US National Center for Education Statistics

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the part of the United States Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES) that collects, analyzes, and publishes statistics on education and public school district finance information in the United States. It also conducts international comparisons of education statistics and provides leadership in developing and promoting the use of standardized terminology and definitions for the collection of those statistics.

Services
NCES runs the following systems:
 * Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, often abbreviated IPEDS. The core postsecondary education data collection program. IPEDS data on postsecondary institutions from is available via the College Navigator tool.
 * Data Analysis System (DAS), an online application that provides public access to US education survey data
 * National Public School Locator, an online application for locating U.S. public elementary and secondary school information. Data includes number of classroom teachers, total students, student/teacher ratios, and school population by grade and race/ethnicity
 * National Assessment of Educational Progress, a nationwide assessment of achievement among primary and secondary students.

Useful NCES Links for researchers

 * Find a Public School
 * Find a Private School
 * Build a Table
 * NCES Handbooks On-Line
 * National Center for Education Statistics comparing private to public schools
 * Search the National Archives Archival Research Catalog (ARC) for "National Center for Education Statistics" to identify historical NCES data and records