The Common Core of Dataand the

Elementary/Secondary Information System

Susan Aud, Ph.D.National Center for Education StatisticsInstitute of Education SciencesU.S. Department of Education

May 18, 2014

The Common Core of Data

• NCES’ annual collection of basic data on public schools systems in the states and state-level jurisdictions in the US and affiliated land areas.

CCD Mission

• NCES is committed to providing the public with a complete and accurate accounting of the U.S. Public Elementary and Secondary Education System

• Rather than having the data users contact each state independently, we would rather have one place to access all the data.

• Our goal is to make provide accurate and consistent data in a timely manner.

How are CCD Data Used?

• Utilized by policymakers, news agencies and the general public to understand the state of the nation’s public education system.

• Cited in many nationally recognized reports, such as the Condition of Education and various news articles

CCD Surveys/Components

There are 8 components in the Common Core of Data.

Nonfiscal• School, Agency, and State Universe files• Agency and State Dropout and Completer filesFiscal• Agency and State Universe files• Teacher Compensation Survey

Where Can I Find the CCD?

CCD Home Page: nces.ed.gov/ccd

Elementary/Secondary Information System ELSi http://nces.ed.gov/ccd/elsi/

The main data tool for accessing CCD data is Elementary/Secondary Information System - ELSi

To access ELSi:

Select NCES Home Page (nces.ed.gov)Select Data & Tools at the top of the pageSelect Custom Datasets and TablesSelect ElSI (the second icon)

Elementary/Secondary Information System - ELSi

Elementary/Secondary Information System - ELSi

ElSI consists of three components:

1. quickFacts

2. expressTables

3. tableGenerator 

ELSi - quickFacts

quickFacts

With quickFacts, you can quickly view single data elements for a state, district or school

• View characteristic and financial data • View contact information • Chart and print data• Link to expressTables for additional analysis  

ELSi – quickFacts

In quickFacts box

Select the level you are looking for.Select the characteristic you want to

display.Select the entity you want to display.

Steps:Click on

ELSi – quickFacts

ELSi – quickFactsThe resulting table will show the information for the entity chosen, the state average, and the U.S. average.

ELSi - expressTables

expressTables

With expressTables, you can quickly view created tables for a group of entities.

• All schools in a state • All states in the nation • All districts in a state 

ELSi – expressTables

Steps:Click on In expressTables box

Select the level you are looking for.Select the table you want to display.Select the group you want to include on the table.

For example - we chose “School district enrollment by race/ethnicity” for the state of Maryland.

ELSi – expressTables

ELSi – expressTablesBy changing the table selection, you can see more information about the same group. For example, a table can be quickly created that shows the district enrollment and teacher counts for the same districts in Maryland.

ELSi – expressTablesUsing a similar process, you can also change the table to display the same data for Tennessee

ELSi – expressTablesIn addition, you can create a table that includes some information for both public and private schools by state

ELSi – tableGenerator

With tableGenerator, you can create your own custom tables with the variables you need.

You can create tables that include every school or district in the nation.

ELSi – tableGenerator

Step 1-Select a RowStateCBSACountyDistrictPublic SchoolPrivate school For this example, we chose “District”.

ELSi – tableGeneratorStep 2 - Select years of data For this example, we chose 2011-12 and 2010-11

ELSi – tableGeneratorStep 3- Select the variablesDepending on what years you have selected, various tabs of variable groups are available. These include enrollment, general finance, teacher and staff and dropout/completer data.

ELSi – tableGeneratorStep 4 – Choosing your filters Once you have finished selecting your variables, you can chose which filters (if any) you want to apply to the table. You can choose to filter any variable on your table.

ELSi – tableGeneratorStep 5 – Creating your table Once you have chosen your filters, you are ready to create your table. Select Create Table

ELSi – tableGenerator

You can now export the data into Excel by clicking the buttons above the table.

You can also save the table for future use. The system will assign a number to the table.

Contact InformationName E-Mail PhoneNCES STAFF

Marie Stetser Marie.Stetser@ed.gov (202) 502-7356

Mark Glander Mark.Glander@ed.gov (202) 502-7323

Patrick Keaton Patrick.Keaton@ed.gov (202) 502-7386

Susan Aud Susan.Aud@ed.gov (202) 219-7013