I
103D CONGRESS
1ST SESSION
H. R. 3562
To provide for the collection and dissemination of statistics designed to
show the condition and progress of education in the United States,
to promote and improve the cause of education throughout the Nation,
and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
NOVEMBER 19, 1993
Mr. KILDEE (for himself and Mr. FORD of Michigan) introduced the following
bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and Labor
A BILL
To provide for the collection and dissemination of statistics
designed to show the condition and progress of education
in the United States, to promote and improve the cause
of education throughout the Nation, and for other
purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
That this Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Education
Statistics Act of 1993’’.
FINDINGS; PURPOSE; DEFINITIONS
SEC. 2. (a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—
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(1) a Department of Education was established
in 1867 ‘‘for the purpose of collecting such statistics
and facts as shall show the condition and progress
of education in the several States and Territories,
and of diffusing such information respecting the or-
ganization and management of schools and school
systems and methods of teaching as shall aid the
people of the United States in the establishment and
maintenance of efficient school systems, and other-
wise promote the cause of education throughout the
country’’;
(2) today, while the role of the current Depart-
ment of Education is much broader, the National
Center for Education Statistics within the Depart-
ment’s Office of Educational Research and Improve-
ment continues to perform those crucial original
purposes; and
(3) looking to the 21st Century, the National
Center for Education Statistics must be able to de-
sign and undertake, effectively and efficiently, statis-
tical activities that will aid in reform of our Nation’s
educational systems.
(b) PURPOSE.—It is the purpose of this Act to ensure
the continuation of an effective mechanism for collecting
and reporting statistics and information showing the con-
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dition and progress of education in the United States and
other nations in order to promote and accelerate the im-
provement of American education.
(c) DEFINITIONS.—For the purpose of this Act, the
term—
(1) ‘‘Assistant Secretary’’ means the Assistant
Secretary for Educational Research and Improve-
ment, provided for under section 202(b)(1)(E) of the
Department of Education Organization Act;
(2) ‘‘Department’’ means the Department of
Education;
(3) ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the
same meaning as that term is used in section 1201
of the Higher Education Act of 1965;
(4) ‘‘local educational agency’’ has the same
meaning as that term is used in section 1471 of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965;
(5) ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary of Edu-
cation;
(6) ‘‘State educational agency’’ has the same
meaning as that term is used in section 1471 of the
Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965;
and
(7) ‘‘United States’’ and ‘‘State’’—
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(A) mean, other than for the purpose of
section 11, each of the 50 States, the District
of Columbia, and the Commonwealth of Puerto
Rico; and
(B) for the purpose of section 11, include
Guam, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, the
Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Is-
lands, and the Republic of Palau (until the ef-
fective date of the Compact of Free Association
with the Government of Palau).
NATIONAL CENTER FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS
SEC. 3. (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established,
within the Office of Educational Research and Improve-
ment established under section 209 of the Department of
Education Organization Act, a National Center for Edu-
cation Statistics (the ‘‘Center’’).
(b) 
COMMISSIONER
AND
ASSOCIATE
COMMIS-
SIONERS.—(1) The Center shall be headed by a Commis-
sioner of Education Statistics (the ‘‘Commissioner’’) who
shall be appointed by the President, by and with the advice
and consent of the Senate, and who shall—
(A) have substantial knowledge of programs en-
compassed by the Center;
(B) be paid in accordance with section 5315 of
title 5, United States Code; and
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(C) serve for a term of 4 years, with the terms
to expire every fourth June 21, beginning in 1995.
(2) The Commissioner may appoint such Associate
Commissioners as the Commissioner determines are nec-
essary and appropriate.
