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This report presents selected findings from the school library media center data files of the 2007-08 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). SASS is a nationally representative sample survey of public, private, and Bureau of Indian Education-funded (BIE) K-12 schools, principals, and teachers in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The public school sample was designed so that national-, regional-, and state-level elementary, secondary, and combined public school estimates can be made. Public schools include both traditional public and public charter schools. The private school sample was designed so that national-, regional-, and affiliation-level estimates can be produced. BIE schools on the 2005-06 CCD were sampled with certainty, and thus national estimates for BIE schools can be produced. The School District data file includes responses from school districts to the School District Questionnaire along with the "district items" taken from the Public School Questionnaire (With District Items) completed by the subset of public schools that were not associated with "traditional" school districts. These schools include state-run schools, traditional public schools in single-school districts, and independent charter schools. Selected findings reported in tabular form include: (1) In the 2007-08 school year, 80,100 of the 87,190 traditional public schools had a library media center, while 1,820 of the 3,560 public charter schools had one. Of the 180 BIE-funded schools 160 had a library media center (table 1); (2) The majority of all public school library media centers had at least one full-time, paid, state-certified library media center specialist (62 percent). Additionally, 11 percent had no full-time and at least one part-time, paid, state-certified library media center specialist and 27 percent had no full-time or part-time, paid, state-certified library media center specialists (table 2); (3) In traditional public schools, 57 percent of paid professional library media center staff had a master's degree in a library-related major, which is a higher percentage than in public charter schools (29 percent) and BIE-funded schools (27 percent) (table 3); (4) During the 2006-07 school year, BIE-funded library media centers spent an average of $7,800 on books, traditional public school library media centers spent an average of $6,630 on books, and public charter school library media centers spent an average of $6,210 on books (table 4); (5) Technology to assist students and staff with disabilities existed in 24 percent of traditional public school library media centers and in 21 percent of public charter school library media centers. About 18 percent of BIE-funded school library media centers had technology to assist students and staff with disabilities (table 5); (6) About 97 percent of library media centers in traditional public schools, 88 percent in public charter schools, and 92 percent in BIE-funded schools had computer workstations (table 6); (7) Ninety-eight percent of all public school library media centers had space for a full class of students at one time; of these library media centers, 82 percent could accommodate other activities concurrent with a full class (table 7); (8) Thirteen percent of public school library media centers in rural areas and 9 percent of public school library media centers in each of the other three community types (cities, suburbs, towns) had been used as a classroom due to classroom shortage during the most recent full week of school (table 8); and (9) Family literacy activities were supported by 53 percent of BIE-funded school library media centers, 42 percent of traditional public school library media centers, and 33 percent of public charter school library media centers (table 9). Four appendices are included: (1) Standard Error Tables; (2) Methodology and Technical Notes; (3) Description of Data Files; and (4) Description of Variables. (Contains 24 tables and 13 footnotes.)

