The following items represent changes in the estimation procedures used for school district, county, and state poverty estimates for 2012 relative to the estimation procedures used for 2011. These changes reduce the comparability of the estimates between years and should be considered when making such comparisons. See General Cautions about Comparisons of Estimates and Guidance for Making Year-to-Year Comparisons.

There were no changes in the list of county-level entities or methodology in 2012 relative to 2011 estimates.

There were no changes in the list of state-level entities or methodology in 2012 relative to 2011 estimates.

There were no changes in the list of school districts or their grade-range coverage in 2012 relative to the 2011 estimates. The list of school districts for 2012 can be obtained by downloading the SAIPE 2012 school district estimates database, available by state or complete national format.

However, in regards to school district methodology, the school district-level population estimates for 2012 are based on the Decennial 2010 population counts, benchmarked to sum to the Census Bureau’s official county-level population estimates for July 1, 2012.