To find an NCES ID number, use the free lookup tools on the National Center for Education Statistics website: Search for Public Schools for K–12 public schools, Search for Public School Districts for districts, Search for Private Schools for private K–12 schools, and the IPEDS Data Center or College Navigator for colleges and universities. Public school IDs are 12 digits, district IDs are 7 digits, and college UnitIDs are 6 digits. Each tool draws from a different federal data collection, so using the wrong one returns no results even when the institution exists.
Looking Up a Public School
The Search for Public Schools tool pulls directly from the Common Core of Data (CCD), the federal database that captures every public school reported by state education agencies, including charter and magnet schools. The current dataset reflects the 2024–2025 school year.1Institute of Education Sciences. Search for Public Schools
Enter the school name, city, and state, and the results page will list the 12-digit NCES School ID next to each match along with the address. Confirm the address before you use the number, because schools with similar names can appear in the same city.
If your search returns nothing, the usual cause is a name mismatch. School names in the CCD often differ from what’s used locally. A school known as “PS 118” may be listed under its full formal name, and a school named after a person may have that name spelled differently than you expect. Shorten your search to one or two key words plus the state and try again. NCES also offers a map-based School & District Navigator, which helps when you know the location but not the exact name.
Closed or Inactive Schools
The default search only returns currently operational schools. For a school that has closed, merged, or changed status, use the Elementary/Secondary Information System (ElSi) table generator at NCES to build a custom table filtered by school status.2Common Core of Data (CCD). ED Public Data Frequently Asked Questions Select “Public School” as the table type, then apply a status filter to surface inactive schools and their IDs.
Looking Up a District
The district-level identifier is 7 digits, and NCES provides a separate Search for Public School Districts tool. Enter the district name, city, or state and the results will display the NCES District ID alongside each match.3Institute of Education Sciences. Search for Public School Districts
There’s also a shortcut. The first seven digits of any 12-digit school ID are that school’s district ID. A school numbered 170993000123 belongs to district 1709930, and the leading 17 is the FIPS code for Illinois.4Common Core of Data (CCD). About Public School Name and Address File – Section: NCES School ID The dedicated district search is still worth using when you’re applying for a grant or submitting a federal report, because it confirms you have the correct entity name attached to those digits.
Charter Schools and Supervisory Unions
Charter authorizers sometimes appear as their own districts in the CCD. When a state treats charter schools as independent local education agencies rather than grouping them under a traditional district, each charter authorizer or individual charter school receives its own 7-digit agency ID with Agency Type Code 7. Practice varies by state; some states fold charters under existing district codes.5Common Core of Data (CCD). About School District (Agency) Name and Address File
In several New England states, small districts share a superintendent and administrative services through a supervisory union, which carries its own agency code separate from the component districts. If the district name you expected isn’t returning results, try searching by the supervisory union name.
State Education Agency IDs exist too, but they aren’t searchable through the public locator tools. They’re administrative identifiers used when state coordinators submit data to the EDFacts system. If you need one, the CCD State Education Agencies page lists contacts.6National Center for Education Statistics. Common Core of Data (CCD) – State Education Agencies
Looking Up a Private School
Private K–12 schools have NCES IDs, but they come from a different collection: the Private School Universe Survey (PSS), not the CCD. A private school receives its ID after participating in the PSS, and then it appears in the private school locator.7National Center for Education Statistics. Private School Universe Survey (PSS) – Frequently Asked Questions Use the Search for Private Schools tool and search by name, city, and state.8National Center for Education Statistics. Search for Private Schools
A private school that has never responded to the PSS won’t appear in the search and won’t have an NCES ID at all. This is a real coverage gap. The CCD captures every public school through mandatory state reporting; the PSS depends on schools choosing to participate.
Looking Up a College or University
Postsecondary institutions use a different identifier: a 6-digit UnitID assigned through the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS).9National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). IPEDS Data Center User Manual Every institution that has submitted IPEDS data has one.
Two tools will find it:
- College Navigator, at nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator, is a consumer-facing search covering more than 7,000 institutions that participate in federal financial aid programs. Search by name and open the institution’s profile.
- The IPEDS Data Center, at nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter, lets you search by institution name or directly by UnitID and pull detailed institutional data at the same time.10National Center for Education Statistics. IPEDS Data Center
Don’t cross the streams. Searching IPEDS for a K–12 school will return nothing, and searching the CCD tools for a college will do the same.
When a School Doesn’t Show Up
The most common reason is timing. NCES releases CCD nonfiscal data annually, and there’s a lag of several months between when a state submits data and when it appears in the public search tools.11Institute of Education Sciences. Common Core of Data (CCD) Nonfiscal Data Releases A school that opened after the most recent submission cycle won’t be listed yet.
A new school gets its NCES ID when the state education agency first reports it to the U.S. Department of Education through EDFacts.2Common Core of Data (CCD). ED Public Data Frequently Asked Questions If your school has been reported but isn’t appearing in the locator yet, the EDFacts Partner Support Center at edfacts@ed.gov can often retrieve the ID directly, because the record exists in the system before it’s published to the public tools.
Other reasons a search comes up empty:
- The search terms are too specific. Drop everything except one keyword from the name plus the state. Abbreviations, apostrophes, and formal versus common names all cause mismatches.
- You’re using the wrong tool. Public, private, and postsecondary institutions each have their own database.
- The school isn’t classified as a standalone school. Some alternative programs, part-time virtual offerings, and district-run supplemental programs never receive their own NCES IDs.
Fixing Wrong Information
If a school’s name, address, grade span, or operational status is wrong in the NCES tools, corrections don’t go through NCES. The data originates with the state education agency, so start with your school district and follow whatever internal process the state uses. The corrected information will appear in the next annual CCD release.12National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). ED Public Data FAQs
Phone numbers are the one exception. The EDFacts Partner Support Center can update phone numbers manually between CCD publication cycles. Everything else waits for the next release. If you pulled an NCES ID from a third-party website, cross-reference it against the official search tools before relying on it, because codes can change when schools merge, split, or reconfigure their grade levels.