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Head Start FACES Workshop at 2007 AERA Meeting

The Child Care and Early Education Research Connections is sponsoring a workshop on the use of the Head Start Family and Child Experiences Survey (FACES) data at the 2007 American Educational Research Association (AERA) Meeting on Thursday, April 12, 8:00 am-12:00 pm, in Chicago, IL. This seminar will provide an overview on the use of the FACES data, which is an ongoing series of longitudinal studies of Head Start program characteristics and child outcomes, using nationally representative samples of Head Start programs, children, and families. The datasets are well-suited for examining relationships between early care arrangements and educational program characteristics and measures of children's cognitive development and social behavior during Head Start and in the initial years of elementary school. Instruction will focus on the study design and instruments used in the 1997 and 2000 cohorts, as well as potential research questions and opportunities for further analysis. The registration deadline for both the meeting and the workshop has passed, but onsite registration is available at the AERA Meeting.

ICPSR Changes File Compression Format

ICPSR has converted the compression format of its files from Gzip to WinZip. Formerly, our data files were compressed using GNU Gzip data compression software and had the .gz file name extension. Beginning November 29, all files are compacted using Windows Zip compression and will bear the .zip file name extension. This change eliminates the double-compression problem that has been occurring with batch downloads (i.e., the saved files option). In the past, users had to decompress the batch folder and then uncompress the files within the folder. Our change to the WinZip compression format ensures that users will need to decompress only the batch folder.

For most users, this means little or no change. The majority of our customers use WinZip, which comes pre-installed in Windows operating systems. WinZip decompresses .gz files as easily as .zip files. For Macintosh users, StuffIt Expander is equally versatile with .gz and .zip files. UNIX users will want to use the unzip command instead of the gunzip command to decompress .zip files.

If you have any questions about this change, please contact web-support@icpsr.umich.edu.

Recent Updates and Additions

Lists all studies updated or added within the last 90 days. Studies marked with new were just added to our collection.

Recent Announcements from NCES

Longitudinal School District Fiscal-Nonfiscal File, Fiscal Years 1990 to 2000

NCES has recently released new databases containing fiscal and nonfiscal district data for each year from 1989-90 to 1999-2000, for the universe of regular public elementary and secondary school districts. The database is available in two forms. The primary longitudinal Fiscal-Nonfiscal (FNF) file in the database contains a separate record for each regular school district that was open some years in the 1990s. The other longitudinal file, the Unified Fiscal-Nonfiscal file (UFNF), combines data from separate elementary districts with the secondary districts they feed, so that each record contains data for a Unified K-12 "pseudo-district." ("Elementary" districts typically covered the grades K-8, while "secondary" districts typically covered the grades 9-12.) The database is designed for research use in testing hypotheses about longitudinal trends in school districts over this period. To facilitate analysis, all missing data have been replaced by statistical imputations, and clearly erroneous responses have been edited and replaced by plausible values.

To download these databases and documentation, please visit:
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2005863

Featured Reports

Historically Black Colleges and Universities, 1976 to 2001

Developments in School Finance: 2003

Math Teaser

For your monthly brain teaser, check here:

http://nces.ed.gov/nceskids/CRUNCH/challenge.asp

On Crime at School from NCES

Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2001

Popular NCES Series

Before NCES began collecting data through its popular Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), it gathered similar information through the Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS) from the period 1965-1986. Many of these files including information on the number of degrees conferred at institutions of higher education in the United States, revenues and expenditures, enrollment statistics including number of students by residence status, basic characteristics of educational institutions, numbers of full and part-time employees, and faculty compensation are now available on this website.