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"The Condition of Education 2017" is a congressionally mandated annual report summarizing the latest data on education in the United States. This report is designed to help policymakers and the public monitor educational progress. This year's report includes 50 indicators on topics ranging from prekindergarten through postsecondary education, as well as labor force outcomes and international comparisons. "The Condition" includes an "At a Glance" section, which allows readers to quickly make comparisons within and across indicators, and a "Highlights" section, which captures a key finding or set of findings from each indicator. The report contains a "Reader's Guide," a "Glossary," and a "Guide to Data Sources" that provide additional information to help place the indicators in context. In addition, each indicator references the data tables that were used to produce the indicator, most of which are in the "Digest of Education Statistics." In addition to the regularly updated annual indicators, this year's report highlights innovative data collections and analyses from across the Center: (1) The first spotlight indicator examines the relationship between student risk factors at kindergarten entry (poverty and low parent educational attainment) and academic achievement in early elementary school; (2) The second spotlight indicator draws on administrative data from the Center's EDFacts data collection and finds that 2.5 percent of students in U.S. public elementary and secondary schools were reported as homeless in 2014-15; (3) The third spotlight indicator draws on longitudinal data from the Beginning Postsecondary Students Study to examine the rates at which first-time college students persist toward completion of a degree or certificate; and (4) The fourth spotlight indicator examines how disability rates for U.S. adults vary by educational attainment, finding that 16 percent of 25- to 64-year-olds who had not completed high school had one or more disabilities in 2015, compared to 4 percent of those who had completed a bachelor's degree and 3 percent of those who had completed a master's or higher degree. In addition, two indicators provide insights from the Center's recent work on technology in education. The first previews key findings from the Center's upcoming report, "Student Access to Digital Learning Resources Outside of the Classroom." The second presents findings from the National Assessment of Educational Progress's 8th-grade Technology and Engineering Literacy (TEL) assessment. [For the 2016 report: "The Condition of Education 2016. NCES 2016-144," see ED565888.]

The current status of education for 1998 is presented as an indicator report, analyzing key data that measure the health of education, monitor important developments, and show trends in major aspects of education. The report first presents three "Issues in Focus": "College Access and Affordability"; "Progress in the Educational Achievement of Black Students"; and "Progress in the Educational Achievement of Hispanic Students." Following the discussion of issues are 60 indicators of the current status of education, 10 of which are new. The indicators are organized into six sections: (1) access, participation, and progress; (2) achievement, attainment, and curriculum; (3) economic and other outcomes of education; (4) organization and management of educational institutions; (5) climate and diversity of educational institutions; and (6) financial and human resources of educational institutions. Within each section, indicators on issues in elementary and secondary education are integrated with those on issues in postsecondary education to reflect the continuity of educational experiences. The report includes the text, tables, and charts for each indicator plus the technical supporting data, supplemental information, and data sources. Appendices comprise over half of the publication and contain supplemental tables and notes, estimates of standard errors for the statistics, data sources, a glossary, an index, and a list of selected publications of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). (MLF)

The Task Force on Quality Control of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) was created to study the quality control procedures used for NCES publications and to determine if there are ways to improve the current procedures. Because a detailed review of the entire survey process would have been too time consuming, the Task Force decided to focus on errors that occur after the survey datafile has been accepted. To study the existing quality control procedures, the Task Force studied the database-to-report processes of the: (1) National Assessment of Educational Progress 1994 Trends in Academic Progress; (2) Digest of Education Statistics; (3) Schools and Staffing Survey in the United States: A Statistical Profile; and (4) Fall Staff in Postsecondary Institutions, 1993. Interviews were conducted with NCES staff and representatives of other government agencies. Overall, the Task Force found that there were no major systematic problems affecting the data being released by the NCES. There are quality control procedures in place at strategic points, and the general situation is very positive. Some possible areas for improvement were noted, and a list of recommendations, ultimately reduced to five, was prepared to improve the quality of NCES products. Typically, problems could occur in data compilation, documentation, formatting, and structural areas. Appendixes contain a memo on quality control practices, a discussion of the application of recommendations to previously identified problems, and references. (Contains one figure and seven references.) (SLD)

Huge infusion of technology is coming into education; nothing can stop it, because so much money is involved. With computer marketers in driver seat instead of teachers, schools risk being blinded by science. Vendors have coopted progressive education buzzwords, including "frontal teaching,""linear thinking," and "computer equity." Limited resources are best used to equip disabled children, laboratories, and teachers. (MLH)