§ 9543. Duties
(a)
General duties
The Statistics Center shall collect, report, analyze, and disseminate statistical data related to education in the United States and in other nations, including—
(1)
collecting, acquiring, compiling (where appropriate, on a State-by-State basis), and disseminating full and complete statistics (disaggregated by the population characteristics described in paragraph (3)) on the condition and progress of education, at the preschool, elementary, secondary, postsecondary, and adult levels in the United States, including data on—
(C)
student achievement in, at a minimum, the core academic areas of reading, mathematics, and science at all levels of education;
(E)
access to, and opportunity for, postsecondary education, including data on financial aid to postsecondary students;
(F)
teaching, including—
(G)
instruction, the conditions of the education workplace, and the supply of, and demand for, teachers;
(H)
the incidence, frequency, seriousness, and nature of violence affecting students, school personnel, and other individuals participating in school activities, as well as other indices of school safety, including information regarding—
(K)
the existence and use of educational technology and access to the Internet by students and teachers in elementary schools and secondary schools;
(M)
the availability of, and access to, before-school and after-school programs (including such programs during school recesses);
(2)
conducting and publishing reports on the meaning and significance of the statistics described in paragraph (1);
(3)
collecting, analyzing, cross-tabulating, and reporting, to the extent feasible, information by gender, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, limited English proficiency, mobility, disability, urban, rural, suburban districts, and other population characteristics, when such disaggregated information will facilitate educational and policy decisionmaking;
(4)
assisting public and private educational agencies, organizations, and institutions in improving and automating statistical and data collection activities, which may include assisting State educational agencies and local educational agencies with the disaggregation of data and with the development of longitudinal student data systems;
(5)
determining voluntary standards and guidelines to assist State educational agencies in developing statewide longitudinal data systems that link individual student data consistent with the requirements of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 6301 et seq.), promote linkages across States, and protect student privacy consistent with section
9573 of this title, to improve student academic achievement and close achievement gaps;
(6)
acquiring and disseminating data on educational activities and student achievement (such as the Third International Math and Science Study) in the United States compared with foreign nations;
(7)
conducting longitudinal and special data collections necessary to report on the condition and progress of education;
(8)
assisting the Director in the preparation of a biennial report, as described in section
9519 of this title; and
(9)
determining, in consultation with the National Research Council of the National Academies, methodology by which States may accurately measure graduation rates (defined as the percentage of students who graduate from secondary school with a regular diploma in the standard number of years), school completion rates, and dropout rates.
(b)
Training program
The Statistics Commissioner may establish a program to train employees of public and private educational agencies, organizations, and institutions in the use of standard statistical procedures and concepts, and may establish a fellowship program to appoint such employees as temporary fellows at the Statistics Center, in order to assist the Statistics Center in carrying out its duties.