FAQ - SCED (School Codes for the Exchange of Data)

General Questions

• What are SCED's?
• How were the SCED's developed?
• Who is the NCES?
• What is the Process to request a new SCED Code?
• Will districts be required to change their local course curriculums or local course codes?

What are SCED's?

SCED is an acronym for School Codes for the Exchange of Data (SCED). NCES The NCES SCED data handbooks provides taxonomy for assigning standard codes to pre-secondary and secondary school courses in 23 major subject areas. They also include a content description for each course.

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How were the SCED's developed?

In the summer of 2003, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) initiated work to develop a common classification system for secondary school courses in the United States. The resulting system is the Secondary School Course Classification System: School Codes for Exchange of Data (SCED), presented in this handbook. The primary purpose of the SCED system is to make it easier for school districts and states to maintain longitudinal student records electronically, and to transmit course taking information from one student information system to another, from one school district to another, and from a school district to a state department of education. As substantial numbers of agencies adopt the system, it will produce a secondary benefit: standardized course information for those who evaluate transcripts for postsecondary admission or research purposes.

More specifically, a common classification system for secondary school courses would achieve the following:

• • enable comparison of course offerings among districts and states;
  • facilitate the use of electronic student transcripts;
  • support longitudinal student information systems;
  • encourage interoperability of student information and other data management systems by providing a standard for education software designers and vendors;
  • reduce the cost and burden of transcript studies; and
  • encourage the use of course taking information in research and evaluation of student outcomes.

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Who is the NCES?

• • The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the primary federal entity for collecting, analyzing, and reporting data related to education in the United States and other nations. These codes are only a basis for Colorado. The SSCC system contains additional codes specific to Colorado.
  • NCES Home Page

What is the Process to request a new SCED Code?

• • Please fill out this form (DOC) and email it to Peter Hoffman.
  • Will districts be required to change their local course curriculums?
    • No, there is no requirement for districts to change their local course curriculums. The scope of this project is only to mapping local courses to Statewide Standard Course Codes.

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Will districts be required to change their local course curriculums or local course codes?

No, there is no requirement for districts to change their local course curriculums or local course codes. The scope of this project is to have districts map/crosswalk their local course codes to the Statewide Standard Course Codes.

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