Special Education in the New National Educational Data System

Abstract

For more than 5-years, the U.S. Department of Education has been developing and implementing a new data system, EDFacts, designed to contain all the educational data it collects from states. This article provides a summary of the development of the new federal system and describes some of the benefits and challenges it poses for states, districts, and schools. The addition of data from special education to the new system is also described.