced analysis not available

• http://nces.ed.gov/datatools/index.asp?datatoolsectionid=4

Appendix Materials

Other Data resource for Educational Study

• Integrated Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS)- USA & International

• Variables:– Person record: demographics, race/ethnicity &

nativity, family interrelationship, education, income/work/occupation, migration, etc.

– Household record: geographical, economic characteristics, etc.

• USA sample years: every 10 years from 1850 to 2000; every year from 2000 to present

• International sample years: from 1960 to present, vary by countries