After a summer break, the the St. Louis Federal Reserve’s Liber8® Economic Information Newsletter is back. The current, August 2011, issue is titled Is a College Cap and Gown a Financial Ball and Chain? [PDF]. The August newsletter information is also presented as a web page with links to the sources.

Liber8 “includes an informative and accessible economic essay on a current economic topic, written by the research analysts of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, and a selection of useful economic articles, data, and websites compiled by the librarians of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Research Library. The Newsletter is published 9 times per year, January through May and August through November.” (From the website.) Classroom editions of the newsletter add quiz questions, a teacher’s guide, and topics for further discussion.

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The U.S. Department of Education has consolidated much of its statistical data on a new website: ED Data Express (http://www.eddataexpress.ed.gov/). Data currently on the site is drawn from these existing programs:

• EDFacts
• Consolidated State Performance Reports (CSPR)
• State
  Accountability Workbooks
• National Center for Education Statistics
  (NCES)
• National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP)
• College Board
• Education Department’s Budget Service office

Data can be downloaded in spreadsheet format or used directly on the site. The site’s State Snapshots are prepared reports with student demographics and achievement data. The Data Element Explorer displays one selected data element for all states. The State Tables function allows you to build custom tables with state or national data elements for one or more states; check the caveats about data comparisons first, of course.

ED Data Express provides essential documentation and explanations in its FAQ, Definitions, and About sections. In fact, the site makes users click to confirm that they have read the About section before proceeding to access the data.