VT Census Case Studies : Department of Education - Fast Response Survey System

Created by ziemer on 12 Aug 2015

Brief Overall Description of the Dataset:

Publicly available datasets consist of: School Safety and Discipline, Condition of Public School Facilities, Dual Credit and Exam based Courses, Arts Education Surveys of Secondary School Teachers, Dropout Prevention Services and Programs Survey, Distance Education Courses for Public Elementary and Secondary School Students, Alternative School and Programs for Public School Students at Risk of Educational Failure, Teachers’ Use of Educational Technology in U.S. Public Schools, After-School Programs in Public Elementary Schools, Internet Access in Public Schools, Principals’ Perception of Their School Facilities, and many others.


Link: http://nces.ed.gov/surveys/frss/downloads.asp 

Date Inventory Completed: 6/17/15

Screening

  • Is the data collected opinion-based? Most are not, however some surveys such as Principals’ Perception of Their School Facilities are.
  • Is the data collection recurring (must be collected at least annually)?  
  • Is there data available for 2013?
  • For Education: Is the data collected at least the school level? 
  • Can we access the data by August 15th?
  • Can the data be linked to other education/workforce datasets (e.g., K-12, higher education, workforce)?

If applicable, what types of schools does it cover (e.g., public, private, charter)?

Public and private elementary and secondary.

Purpose

  • What is the purpose of the organization collecting the data?

“Collect issue-oriented data quickly and with minimum response burden.” Their surveys “collect and report data on key education issues at the elementary and secondary levels”

  • Why is it collected and how does the organization use it?

“Was designed to meet the data needs of Department of Education analysts, planners and decisionmakers when information could not be collected quickly through NCES’s large recurring surveys.”

  • Who else uses the data?

This data has been used in “congressional reports, testimony to congressional subcommittees, NCES reports, and other Department of Education reports. The findings are also often used by state and local education officials.”

  • Who do they sell the data to?

NA


Method

  • What is the data collection method? 

Surveys that are generally limited to three pages of questions, with a response burden of about 30 minutes.

  • What is the type of data collected? 

Designed collected and administrative data

  • If designed, who created the questions?

Government

  • What is the raw source of the collected data (prior to any aggregation)? 

State education agencies, national samples of other educational organizations, and participants, “including local education agencies, public private elementary and secondary schools, elementary and secondary school teachers and principals, and public libraries and school libraries.

Description

  • What is the general topic of the data (1-2 words)?

Student learning

  • What are the earliest and latest dates for which data is available?

1990-2015

  • Is data collected and available periodically?

Data is collected at least every year, but not necessarily for the same type of data.

  • How soon after a reference period ends can a data source be prepared and provided? 

Depends on the data set being collected, but its says data collection can be completed “quickly”.

Selectivity

  • What is the universe (e.g., population) that the data represents?

Students, teachers, principals, and libraries at public and private elementary and secondary schools.

Accessibility

  • How is the data accessed? 

API  for apps is available, raw data is also available for purchase

  • Is it open data?

There are some restricted use datasets that can be request by emailing FRSS@ed.gov.

  • Any legal, regulatory, or administrative restrictions on accessing the data source?

NA

  • Cost? - One time or annual or project based payment?

NA

Does this dataset appear to meet our needs for the Census study? NO

Explanation: Federal data and it cannot be linked on the individual level


Full Inventory

Description

  • What is the general contents of the data source?

Student learning

  • Features
    • What is the temporal nature of the data: longitudinal, time-series, or one time point?

One time point

    • Geospatial? If Yes, at what level?

They aggregate across all questionnaires and don’t give out individual school information

Metadata

  • Is there information available to assess the transparency and soundness of the methods to gather the data for our purposes?

Yes

  • Is there a description of each variable in the source along with their valid values?

Yes

  • Are there unique IDs for unique elements that can be used for linking data?

No

  • Is there a data dictionary or codebook?

Yes, different on for each survey, so it is not in the folder. They can all be found in the downloads section of the link provided above

Selectivity

  • What unit is represented at the record level of the data source?

National level

  • Does this universe match the stated intentions for the data collection? If not, what has been included or excluded and why?

Yes

  • What is the sampling technique used (if applicable)? 

The draw “from a universe that is appropriate for each study.”

  • What was the coverage?

1,000 to 1,500 respondents per survey - coverage depends on each individual survey.


Stability/Coherence

  • Were there any changes to the universe of data being captured (including geographical areas covered) and if so what were they?

Unknown

  • Were there any changes in the data capture method and if so what were they? 

Unknown

  • Were there any changes in the sources of data and if so what were they? 

Unknown

Accuracy

  • Any known sources of error?

Sample sizes are small, around 1,000 to 1,500 respondents.

  • Describe any quality control checks performed by the data’s owner.

Unknown

Accessibility

  • Any records or fields collected, but not included in data source, such as for confidentiality reasons)? 

They do not include which school participated or the responses from a particular school.

  • Is there a subset of variables and/or data that is must be obtained through a separate process? If yes, is there a separate legal, regulatory, or administrative restrictions on accessing the data source? Cost? - One time or annual or project based payment?

There are private data sets/survey that can be requested by emailing FRSS@ed.gov

Privacy and security

  • Was consent given by participant? If so, how was consent given?

By answering the designed collection surveys

  • Are there legal limitations or restrictions on the use of the data? 

NA

  • What confidentiality policies does the source have? 

Unknown

 

Research

  • What research has been done with this dataset? (e.g., impact of policies, predictors of student success)

Data used in larger government statistical reports as well as reports done individually on the survey.

  • Include any links to research if provided:

http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/getpubcats.asp?sid=005 

  • List any other data use notes provided by the supplier.

NA

Describe any other notes you have or any gaps/concerns you see with this dataset: FRSS own the data even though it is used to supplements NCES larger surveys that could not be collected quick enough.