NCES Newsflash: 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) Results
NCES has just released The 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL). NAAL measures the English literacy of America's adults (people age 16 and older living in households and prisons). NAAL builds on the previous national assessment of literacy completed in 1992. Results are reported in terms of scale score averages and literacy levels on three literacy scales: prose, document, and quantitative. An additional component comprising 5 percent of the adult population was the non-literate in English. Results showed that the average quantitative literacy scores of adults increased 8 points between 1992 and 2003, though average prose and document literacy did not differ significantly from 1992.
Posted by ronbo at 04:45 PM
December 14, 2005
Roper Center Data Acquisitions Update, November 2005
Click here for a list of new additions to the Roper Center data archive that are now available to Center Members via Roper Express.
Stanford University Libraries maintains a membership to the Roper Center and Stanford faculty, staff, and students can now download data directly accessible via Roper Express. For instructions on requesting data not available via Roper Express, click on the "Data Services - Roper" link on our SSDS web site.
This month the attached PDF contains:
* 6 new Cable News Network/USA Today Polls conducted by the Gallup Organization from July-August, 2005.
* Public Agenda Poll All Work and No Play? What Kids and Parents Really Want From Out-Of-School Time based on telephone interviews with 609 Youth in grades 6th through 12th June 18-28, 2004 and 1,003 Parents of K through 12th children June 3-13, 2004.
* Newsweek Poll conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International November 10-11, 2005.
* 2 new NBC/Wall Street Journal Polls conducted by Hart and McIntruff in March and September, 2005.
These notices have been archived on the Roper Center website at:
Posted by ronbo at 03:11 PM
NCES Newsflash: Research Scientist Positions at the National Center for Education Statistics/Institute of Education Sciences
Two new position openings are now available in the Early Childhood, International, Crosscutting Studies Division at the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) within the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), the research arm of the U.S. Department of Education. The positions are located in the Annual Reports Program, which is responsible for indicator and other statistical reports on all levels of education.
For more information, please visit:
Posted by ronbo at 01:34 PM
December 12, 2005
NCES Newsflash: Student Achievement in Private Schools: NAEP 2000-2005 Results
This new statistical analysis report from NCES focuses on private school student performance on NAEP assessments. It provides results in reading, mathematics, science, and writing in 2000, 2002, 2003, and 2005. Specifically, it focuses on the three private school types that, combined, enroll the greatest proportion of private school students (Catholic, Lutheran, and Conservative Christian) as well as private schools overall. To provide additional perspective, it also compares the performance of students in these schools to that of public school students.
The report describes differences in student demographics (race/ethnicity, parents' highest level of education, eligibility for free and reduced-price school lunch, students with disabilities, and English language learners) in the three types of private schools, and also for private schools compared with public schools.
Black and Hispanic fourth-graders in all private schools combined had higher average mathematics scores in 2003 than in 2000. However, no significant differences in scores were found across the same time period for Black and Hispanic private school students in grade 4 reading or grade 8 mathematics.
Read about the report at:
The executive summary is available at:
and from there you can download the entire report as a PDF file.
Posted by ronbo at 11:30 AM
December 08, 2005
ANES Announcement: ANES Guide has been updated with 2004 data
Dear ANES user community,
We wanted to let you know that the ANES Guide to Public Opinion and Electoral Behavior has been updated with data from the ANES 2004 time series study.
The ANES Guide provides immediate access to tables and graphs that display the ebb and flow of public opinion, electoral behavior, and choice in American politics over time. Questions represented in the Guide are a small but significant portion of the questions that have been asked multiple times in the American National Election Studies time series, which runs from 1948 to the present.
December 07, 2005
Recent ICPSR updates and additions - December 07, 2005
Below is a list of new data collection additions to the ICPSR data archive along with a list of released data collections that have been updated:
3960 Danish 1905 Cohort Study, 1998
4229 CBS News/NEW YORK TIMES Monthly Poll #6, October 2004
4230 CBS News/NEW YORK TIMES Monthly Poll #1, November 2004
4236 Afrobarometer: Round II Survey of South Africa, 2002
4310 Current Population Survey, July 1992: Telephone Availability Supplement File
4357 The Mannheim Eurobarometer Trend File, 1970-2002
4360 Uniform Crime Reporting Program Data [United States]: County-Level Detailed Arrest and Offense Data, 2003
13647 Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN): Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Past Year (Primary Caregiver), Wave 2, 1997-2000
13648 Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN): Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Lifetime (Subject), Wave 2, 1997-2000
13649 Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN): Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Past Year (Subject), Wave 2, 1997-2000
13660 Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN): Suicide Interview, Wave 2, 1997-2000
13661 Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN): Things I Can Do If I Try, Wave 2, 1997-2000
2140 Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS) VIII: Degrees and Other Formal Awards Conferred Between July 1, 1972, and June 30, 1973
4055 Candidate Countries Eurobarometer 2003.3, June-July 2003
6736 Current Population Survey, February 1995: Contingent Work Supplement
13580 Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN): Master File, Wave 1, 1994-1997
13608 Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN): Master File, Wave 2, 1997-2000
13617 Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN): My Exposure to Violence (Subject), Wave 2, 1997-2000
13618 Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN): My Exposure to Violence (Primary Caregiver), Wave 2, 1997-2000
13619 Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN): My Childs Exposure to Violence, Wave 2, 1997-2000
13624 Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN): Generalized Anxiety Disorder (Primary Caregiver), Wave 2, 1997-2000
13625 Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN): Generalized Anxiety Disorder (Subject), Wave 2, 1997-2000
13636 Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN): Major Depressive Disorder (Primary Caregiver), Wave 2, 1997-2000
13637 Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN): Major Depressive Disorder (Subject), Wave 2, 1997-2000
Yes, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has a new website. After five years without a major overhaul, we have redesigned the look and feel of nces.ed.gov. Hopefully you will agree the changes are for the better. We have added our newest information to the homepage and also restructured our menus to make finding what you are looking for easier. The biggest difference is the navigation bar across the top of every page that enables you to find items of interest no matter where you are on our site. Please take a few moments to click on those items and browse the menus that drop down. We hope the categories are intuitively organized.
