The Higher Education Arts Data Services (HEADS) Project is a joint effort of the following organizations: National Association of Schools of Music, National Association of Schools of Art and Design, National Association of Schools of Theatre, and the National Association of Schools of Dance. The HEADS Project is designed to provide comprehensive management data on the arts in higher education.

The HEADS Data Survey requests statistical information on a number of areas including enrollment, degrees offered, operational budgets, faculty salaries, ethnic breakdown of faculty and students, and the like.

Institutional Representatives are sent an e-mail each year regarding their access to the the HEADS Data Survey when it is opened. Participants are assigned a user name and password for their HEADS discipline (music, art/design, theatre, dance). If participants have created a login account for a previous year, that information will remain active for future years. Login accounts for separate disciplines must be set up individually (i.e., a separate account must be set up for music, art/design, theatre, dance). If you have lost your login information, please choose the appropriate discipline below, then on the next screen click the "Forget your user name or password?" link.

The Associations also have a separate login account to access their Web Sites. These login accounts will not provide access the HEADS Web Site. Please make sure the appropriate user name and password are used when logging into the site.

The recommended browsers are the most recent versions of Internet Explorer, Mozilla FireFox, and Safari. Older browsers may not allow appropriate operation of the site. Please ensure that cookies and scripting and enabled in the Web browser.

MEMBER INSTITUTIONS: There is no participation fee for accredited member institutions since filing the HEADS Data Survey is a requirement of Membership. Failure to submit this survey will cause Membership status to be reviewed by the appropriate Commission on Accreditation. By submitting a completed survey, access to an electronic copy of the compiled Data Summaries will be granted. This is a benefit of Membership and is covered by the Annual Membership dues.

NON-MEMBER PARTICIPANTS: There is no participation fee for non-member institutions. Following submission of a completed report, non-member institutions may purchase a hard copy of the compiled Data Summaries for $250. This fee for non-member participants covers the cost of the compiled Data Summaries. Electronic access to the HEADS Data Summaries is not granted to non-member institutions.

After Institutional Representatives log in to their accounts, they may assign additional data reporters to complete portions of the institution's Data Survey. When establishing an additional data reporter account, the Institutional Representative selects the survey pages to which the data reporter has access. During the assignment process, the HEADS system will automatically send an e-mail to the assigned data reporter allowing them to setup their own login account and proceed to enter data.

Users may ascertain the overall status of the institution's survey as well as the status of individual pages by the "Not Started," "Incomplete," and "Complete" notations on Table of Contents page. Return to this page at the completion of each section or as often an necessary to confirm progress.

Data may be entered in any order. Users need not move in step from Section I to Section VII; however, please note that if the user proceeds out of section order, the survey may prompt the user to revisit a page and make corrections if an error is found.

NOTE: It is recommended that you save your data frequently using the "Save Page And Come Back" button; prolonged periods of inactivity may cause the system to "time out." If the session times out, the user will be prompted to log back into the system.

Click any link to enter that page's data. You must visit and complete each page of the survey. Once all pages have been completed, the option to complete the survey will appear on the Data Survey homepage. The final submission of the survey may only be completed by the Institutional Representative.

Data are saved on a page-by-page basis. After you have entered your data into a page of the survey, you must click either "Save Page And Come Back" or "Save Page As Complete".

An error message that requires immediate action can occur when 1) the system requires a specific entry in order to complete a page or 2) data is entered outside of the expected range. For example, if after entering incorrect punctuation in the "telephone number" field, the user clicks the "Save Page As Complete" button, a message box with red lettering will appear describing the error. All error messages must be fixed before the system will 1) note that the page is "Complete" and 2) finally accept all data.

Once all required data for each page and all edits have been resolved, the user is required to complete the survey. A "Complete Survey" button will appear at the bottom of the Data Survey homepage once each appropriate page of the survey is marked "Complete". This button will appear only when the Institutional Representative is logged into the system. Once the "Complete Survey" button is clicked, the system will prompt you for confirmation of your action. The user will be able to view and print all survey data that has been saved. Should an error in the data be discovered, please contact HEADS at (703) 437-0700 Ext. 122 or e-mail APlybon@arts-accredit.org. Staff is able to edit each completed survey and/or to unlock a completed survey if necessary.

You may open a printable version of your survey with all your saved data by clicking the "Printable Version" menu option. The printable version will open in a separate window and may be used at any point during data entry. Please note to make sure your page settings for the left and right margin are set to 0.25 each prior to printing your survey. This will keep the text from running off the right side of the page.

You may click the browser's "Print" button or proceed to "File > Print" on the browser's menu bar to issue the print command. You may also right click the mouse, selecting the "Print" option from the menu list. Please note that the online survey will be the official copy for each institution. Please ensure you maintain a hardcopy for your records.

To end any session, the user must log out of the system by choosing the "Log Out" link at the top of the page. "Login" will be required to re-enter the survey.