The Schools and Staffing Survey, 1987-88 (SASS 87-88), is the first year of the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS) program. Program data are available since 1987-88 at . SASS 87-88 is a system of surveys that cover a wide range of topics from teacher demand, teacher and principal characteristics, general conditions in schools, principals' and teachers'perceptions of school climate and problems in their schools, teacher compensation, district hiring and retention policies, to basic characteristics of the student population. The surveys were conducted using mail, paper questionnaires, and telephone interviews. Teachers, principals, school district coordinators and school coordinators were sampled. Key statistics produced from SASS 87-88 are average teacher salaries and the percentage of teachers by teaching field. Key statistics from the follow-up to SASS 87-88 (TFS 88-89) are the percentage of teachers staying at the same school, moving to a new school, or leaving the teaching profession. Prior to the founding of SASS in 1987-88, there were three sets of Elementary and Secondary School Division surveys administered by the National Center for Education Statistics in different years: the “Teacher Demand and Shortage Surveys, & the “Public and Private School Surveys,and the “Teacher Surveys. The public and private sector versions of each of these three survey types were conducted in alternate years.