We are also in the process of redesigning the way we present publications and survey areas. An example of the new publication template can be found at: 
We have also made available an RSS feed at:
to help you keep abreast of all NCES news.
We hope you like the changes we have made. There will certainly be some bugs popping up and we will correct them as we find them. We appreciate all constructive comments.
December 05, 2005
Roper Center Newsletter, December 2005
Tip of the month!!
Heads Up! The Roper Center's new and improved web site is coming your way! Watch for improved access options, more educational resources, links to important resources for the opinion research community and a brand new look.
Public Opinion Matters!--"Personal Technology"
Has the technology craze gone too far? How has personal technology effected your life? Do you think it's rude when people talk on their cell phones? How have Palm Pilots, MP3 players and cell phones improved your life or maybe they haven't? See how America feels about these and other devices in this month's POM--Personal Technology.
Based on a new topic each month, POM offers a generous free sampling of related polling data and details of survey datasets held by the Roper Center, along with articles previously published in Public Perspective magazine.
Experience the depth of information housed in the Roper Center archives - The complete list of "Public Opinion Matters!" topics. http://www.ropercenter.uconn.edu/cgi-bin/hsrun.exe/Roperweb/pom/pom.htx;start=HS_pom_list
Newly spotlighted datasets ;start=HS_surveyspot
Updated as of December 1, 2005
Special studies of interest recently added to iPOLL. The database now contains nearly a half million questions!
Title: The Medicare Drug Benefit: Beneficiary Perspectives Just Before Implementation Survey [October,2005]
Source: Survey by Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, Harvard School of Public Health.
Methodology: Conducted by ICR-International Communications Research, October 13-October 31, 2005 and based on telephone interviews with a national adults age 65 and over sample of 802.
Search for: Keyword: medicare'; Organization: 'Kaiser'; Date: '10/13/2005 to 10/13/2005'
Title: Sleep and Healthy Aging Survey [August, 2005]
Source: Survey by International Longevity Center-USA.
Methodology: Conducted by Gallup Organization during August, 2005 and based on telephone interviews with a national adults age 50 & over sample of 1,003.
Search for: Keyword: 'sleep'; Organization: 'Gallup'; Date: '08/01/2005 to 08/31/2005'
Title: Health Confidence Survey [June,2005]
Source: Survey by Employee Benefit Research Institute.
Methodology: Conducted by Mathew Greenwald & Associates, June 30- August 6, 2005 and based on telephone interviews with a national adult sample of 1,003.
Search for: Keyword: 'health'; Date: '06/01/2005 to 06/30/2005'
Title: George Washington University Battleground 2006 Survey [October,2005]
This new NCES report analyzes results of reading literacy among 15-year-olds based on the 2000 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), sponsored by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and carried out in 32 countries, including the United States. It focuses on the characteristics of students who perform at the lowest levels of reading literacy. The report has two objectives: first, to explore how the demographic and educational characteristics of low performing students compare to other students within the United States; second, to analyze if the United States differs from the other PISA countries in terms of the characteristics of its low performing students. It describes the extent to which a particular characteristic is more or less likely to be observed among the low performers than on
December 01, 2005
U.Wisconsin Current Demographic Research Report
The latest issue of Current Demographic Research Report (CDERR #111, 29 November, 2005), a product of the Information Services Center of the University of Wisconsin-Madison is available at the CDERR website:
CDERR (Current Demographic Research Reports) is a weekly email report produced by the Center for Demography and Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison that helps researchers keep up to date with the latest developments in the field. This report will contain selected listings of new: reports, articles, bibliographies, working papers, tables of contents, conferences, data, and websites. For more information, including an archive of back issues and subscription information see:
Data Librarian--Center for Demography and Ecology
4470 Social Science
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Madison, WI 53706
Posted by ronbo at 05:39 PM
NCES Newsflash: NAEP 2005 Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) Results Now Available
Results from the 2005 Trial Urban District Assessment (TUDA) in reading and mathematics were just released. The Nation's Report Card for TUDA reports on the performance of fourth- and eighth-graders in 11 large urban school districts. Performance of students in Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Charlotte-Mecklenburg, Chicago, Cleveland, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, San Diego, and Washington, DC are compared with students nationally and in large central cities. District performance for 2005 is also compared with that for 2003.
Findings for fourth-graders include the following:
* In mathematics, average scores and percentages performing at or above Basic increased in 8 of 10 districts; percentages performing at or above Proficient increased in 6 districts.
* In reading, the percentage scoring at or above Proficient increased in one district; percentages at or above Basic and average scores did not change in any of the districts.
* There were no changes in the score gaps between White students and their Black or Hispanic counterparts in either subject.
Findings for eighth-graders include the following:
* In mathematics, average scores and percentages performing at or above Basic and Proficient increased in 4 of 10 districts
* In reading, the score gap between White and Black students increased in 1 district, and the gap between White and Hispanic students decreased in 1 district.
* In reading, between 2003 and 2005, the average score increased in 1 district, and there were no significant differences in the percentages performing at or above Basic or at or above Proficient in any district.