The National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES), a unit of the U.S. Department of Education, collects, analyzes, and reports data and statistics related to education from pre-K through graduate school in the U.S. and internationally. Two annually-updated publications from NCES are good "gateways" to education-related statistics:

• Digest of Education Statistics - contains a set of tables covering the broad field of American education from prekindergarten through graduate school.
• Condition of Education - contains key indicators on all levels of education, labor force outcomes, and international comparisons.

NCES also provides access to several major education surveys, including: 

• National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) - called the "Nation's Report Card," this is a series of assessments at different grade levels on a range of subjects. 
• Early Childhood Longitudinal Studies (ECLS) Program- information about children’s knowledge, skills, and socioemotional development from birth through elementary school. 
• Secondary Longitudinal Studies Program (SLSP) - The aim of this continuing program is to study the educational, vocational, and personal development of students at various stages in their educational careers and the personal, familial, social, institutional, and cultural factors that may affect that development.
• National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS) - a system of related questionnaires that provide descriptive data on the context of public and private elementary and secondary education based on responses from a nationwide sample of teachers and administrators. 
• Integrated Postsecondary Data Education Program (IPEDS) - annual data from postsecondary institutions, including community colleges, technical institutions, colleges and universities, and graduate programs. 

The U.S. Census Bureau collects data through the decennial census as well as with more targeted (and more frequent) surveys such as the American Community Survey (ACS) and the Current Population Survey (CPS). These include education topics. 

• Statistical Abstract of the United States - Section 4 covers education. 
• Census.gov - The freely available website for the Census Bureau provides all of the data of the Statistical Abstract, but often is less easy to navigate or use.

The state departments of education also collect, analyze, and report on educational data. You may need to navigate to the state of interest in order to get to state-level data. Note that some states use the term "Public Instruction" rather than "Education".

Here are links to the data and reporting sites for states in our region:

• Virginia Department of Education - Statistics & Reports
• North Carolina Department of Public Instruction - Data & Reports
• Tennessee Department of Education - Data & Research
• Kentucky Department of Education - Assessment/Accountability
• West Virginia Department of Education - Data Management & Information System 
• Maryland State Department of Education - Reports

International agencies are also rich sources of data that goes beyond the U.S. system. These can be helpful when comparing U.S. educational outcomes and inputs with other countries. 

• The World Bank - Education
• The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) - Education
• UNICEF - Education

Various non-governmental organizations collect and interpret educational data. Be careful about using data from these organizations, as they may have a bias about what data they consider valuable and how they interpret it. 

• The Urban Institute: Education Data Explorer
• The Brookings Institute - Education
• The Education Trust - Research Tools and Insights