This report presents selected findings from the school principal data files of the 2007-08 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). SASS is a nationally representative sample survey of public, private, and Bureau of Indian Education-funded (BIE) K-12 schools, principals, and teachers in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The public school sample was designed so that national-, regional-, and state-level elementary, secondary, and combined public school estimates can be made. Public schools include both traditional public and public charter schools. The private school sample was designed so that national-, regional-, and affiliation-level estimates can be produced. BIE schools on the 2005-06 Common Core of Data (CCD) were sampled with certainty, and thus national estimates for BIE schools can be produced. The School District data file includes responses from school districts to the School District Questionnaire along with the "district items" taken from the Public School Questionnaire (With District Items) completed by the subset of public schools that were not associated with "traditional" school districts. These schools include state-run schools, traditional public schools in single-school districts, and independent charter schools. Selected findings reported in tabular form include: (1) In 2007-08, there were an estimated 118,610 school principals in the United States; 90,470 were public school principals, 27,960 were private school principals, and 170 were BIE-funded school principals (table 1); (2) Among public school principals, 81 percent were non-Hispanic White, 11 percent were non-Hispanic Black, and 7 percent were Hispanic. Among private school principals, 87 percent were non-Hispanic White, 7 percent were non-Hispanic Black, and 4 percent were Hispanic (table 2); (3) About 50 percent of public school principals and 53 percent of private school principals were female (table 3); (4) Among public schools, more principals held a master's degree (61 pee) as their highest degree than a bachelor's degree or less (1 percent) or an education specialist/professional diploma (29 percent) or a doctorate/first professional degree (8 percent). Among private schools, more principals held a master's degree (50 percent) as their highest degree earned, compared to those with a bachelor's degree or less (33 percent) or an education specialist/professional diploma (10 percent) or a doctorate/first professional degree (7 percent) (table 4); (5) The average annual salary of public school principals was $85,700. Principals in public secondary schools earned more ($90,300) than principals in public elementary schools ($85,200) and in public combined schools ($75,800). Among private school principals, the average annual salary was $57,500. Principals in private secondary schools earned more ($75,100) than principals in private elementary schools ($55,500) and in private combined schools ($55,100) (table 5); (6) On average, public school principals spent 58.4 hours per week on all school-related activities, including 20.8 hours per week interacting with students. Private school principals, on average, spent 53.6 hours per week on all school-related activities, including 19.2 hours per week interacting with students (table 6); (7) Public school principals had, on average, 7.5 years of experience as a principal, of which 4.2 years were spent in their current school. Private school principals had, on average, 10.0 years of experience as a principal, of which 6.8 were spent in their current school (table 7); and (8) About 90 percent of public school principals reported having a major influence on hiring new full-time teachers at their school, while 94 percent of private school principals reported the same (table 8). Four appendices are included: (1) Standard Error Tables; (2) Methodology and Technical Notes; (3) Description of Data Files; and (4) Description of Variables. (Contains 22 tables and 12 footnotes.)

This report presents selected findings from the school district data file of the 2007-08 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). SASS is a nationally representative sample survey of public, private, and Bureau of Indian Education-funded (BIE) K-12 schools, principals, and teachers in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The public school sample was designed so that national-, regional-, and state-level elementary, secondary, and combined public school estimates can be made. Public schools include both traditional public and public charter schools. The private school sample was designed so that national-, regional-, and affiliation-level estimates can be produced. BIE schools on the 2005-06 Common Core of Data (CCD) were sampled with certainty, and thus national estimates for BIE schools can be produced. The School District data file includes responses from school districts to the School District Questionnaire along with the "district items" taken from the Public School Questionnaire (With District Items) completed by the subset of public schools that were not associated with "traditional" school districts. These schools include state-run schools, traditional public schools in single-school districts, and independent charter schools. Selected findings reported in tabular form include: (1) Of the estimated 16,330 public school districts in operation, 48 percent (7,770) were located in rural communities, 21 percent (3,480) in suburban areas, 18 percent (2,900) in towns, and 13 percent (2,190) in cities; (2) In districts' salary schedules, the average yearly base salary for teachers with a bachelor's degree and no teaching experience was $33,600, while teachers with the same degree but 10 years of teaching experience had a yearly base salary of $43,000; (3) The average lowest yearly base salary paid to full-time teachers was $34,000 and the highest was $60,400 in 2007-08 among all districts; (4) About 98 percent of school districts offered general medical insurance benefits to teachers, 85 percent offered dental insurance, and 80 percent offered group life insurance; (5) Overall, 24 percent of public school districts offered pay incentives to teachers if they attained certification from the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, 15 percent offered pay incentives to recruit or retain teachers to teach in fields of shortage, 10 percent to reward excellence in teaching, and 6 percent to recruit or retain teachers to teach in a less desirable location; (6) On average, there were 22.4 newly hired teachers per district in the 2007-08 school year, ranging from an average of 2.1 new hires in districts with less than 250 students to an average of 206.2 new hires in districts with 10,000 or more students; (7) While 54 percent of school districts had a collective bargaining agreement with teachers' associations or unions, 11 percent of districts had meet-and-confer agreements with these groups; (8) Overall, 4.4 teachers out of an average 211.4 teachers per district did not have their contracts renewed or were dismissed as a result of poor performance; (9) Among the districts that granted high school diplomas, students were required to take on average 3.9 years of instruction in English or language arts, 3.0 years in mathematics, 1.0 years in computer science, 3.3 years in social sciences and social studies, 2.7 years in physical or biological sciences, and 1.6 years in foreign languages; (10) Among public school districts with more than one school, the average lowest yearly base salary paid to full-time principals was $73,300 in 2007-08, while the highest was $88,600; (11) Collective bargaining agreements with principals' associations or unions were reported by 16 percent of public school districts with more than one school, and meet-and-confer agreements were reported by 10 percent; and (12) Among districts with more than one school, 24 percent of the districts had a training program for aspiring school administrators and 9 percent of principals were newly hired by a district in the 2007-08 school year. Four appendices are included: (1) Standard Error Tables; (2) Methodology and Technical Notes; (3) Description of Data Files; and (4) Description of Variables. (Contains 30 tables and 13 footnotes.

