Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) - Overview

Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) - Overview:

Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS)

The Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) was conducted by NCES seven times between 1987 through 2011. SASS was an integrated study public and private school districts, schools, principals, and teachers designed to provide descriptive data on the context of elementary and secondary education. SASS covered a wide range of topics from teacher demand, teacher and principal characteristics, general conditions in schools, principals' and teachers' perceptions of school climate and problems in their schools, teacher compensation, district hiring and retention practices, to basic characteristics of the student population.

After 2011–12, NCES redesigned SASS and named it the National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS) to reflect the redesigned study's focus on the teacher and principal labor market and on the state of K-12 school staff. NCES first conducted NTPS in 2015–16. Learn more about NTPS here.

SASS had four core components: the School Questionnaire, the Teacher Questionnaire, the Principal Questionnaire, and the School District Questionnaire, which was known as the Teacher Demand and Shortage Questionnaire until the 1999–2000 SASS administration. These questionnaires were sent to respondents in public, private, and Bureau of Indian Education/tribal schools. In 1999–2000, public charter schools were also included in the sample. For the 2003–04, 2007–08, and 2011–12 SASS, a sample of public charter schools were included in the sample as part of the public school questionnaire.

Many of the same survey questions were used in each cross-sectional cycle of the survey, allowing researchers to investigate trends over time. Core survey items in the school, principal, and teacher questionnaires have been retained in the NTPS. The questionnaires for each of the seven rounds of SASS are available online and can be downloaded from the Questionnaires page.

Changes to SASS Questionnaires

Sample Selection

Types of Schools in SASS

The Principal Follow-Up Survey (PFS)

The Teacher Follow–up Survey (TFS)

Data Processing and Privacy Protection

Data Use and Publications

 Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) - Overview: