Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP)
Overview[edit | edit source]
CIP is “a taxonomic scheme that supports the accurate tracking and reporting of fields of study and program completions activity. CIP was originally developed by the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in 1980, with revisions occurring in 1985, 1990, 2000, 2010 and 2020.”
According to the NCES introduction to The Classification of Instructional Programs: 2020 Edition (CIP 2020), “The CIP titles and program descriptions are intended to be general categories into which program completions data can be placed, not exact duplicates of a specific major or field of study titles used by individual institutions. CIP codes are standard statistical coding tools that reflect current practice and are not a prescriptive list of officially recognized or permitted programs. The CIP is not intended to be a regulatory device” (p. 1).
This means that CIP codes aren’t meant to be mutually exclusive with a particular “degree or program level,” but rather to capture how different “instructional programs may be offered at various levels” (NCES, Introduction, p. 1). These are codes designed to help standardize the information about instructional programs, their content, and the levels at which they are taken.
Specifically: “The CIP is the accepted federal government standard on instructional program classifications and is used in a variety of education information surveys and databases. Since it was first published in 1980, the CIP has been used by NCES in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and its predecessor, the Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS), to code degree and certificate completions. It is also used by other Department of Education offices, such as the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), the Office of Career, Technical and Adult Education (OCTAE), and the Office of Special Education (OSE), and serves as the standard on instructional programs for other federal agencies, including the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Commerce (Bureau of the Census), the Department of Labor (Bureau of Labor Statistics), Department of Homeland Security (DHS)and others. The CIP is used by state agencies, national associations, academic institutions, and employment counseling services for collecting, reporting, and analyzing instructional program data” (NCES, Introduction, p.1).
Learn More[edit | edit source]
To learn more, see the Classification of Instructional Programs site.