Provides research, evaluation, consulting, and technical assistance services that contribute to the lifelong process of learning and improving personal performance.

Produces and disseminates information to provide motivation and tools to enable individuals to make informed decisions about health issues.

Develops and implements education testing programs that benefit students, parents and public officals.

Works with the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the government's primary source for collecting and analyzing data about public education.

Helps to provide all children with access to a quality education, and empowers people, organizations, and communities to bring about social change.

Is committed to helping clients improve the effectiveness of their workforce through a wide range of management, organizational, and business improvement efforts.

Produces, maintains and disseminates systematic reviews of the effects of social and behavioral interventions.

Schools and Staffing Survey

Deanna Lyter - Research Analyst

ESSI provides support to National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and, through the agency, to the U.S. Census Bureau for development, data quality, and analysis of the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS). The survey is taken every four years and is the largest and most comprehensive sample survey of kindergarten through grade 12 schools and school staff in the United States. The information offers a measure of teacher demand and shortage, the characteristics of teachers and administrators, school programs, and the general conditions at schools. The survey includes samples of public, private, and public charter schools, as well as Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) schools. In all, more than 100,000 teachers, principals, and school personnel participate.

For the most recent round of data collection taken during the 2003–04 school year, a team from ESSI, led by Senior Research Analyst Gregory Strizek and Research Analyst Deanna Lyter, advised NCES on a major redesign of the data collection methodology. A revised system, using field representatives as the primary contact with the schools, was implemented, with ESSI staff monitoring all phases of the data collection and, during the process, identifying areas where adjustments needed to be made.

In addition, ESSI provides support for the SASS supplement, the Teacher Follow-up Survey, which is a large, comprehensive, nationally representative survey that is an important source of data on teacher attrition, mobility, and satisfaction.