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Looking for answers to your questions? Our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) page provides answers to common questions about the Department, grants, student loans, and more. Explore questions below or select a topic from the menu at right.

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 and Statistics 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 IDEA Data Center provides the most recent data about children with disabilities served under IDEA. The U.S. Department of Education's Office of Special Education Programs in accordance with Section 618 of IDEA collects this data annually. This data is provided in the form of tables produced for the annual reports to Congress.

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.