This publication provides a comprehensive overview of work done across all parts of the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Each issue contains short publications, summaries, and descriptions that cover all NCES publications, data products, and funding opportunities developed over a 3-month period. Each issue also contains a message from the NCES on a timely topic and a featured topic with invited commentary. This issues featured topic is the Digest of Education Statistics." The first section contains: (1) Digest of Education Statistics: 2001 (Thomas D. Snyder and Charlene M. Hoffman); and (2) Invited Commentary: A 40-Year Perspective on the Digest of Education Statistics (Grant, W. Vance). The second section, Elementary and Secondary Education, contains: (3) Childrens Reading and Mathematics Achievement in Kindergarten and First Grade (Kristin Denton and Jerry West). Section 3, Postsecondary Education, contains: (4) Fall Enrollment in Title IV Degree-Granting Postsecondary Institutions: 1998 (Frank B. Morgan); (5) The Persistence of Employees Who Pursue Postsecondary Study (Lisa Hudson and David Hurst); (6) Distance Education Instruction by Postsecondary Faculty and Staff, 1998 (Ellen M. Bradburn); (7) Postsecondary Institutions in the United States: Fall 2000 and Degrees and Other Awards Conferred: 1999-2000 (Laura G. Knapp, Janice E. Kelly, Roy W. Whitmore, Shiying Wu, Lorraine M. Gallego, and Eric Grau); and (8) Study of College Costs and Prices: 1988-89 to 1997-98 (Alisa F. Cunningham, Jane V. Wellman, Melissa E. Clinedinst, and Jamie P. Merisotis). The next section, Libraries, contains: (9) Public Libraries in the United States: Fiscal Year 1999 (Adrienne Chute, P. Elaine Kroe, Patricia Garner, Maria Polcari, and Cynthia Jo Ramsey). The next section, International Statistics, contains: (10) Outcomes of Distance Learning: Results from the 2000 Program for International Student Assessment of 15-Year-Olds in Reading, Mathematics, and Science Literacy (Mariann Lemke, Christopher Calsyn, Laura Lippman, Leslie Jocelyn, David Kastberg, Yan Yun Liu, Stephen Roey, Trevor Williams, Thea Kruger, and Ghedam Bairu). A section on Crosscutting Statistics contains: (11) Federal Support for Education: Fiscal Years 1980 to 2001 (Charlene M. Hoffman); and (12) Labor Market Outcomes of Non-College-Bound High School Graduates (Peter Teitelbaum and Phillip Kaufman). A list of NCES products and publications is included. (SLD)