Documentation for the 2007-08 Schools and Staffing Survey. NCES 2010-332
Author: Tourkin, Steven
Date: 2010-06-00
Type: Tests/Questionnaires
Subjects: Elementary Secondary Education,National Surveys,Public Schools,Private Schools,School Districts,Questionnaires,Principals,Teachers,Librarians,Test Content,Research Methodology,Evaluation Methods,Focus Groups,Interviews,Sampling,Data Collection,Response Rates (Questionnaires),Data Analysis,Computation,Information Management,Weighted Scores,Institutional Characteristics

The Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) is conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) on behalf of the United States Department of Education in order to collect extensive data on American public and private elementary and secondary schools. SASS provides data on the characteristics and qualifications of teachers and principals, teacher hiring practices, professional development, class size, and other conditions in schools across the nation. SASS is a large-scale sample survey of K-12 school districts, schools, teachers, library media centers, and administrators in the United States. It includes data from public, public charter, private, and Bureau of Indian Education (BIE)-funded school sectors. Therefore, SASS provides a multitude of opportunities for analysis and reporting on elementary and secondary educational issues. This report contains chapters on changes in SASS design, content, and methodology from 2003-04, preparation for the 2007-08 SASS, sample design and implementation, data collection, response rates, data processing, imputation procedures, weighting and variance estimation, a review of the quality of SASS data, SASS data files and merging information, and user notes and cautions. The following are appended: (1) Key Terms for SASS; (2) Questionnaire Availability; (3) Summary of the 2005-06 SASS Methodological Pretest Findings and Recommendations for the 2007-08 SASS; (4) Analysis of Changes to the 2005-06 SASS Pretest Teacher Listing Form and TFS-1(X) and Recommendations for the 2007-08 SASS and 2008-09 TFS; (5) Quality of Address Corrections from FirstData for Schools in the 2005-06 SASS Pretest; (6) Focus Group Findings and Recommendations: Collection of Teacher Compensation Data through SASS; (7) Results of School District Data Collection Study: Potential for Collecting Teacher Salary and Benefit Data; (8) Summary of the 2005-06 SASS Teacher Compensation Pilot Study; (9) Using Administrative Record Data to Assess Self-Reported Wage Items in SASS: The Teacher Compensation Pilot Study, 2006; (10) Focus Group Findings and Recommendations: Principals' Attitudes toward Teacher Evaluation and Dismissal; (11) Summary of Findings and Recommendations: Telephone Interviews with Principals; (12) Teacher Questionnaire Item Development for the 2007-08 SASS; (13) Results of Using a Physical Location Definition for Schools in the 2007-08 SASS; (14) 2007-08 SASS School Sample Allocation Procedure; (15) Report on Results of Special Contact Districts; (16) Changes Made to Variables During the Computer Edit, by Data File; (17) Quality Assurance for Data Capture and Mailout Operations; (18) Imputation Changes to Variables, by Data File; (19) Weighting Adjustment Cells; (20) Frame and Created Variables; and (21) Crosswalk among Items in the 1987-88, 1990-91, 1993-94, 1999-2000, 2003-04, and 2007-08 SASS.