DUTIES OF THE CENTER
SEC. 4. (a) DUTIES.—The duties of the Center are
to collect, analyze, and disseminate statistics and other in-
formation related to education in the United States and
in other nations, including—
(1) acquiring, compiling (where appropriate, on
a State-by-State basis), and disseminating full and
complete statistics on the condition and progress of
education in the United States, including data on—
(A) State and local education reform;
(B) student achievement and other edu-
cational outcomes (including data on special
student populations and data on high school
completions, dropouts, and adult literacy);
(C) educational access and opportunity (in-
cluding data on financial aid to postsecondary
students);
(D) teaching (including data on curricu-
lum, instruction, the conditions of the education
workplace, and the supply of, and demand for,
teachers);
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(E) the learning environment (including
data on libraries and the incidence of crime, vi-
olence, and substance abuse);
(F) the financing and management of edu-
cation (including data on revenues and expendi-
tures); and
(G) the social and economic status of chil-
dren;
(2) conducting and publishing reports and anal-
yses of the meaning and significance of such statis-
tics;
(3) conducting longitudinal studies, as well as
regular and special surveys and data collections, nec-
essary to report on the condition and progress of
education;
(4) assisting public and private educational
agencies, organizations, and institutions in improv-
ing and automating their statistical and data collec-
tion activities; and
(5) acquiring and disseminating data on edu-
cational activities and student achievement in the
United States compared with those in foreign na-
tions.
(b) TRAINING PROGRAM.—The Commissioner may
establish a program to train employees of public and pri-
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vate educational agencies, organizations, and institutions
in the use of the Center’s standard statistical procedures
and concepts and may establish a fellows program to ap-
point such employees as temporary fellows at the Center
in order to assist the Center in carrying out its duties.
PERFORMANCE OF DUTIES
SEC. 5. (a) GENERAL.—In carrying out the duties
under this Act, the Commissioner may enter into grants,
contracts, and cooperative agreements.
(b) GATHERING INFORMATION.—(1) The Commis-
sioner may use the statistical method known as sampling
to carry out the purpose of this Act.
(2) The Commissioner may, as he or she considers
appropriate, use information collected—
(A) from States, local educational agencies,
schools, institutions of higher education, libraries,
administrators, teachers, students, the general pub-
lic, and such other individuals, organizations, agen-
cies, and institutions as the Commissioner may con-
sider appropriate; and
(B) by other offices within the Department and
by other Federal departments, agencies, and instru-
mentalities.
(3) The Commissioner may—
(A) enter into interagency agreements for the
collection of statistics;
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(B) arrange with any agency, organization, or
institution for the collection of statistics; and
(C) assign employees of the Center to any such
agency, organization, or institution to assist in such
collection.
(4) In order to maximize the effectiveness of Federal
efforts to serve the educational needs of children and
youth, the Commissioner shall—
(A) provide technical assistance to Department
offices that gather data for statistical purposes; and
(B) coordinate closely with other Department
offices in the collection of data.
REPORTS
SEC. 6. (a) REPORT
ON
THE CONDITION
AND
PROGRESS OF EDUCATION.—The Commissioner shall, no
later than June 1 of each year, submit to the President
and the Congress a statistical report on the condition and
progress of education in the United States.
(b) STATISTICAL
REPORTS.—The Commissioner
shall issue regular statistical reports to the President and
Congress on such education topics as the Commissioner
determines to be appropriate.
(c) SPECIAL REPORTS.—The Commissioner may,
whenever he or she considers it appropriate, issue special
reports on particular education topics.
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ADVISORY COUNCIL ON EDUCATION STATISTICS
SEC. 7. (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established,
within the Center, the Advisory Council on Education Sta-
tistics (the ‘‘Council’’).
(b) MEMBERSHIP.—(1) The Council shall be com-
posed of—
(A) 15 voting members who are users of edu-
cation data and who are appointed by the Secretary
on the basis of their experience and eminence within
the field, of whom at least—
(i) three shall be educators;
(ii) three shall be education policy-makers;
(iii) three shall be professional statisti-
cians; and
(iv) three shall be education researchers;
(B) the Director of the Census and the Com-
missioner of Labor Statistics, as voting, ex officio
members; and
(C) the Assistant Secretary and the Commis-
sioner, as nonvoting, ex officio members.
(2) The Secretary shall appoint the presiding officer
of the Council from among the voting members.
(3) Members of the Council appointed under para-
graph (1)(A) shall be appointed for three-year terms ex-
cept that, in the case of initial appointments, the Sec-
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retary shall make appointments for shorter terms to the
extent necessary to avoid the expiration of the terms of
more than five members in the same calendar year.
