What Is the CCD?

Overview
Design
Components
Policy and Research Issues
Additional Information

Overview

The Common Core of Data (CCD) is the Department of Education's primary database on public elementary and secondary education in the United States. CCD is a comprehensive, annual, national statistical database of all public elementary and secondary schools and school districts, which contains data that are designed to be comparable across all states.

The objectives of the CCD are twofold: first, to provide an official listing of public elementary and secondary schools and school districts in the nation, which can be used to select samples for other NCES surveys. And second, to provide basic information and descriptive statistics on public elementary and secondary schools and schooling in general.

Design

The CCD survey annually collects data about all public elementary and secondary schools, all local education agencies, and all state education agencies throughout the United States. CCD contains three categories of information: general descriptive information on schools and school districts; data on students and staff; and fiscal data. The general descriptive information includes name, address, phone number, and type of locale; the data on students and staff include selected demographic characteristics; and the fiscal data cover revenues and current expenditures.

CCD is made up of a set of five surveys sent to state education departments. Most of the data are obtained from administrative records maintained by the state education agencies (SEAs). Statistical information is collected annually from approximately 100,000 public elementary and secondary schools and approximately 18,000 public school districts (including supervisory unions and regional education service agencies) in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Department of Defense Schools, and the outlying areas. The SEAs compile CCD requested data into prescribed formats and transmit the information to NCES.

Top

Components of the Survey

Public School Universe
Information on all public elementary and secondary schools in operation during a school year including school location and type; enrollment by grade and student characteristics; and the number of classroom teachers.

Local Education Agency (School District) Universe
Information for the universe of LEAs including phone number; location and type of agency; current number of students; and number of high school graduates and completers in the previous year.

State Aggregate Nonfiscal Data
Information on all students and staff aggregated to the state level including number of students by grade level; full-time equivalent staff by major employment category; and high school graduates and completers in the previous year.

State Aggregate Fiscal Data
Detailed data aggregated to the state level including average daily attendance; school district revenues by source(local, state, federal); and expenditures by function (instruction, support services, and non-instruction) and subfunction (school administration, etc).

School District Fiscal Data
Detailed data by school district, including revenues by source and expenditures by function and subfunction, and enrollment.

Quick Facts (FAQs)
Commonly asked questions (and answers) users have about public elementary and secondary education. To see these questions and answers click here.

Policy and Research Issues
The five data sets within CCD can be used separately or in conjunction with one another to provide information on many topics of interest. Examples of CCD data that could be used to address important education issues are:

1. size of school and pupil/teacher ratio;
2. size of school district and region of the country;
3. locale of school and racial/ethnic composition for selected states;
4. racial/ethnic composition and pupil/teacher ratio for selected states;
5. locale of school and percent of free-lunch eligible students for selected states;
6. grade level and pupil/teacher ratio;
7. size of school district and number of special education students;
8. graduates; and
9. state share of expenditure for education and expenditure per pupil.

Top

Additional Information

Further information on CCD may be obtained from:

Program Director:

Marie Stetser
Elementary/Secondary and Libraries Studies Division
National Center for Education Statistics
1990 K Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006-5651
Phone: (202) 502-7356
E-mail: marie.stetser@ed.gov

Nonfiscal Data:

Patrick Keaton
Elementary/Secondary and Libraries Studies Division
National Center for Education Statistics
1990 K Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006-5651
Phone: (202) 502-7386
E-mail: patrick.keaton@ed.gov

Fiscal Data:

Stephen Cornman
Elementary/Secondary and Libraries Studies Division
National Center for Education Statistics
1990 K Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006-5651
Phone: (202) 502-7338
E-mail: stephen.cornman@ed.gov

Top