Non-English Language Students in Palm Beach School District: An Examination of Administrative and American Community Survey Data

Robert Kominski, U.S. Census Bureau
Tiffany Julian, U.S. Census Bureau

The American Community Survey (ACS) has been envisioned by the Census Bureau as the replacement of the once-a-decade long form data collection previously undertaken as part of the decennial Census. In addition to providing more frequent and timely data, the survey is designed to provide reliable data at small geographic levels for meeting policy and programmatic needs. This analysis examines data from the Palm Beach Florida (PBF) school district regarding school children who speak a language other than English. We compare estimates from the administrative school-based data with those from the sample survey estimates of the ACS. We find that the ACS one-year datafile provides reasonable quality estimates for the major language groups. Five-year ACS data provides better information for more specific languages, as well as better specific estimates that are closer to the administrative levels.