(4)(A) The Council shall meet at the call of the pre-
siding officer, except that it shall meet—
(i) at least two times during each calendar year;
and
(ii) in addition, whenever eight voting members
request in writing that the presiding officer call a
meeting.
(B) Nine voting members of the Council shall con-
stitute a quorum.
(5) The Council shall review general policies for the
operation of the Center and shall advise the Commissioner
on standards to ensure that statistics and other informa-
tion disseminated by the Center are of high quality and
are not subject to partisan political influence.
CONFIDENTIALITY
SEC. 8. (a) IN GENERAL.—(1) The Center shall de-
velop and enforce standards designed to protect the con-
fidentiality of persons in the collection, reporting, and
publication of data under this section. The section shall
not be construed to protect the confidentiality of informa-
tion about institutions, organizations, and agencies that
receive grants from, or have contracts or cooperative
agreements with, the Federal Government.
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(2) No person may—
(A) use any individually identifiable information
furnished under this Act for any purpose other than
a statistical purpose;
(B) make any publication whereby the data fur-
nished by any particular person under this Act can
be identified; or
(C) permit anyone other than the individuals
authorized by the Commissioner to examine the indi-
vidual reports.
(b) ADMINISTRATION.—(1) No department, bureau,
agency, officer, or employee of the government, except the
Commissioner in carrying out the purposes of this Act,
shall require, for any reason, copies of reports that have
been filed under this Act with the Center or retained by
any individual respondent. Copies of such reports that
have been so filed or retained with the Center or any of
its employees, contractors, or agents shall be immune from
legal process, and shall not, without the consent of the
individual concerned, be admitted as evidence or used for
any purpose in any action, suit, or other judicial or admin-
istrative proceeding. This paragraph shall apply only to
individually identifiable information (as defined in para-
graph (4)(A)).
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(2) Whoever, being or having been an employee or
staff member of the Department, having taken or sub-
scribed the oath of office, or having sworn to observe the
limitations imposed by subsection (a)(2), knowingly pub-
lishes or communicates any individually identifiable infor-
mation (as defined in paragraph (4)(A)), the disclosure
of which is prohibited by subsection (a)(2), and that comes
into his or her possession by reason of employment (or
otherwise providing services) under this Act, shall be
found guilty of a class E felony and imprisoned for not
more than five years, or fined as specified in 18 U.S.C.
3571, or both.
(3) The Commissioner may utilize temporary staff,
including employees of Federal, State, or local agencies
or instrumentalities including local educational agencies,
and employees of private organizations to assist the Cen-
ter in performing its responsibilities, but only if such tem-
porary staff are sworn to observe the limitations imposed
by this section.
(4) For the purposes of this section—
(A) the term ‘‘individually identifiable informa-
tion’’ means any record, response form, completed
survey, or aggregation thereof from which informa-
tion about particular individuals may be revealed;
and
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(B) the term ‘‘report’’ means a response pro-
vided by or about an individual to an inquiry from
the Center and does not include a statistical aggre-
gation from which individually identifiable informa-
tion cannot be revealed.
(5) Any person who uses any data provided by the
Center, in conjunction with any other information or tech-
nique, to identify any individual student, teacher, adminis-
trator, or other individual and who knowingly discloses,
publishes, or uses such data for a purpose other than a
statistical purpose, or who otherwise violates subsections
(a)(2) (A) or (B), shall be found guilty of a class E felony
and imprisoned for not more than five years, or fined as
specified in 18 U.S.C. 3571, or both.
(6) Nothing in this section shall restrict the right of
the Secretary, the Comptroller General of the United
States, the Director of the Congressional Budget Office,
and the Librarian of Congress to gain access to any re-
ports or other records, including information identifying
individuals, in the Center’s possession, except that the
same restrictions on disclosure that apply to the Center
under subsection (b)(1) and (5) shall apply.
DISSEMINATION
SEC. 9. (a) GENERAL REQUESTS.—(1) The Center
may furnish transcripts or copies of tables and other sta-
tistical records and make special statistical compilations
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and surveys for State and local officials, public and private
organizations, and individuals.
