((a)) ** General duties** The Statistics Center shall collect, report, analyze, and disseminate statistical data related to education in the United States and in other nations, including—
((1)) collecting, acquiring, compiling (where appropriate, on a State-by-State basis), and disseminating full and complete statistics (disaggregated by the population characteristics described in paragraph (3)) on the condition and progress of education, at the preschool, elementary, secondary, postsecondary, and adult levels in the United States, including data on—
((A)) State and local education reform activities;
((B)) State and local early childhood school readiness activities;
((C)) student achievement in, at a minimum, the core academic areas of reading, mathematics, and science at all levels of education;
((D)) secondary school completions, dropouts, and adult literacy and reading skills;
((E)) access to, and opportunity for, postsecondary education, including data on financial aid to postsecondary students;
((F)) teaching, including—
((i)) data on in-service professional development, including a comparison of courses taken in the core academic areas of reading, mathematics, and science with courses in noncore academic areas, including technology courses; and
((ii)) the percentage of teachers who meet the applicable State certification and licensure requirements, including any requirements for certification obtained through alternative routes to certification, or, with regard to special education teachers, the qualifications described in . in each State and, where feasible, in each local educational agency and school;
((G)) instruction, the conditions of the education workplace, and the supply of, and demand for, teachers;
((H)) the incidence, frequency, seriousness, and nature of violence affecting students, school personnel, and other individuals participating in school activities, as well as other indices of school safety, including information regarding—
((i)) the relationship between victims and perpetrators;
((ii)) demographic characteristics of the victims and perpetrators; and
((iii)) the type of weapons used in incidents, as classified in the Uniform Crime Reports of the Federal Bureau of Investigation;
((I)) the financing and management of education, including data on revenues and expenditures;
((J)) the social and economic status of children, including their academic achievement;
((K)) the existence and use of educational technology and access to the Internet by students and teachers in elementary schools and secondary schools;
((L)) access to, and opportunity for, early childhood education;
((M)) the availability of, and access to, before-school and after-school programs (including such programs during school recesses);
((N)) student participation in and completion of secondary and postsecondary vocational and technical education programs by specific program area; and
((O)) the existence and use of school libraries;
((2)) conducting and publishing reports on the meaning and significance of the statistics described in paragraph (1);
((3)) collecting, analyzing, cross-tabulating, and reporting, to the extent feasible, information by gender, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, limited English proficiency, mobility, disability, urban, rural, suburban districts, and other population characteristics, when such disaggregated information will facilitate educational and policy decisionmaking;
((4)) assisting public and private educational agencies, organizations, and institutions in improving and automating statistical and data collection activities, which may include assisting State educational agencies and local educational agencies with the disaggregation of data and with the development of longitudinal student data systems;
((5)) determining voluntary standards and guidelines to assist State educational agencies in developing statewide longitudinal data systems that link individual student data consistent with the requirements of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 ( et seq.), promote linkages across States, and protect student privacy consistent with , to improve student academic achievement and close achievement gaps;
((6)) acquiring and disseminating data on educational activities and student achievement (such as the Third International Math and Science Study) in the United States compared with foreign nations;
((7)) conducting longitudinal and special data collections necessary to report on the condition and progress of education;
((8)) assisting the Director in the preparation of a biennial report, as described in ; and
((9)) determining, in consultation with the National Research Council of the National Academies, methodology by which States may accurately measure graduation rates (defined as the percentage of students who graduate from secondary school with a regular diploma in the standard number of years), school completion rates, and dropout rates.
((b)) ** Training program** The Statistics Commissioner may establish a program to train employees of public and private educational agencies, organizations, and institutions in the use of standard statistical procedures and concepts, and may establish a fellowship program to appoint such employees as temporary fellows at the Statistics Center, in order to assist the Statistics Center in carrying out its duties.