Frequently Asked Questions

ED Data Express consolidates relevant data collected by the Department from several different sources and provides a variety of tools that allow users to explore the data and create individualized reports. More research, evaluation and statistics are available at our Data page. This page contains links to:

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing education-related data in the U.S. and abroad. The NCES Website puts that data at your fingertips.

The Education Resources Information Center (ERIC), sponsored by the Department's Institute of Education Sciences (IES), produces the world's premier database of journal and non-journal education literature. ERIC provides the public with a centralized website for searching the ERIC bibliographic database of more than 1.1 million citations going back to 1966.

The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) is the Department's main agency for research, evaluation, and dissemination; statistics; and guidance to further evidence-based policy and practice.

The What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) was established by the Department to provide an independent, trusted source of scientific evidence regarding programs, products, practices and policies what works in education.

The primary purpose of the Fast Facts website is to provide users with concise information on a range of educational issues, from early childhood to adult learning. Fast Facts draw from various published sources and are updated as new data become available.

The NCES Kids' Zone provides information to help you learn about schools; decide on a college; find a public library; engage in several games, quizzes and skill building about math, probability, graphing, and mathematicians; and to learn many interesting facts about education.

Higher education data is housed primarily in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS). IPEDS provides data on enrollments, program completions, faculty, staff, and finances. These data come from surveys of all institutions and educational organizations whose primary purpose is to provide postsecondary education. IPEDS is the core postsecondary education data collection program of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). NCES provides summaries of IPEDS data in the Digest of Education Statistics. Please note that some information may not be up to date, as this information is processed and analyzed after schools provide their reports.

For more than a decade, the What Works Clearinghouse (WWC) has been a central and trusted source of scientific evidence on education programs, products, practices, and policies. WWC reviews the research, determine which studies meet rigorous standards, and summarize the findings. WWC focuses on high-quality research to answer the question "what works in education?"

The Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) provides comprehensive and up-to-date data on students with disabilities served under IDEA on the U.S. Department of Education’s Open Data Platform. Under Section 618 of IDEA, every state is required to report detailed data on:

• Infants and toddlers, birth through age 2, receiving early intervention services (Part C), and
• Children and youth, ages 3 through 21, receiving special education and related services (Part B).

The U.S. Department of Education does not rank schools or school districts. State-by-state information on academic achievement and other topics can be found at:

The National Center for Education Statistics provides state-by-state information on achievement, attainment, demographics, enrollment, finances and teachers at the elementary, secondary and postsecondary levels.

The National Assessment for Educational Progress (NAEP) also known as "the Nation's Report Card" is the only nationally representative and continuing assessment of what America's students know and can do in various subject areas. NAEP provides information about student performance in states that choose to participate in the state-level NAEP.

The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) updated Statistical Policy Directive No. 15: Standards for Maintaining, Collecting, and Presenting Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity (SPD 15) in March 2024; this now replaces and supersedes OMB's earlier 1997 Revisions to the Standards for the Classification of Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity.

Key revisions include:

- Shifting from the two-part race/ethnicity question to use a single combined race and ethnicity question that allows multiple responses

- Adding Middle Eastern or North African (MENA) as a new minimum category. The new set of minimum race and/or ethnicity categories are:

-- American Indian or Alaska Native

-- Asian

-- Black or African American

-- Hispanic or Latino

-- Middle Eastern or North African

-- Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander

-- White

- Requiring the collection of additional detail beyond the minimum required race and ethnicity categories as a default, unless ED requests and receives an exemption from OMB

- Updating terminology used within the standard

For more information, see: 

- OMB’s official SPD 15 revision information site

- The Federal Register notice with full details on the updates

- White House blog post by Dr. Karen Orvis, Chief Statistician of the United States

In the coming weeks, ED will be releasing information to stakeholders describing our general implementation approach of the new standards.

ED’s full SPD 15 action plan is due to OMB by September 28, 2025 and will be shared publicly once finalized and approved. Per OMB, all ED collections must be in compliance with the new standards as soon as possible, but no later than March 28, 2029. Third-party data collectors or multi-agency data collections may require additional planning but must meet the deadline. Please check back here for more information from ED in the coming weeks and months.

If you have questions, contact us at SPD15@ed.gov. If your question relates to a specific data collection, please include the name, so we can direct your question to the right person. They likely will not have an immediate answer for you, but they will consider your question for inclusion in Frequently Asked Questions material currently in development and to be posted with a link from this page.