This study examined teacher qualifications and out-of-field teaching using National Center for Education Statistics' Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) data from 1988-00. It emphasized teachers without a major, minor, or certification in the subject taught and teachers without a major and certification in the subject taught. Overall, in middle school in 1999-00, 11-14 percent of students taking social science, history, and foreign languages, and 14-22 percent of students taking English, math, and science were in classes led by teachers without a major, minor, or certification. In high school in 1999-00, 5-10 percent of students in English, math, science, social science, arts and music, and physical education had teachers without these credentials. When examining teachers without a major or certification, out-of field teaching increased. About 6 out of 10 middle school students in English, foreign language, math, science, history, and ESL/bilingual education were taught by such teachers, while 6 out of 10 high school students in physical science, history, and ESL/bilingual education had these teachers. Middle schools had relatively fewer teachers with certification and in-field majors than high schools. Out-of-field teaching tended to decrease over time. Three appendixes present technical notes, detailed data tables, and standard error tables. (Contains 23 references.) (SM)

This technical report presents results of an analysis of unit response rates for the components of the 1993-94 Schools and Staffing Surveys (SASS). The study was motivated by the general need to evaluate and improve the quality of SASS data and to identify potential sources of nonsampling error associated with nonresponse in SASS. As background, the report describes the survey design and nonresponse adjustment procedures for each of the components of the SASS. A primary focus of the analysis is to compare the response rates for known characteristics of schools, administrators, teachers, school districts, libraries, librarians, and student records, and to assess the extent and pattern of these differences. Where possible findings from the 1993-94 analyses are compared to results from an exploratory analysis of response rates from the 1990-91 SASS. In addition, the hierarchical nature of response rates is examined, and a multivariate model of unit response is developed for one of the SASS components (public schools) to explain the relationship between these factors and the level of unit response. The following chapters are included: (1) "Overview"; (2) "SASS Core Components"; (3) "New SASS Components"; (4) "Summary of Significance Tests"; (5) "Hierarchical and Cross-Classified Testing"; (6) "Measurement of the Sampling Frame and Cooperation Rates"; (7) "Nonresponse Modeling for the Public School Component"; and (8) "Highlights and Recommendations." Appendixes contain response rate tables and a description of tests of association between response status and characteristics. (Contains 80 tables, 64 figures, and 34 references.) (SLD)

A crucial question in any study is how representative the sample is of the population being studied at the time of the interview. This is of particular concern when the study is based on a follow-up of a sample of respondents initially interviewed for other purposes. This study evaluated the representativeness of a sample of elderly female respondents (N=1,049) interviewed in 1978 by comparing the characteristics of the sample with the characteristics of a similar group included in the March 1987 Current Population Survey (CPS) conducted by the Bureau of the Census. The CPS was used since it is a larger sample than the one analyzed and estimates derived from the CPS are more stable and subject to less sampling error. The original sample was designed to represent white, ever married women born from 1901-1910. Of the original sample of 1,049 women, only 2.9 percent could not be located, with 29.3 percent having died and 6.1 percent residing in nursing homes. The total response rate for the 1987 follow-up sample was 79.4 percent with 589 interviewed of 742 eligible. The results indicated there were a number of strengths and weaknesses. Since the 1987 household sample was not as representative nationally by region and age as the 1978 sample was and underrepresented women in central cities, care will have to be taken in drawing inferences from it regarding health of elderly women and their social support networks. However, the results indicated that it is possible to successfully follow-up the elderly even after a relatively long period. The response rates obtained are impressive when compared with other studies involving the follow-up of respondents and indicates that longitudinal studies of the elderly can be successful. Further, the detailed data obtained on the health, functioning and social support of such a sample should make important contributions to future studies and lay the basis for developing better policies for an aging population. (ABL)