(2) The Center shall provide State and local edu-
cational agencies opportunities to suggest the development
of particular compilations of statistics, surveys, and analy-
ses that would assist those educational agencies.
(b) CONGRESSIONAL REQUESTS.—The Center shall
furnish such special statistical compilations and surveys
as the Congress may request.
(c) JOINT STATISTICAL PROJECTS.—The Secretary
may engage in joint statistical projects related to the pur-
poses of this Act, or other statistical purposes authorized
by law, with nonprofit organizations or agencies, and the
cost of such projects shall be shared equitably as deter-
mined by the Secretary.
(d) FEES.—(1) Statistical compilations and surveys
under this section, other than those carried out pursuant
to subsections (b) and (c), may be made subject to the
payment of the actual or estimated cost of such work.
(2) All funds received in payment for work or services
described in this subsection may be used to pay directly
the costs of such work or services, to repay appropriations
that initially bore all or part of such costs, or to refund
excess sums when necessary.
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(e) ACCESS.—(1) The Center shall, consistent with
section 8, participate with other Federal agencies having
a need for educational data in providing access to edu-
cational data received by the Center.
(2) The Center shall, in accordance with such terms
and conditions as the Secretary may prescribe, provide all
interested parties, including public and private agencies
and individuals, direct access to data collected by the Cen-
ter for the purposes of research and acquiring statistical
information.
COOPERATIVE EDUCATION STATISTICS SYSTEMS
SEC. 10. The Commissioner may establish one or
more national cooperative education statistics systems for
the purpose of producing and maintaining, with the co-
operation of the States, comparable and uniform informa-
tion and data on elementary and secondary education,
postsecondary education, and libraries that are useful for
policymaking at the Federal, State, and local levels. In
carrying out this section, the Commissioner may provide
technical assistance and make grants and enter into con-
tracts and cooperative agreements.
NATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS
SEC. 11. (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—The Commissioner
shall, with the advice of the National Assessment Govern-
ing Board established by section 12, carry out, through
grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements with one or
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more qualified organizations, or consortia thereof, a Na-
tional Assessment of Educational Progress (the ‘‘National
Assessment’’).
(b) PURPOSE; CONTENTS.—(1) The purpose of the
National Assessment is to provide a fair and accurate
presentation of educational achievement in reading, writ-
ing, and the other subjects included in National Education
Goal Three. The Commissioner, in carrying out the Na-
tional Assessment, shall use sampling techniques that
produce data that are representative on a national and
regional basis and on a State basis pursuant to paragraph
(2). In addition, the Commissioner shall—
(A) collect and report data on a periodic basis,
but at least once every two years, on students at
ages 9, 13, and 17 and in grades 4, 8, and 12;
(B) report achievement data on a basis that en-
sures valid and reliable trend reporting;
(C) include information on special groups; and
(D) ensure that achievement data are made
available on a timely basis following official report-
ing, in a manner that facilitates further analysis.
(2)(A) The Commissioner, in carrying out the Na-
tional Assessment, may conduct State assessments of stu-
dent achievement in grades 4, 8, and 12.
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(B) States wishing to participate in State assess-
ments shall enter into an agreement with the Secretary
pursuant to subsection (d)(2). Such agreement shall con-
tain information sufficient to give States full information
about the process for consensus decisionmaking on objec-
tives to be tested, required in section 12(e)(5), and of the
standards for sampling, test administration, test security,
data collection, validation, and reporting.
(C) A participating State shall review and give per-
mission for the release of results from any test of its stu-
dents administered as a part of a State assessment prior
to the release of such data. Refusal by a State to release
its data shall not restrict the release of data from other
States that have approved the release of such data.
(3) In carrying out the National Assessment, the
Commissioner shall not collect any data that are not di-
rectly related to the appraisal of educational performance,
achievement, and traditional demographic reporting vari-
ables, or to the fair and accurate presentation of such
information.
(4) In carrying out the National Assessment, the
Commissioner may provide technical assistance to States,
localities, and other parties.