• Introduction
• Selected Findings
  
  • How many students were enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools?
  • How many teachers worked in public elementary and secondary schools?
  • What kinds of staff worked in public elementary and secondary schools?
  • What was the racial/ethnic background of students enrolled in public schools?
  • How many students graduated from high school during the 1999–2000 school year?
  • How many students are educated in Department of Defense and Bureau of Indian Affairs schools?
  • How many students are educated in Outlying Areas?
• Acknowledgments
• PDF Version of this Publication (184 kb)

This annual report presents findings from the Common Core of Data (CCD) “State Nonfiscal Survey of Public Elementary/Secondary Education, School Year 2000—01.” Data for this annual NCES survey are collected directly from state education agencies and include the total number of students, teachers, and graduates.

Data from the 2000–01 CCD survey can answer many questions about public elementary and secondary education including the following:

• How many students were enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools?
• How many teachers worked in public elementary and secondary schools?
• What kinds of staff worked in public elementary and secondary schools?
• What was the racial/ethnic background of students enrolled in public schools?
• How many students graduated from high school during the previous school year (1999–2000)?
• How many students are educated in Department of Defense, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and outlying area schools? (Data on the Department of Defense, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and outlying area schools are discussed separately. These data are not included in national totals.)

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Selected Findings

How many students were enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools?
In the 2000–01 school year, there were 47.2 million students enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools in the 50 states and the District of Columbia (table 1).¹ Of these students, 26.2 million (55.5 percent) were in prekindergarten through grade 6, an additional 20.5 million (43.4 percent) were in grades 7 through 12, and the remaining 0.6 million (1.2 percent) were ungraded students² (figure 1). Not including prekindergarten or ungraded classes, grade 9 had the most students while grade 12 had the fewest.

California had the most public elementary and secondary school students (6.1 million), followed by Texas (4.1 million) and New York (2.9 million). Thirteen states had over 1 million public elementary and secondary students in the 2000–01 school year. The District of Columbia (68,925), Wyoming (89,940), and Vermont (102,049) had the fewest students. Nine states and the District of Columbia had fewer than 200,000 public elementary and secondary students in the 2000-2001 school year.

The 47.2 million students enrolled in the 2000–01 school year represents a 14.6 percent increase in the number of students being served in the public elementary and secondary school system since the 1990-91 school year (table 10). Between the 1990-91 and 2000–01 school years, Nevada had the largest percentage increase (69.2 percent) in the number of students. Seven states and the District of Columbia had a decrease in the number of students between these years (the District of Columbia, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota, West Virginia, and Wyoming). The District of Columbia had the largest percentage decrease in students with a 14.6 percent drop.

Figure 1.-Percentage of public elementary and secondary students, by grades kindergarten through 12: School year 2000–01

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), “State Nonfiscal Survey of Public Elementary/Secondary Education,” 2000–01.

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How many teachers worked in public elementary and secondary schools?
About 3.0 million full-time-equivalent teachers provided instruction in public elementary and secondary schools in the 2000–01 school year (table 2). Among this group, 56.7 percent (1.7 million) were elementary school teachers (including prekindergarten and kindergarten teachers), 35.8 percent (1.2 million) were secondary school teachers, and 7.5 percent (222,921) were teachers who taught ungraded classes or were not assigned a specific grade. Only seven states had over 100,000 teachers. Two of these, California and Texas, had over one-quarter of a million teachers each.

While there was a 14.6 percent increase in students between the 1990-91 and 2000–01 school years, there was a 23.1 percent increase in the number of teachers (table 10). As with the number of students, Nevada also had the largest percentage increase in the number of teachers (76.4 percent). Only the District of Columbia (16.8) and West Virginia (2.5) had a decrease in the number of teachers between these two school years.

The ratio of total students to total teachers for the nation was 16.0 students per teacher in the 2000–01 school year (table 2). Student/teacher ratios ranged from a low of 12.1 students per teacher in Vermont to a high of 21.9 in Utah. The median student/teacher ratio was 15.1; that is, half the states had a student/teacher ratio greater than 15.1, and half had a lower ratio. Student/teacher ratios should not be interpreted as average class size, since not all teachers are assigned to a class (e.g., music and art teachers in elementary schools).

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What kinds of staff worked in public elementary and secondary schools?
In addition to the teachers enumerated previously, an additional 2,773,831 staff were employed in public schools. In the 2000–01 school year, 642,294 instructional aides directly assisted teachers in providing instruction and an additional 40,664 instructional coordinators and supervisors assisted teachers (e.g. curriculum development and in-service training) (table 3). Teachers made up 51.6 percent of all staff in the 2000–01 school year and instructional aides and coordinators made up an additional 11.9 percent of staff (figure 2). The percentage of all staff who were teachers ranged from 60.0 percent in Rhode Island to 44.1 percent in Kentucky. Vermont had a relatively low percentage of teachers per staff (47.3), the highest percentage of instructional aides (22.1 percent), and the lowest pupil-teacher ratio (table 2).

Another 26.4 percent³ of all staff (librarians, counselors, and other support staff) provided support services to schools and students. Staff providing support included 97,369 guidance counselors and 54,281 librarians. This translates to 485 students for every guidance counselor reported on average, and 870 students for each librarian. An additional 1.4 million staff members provided other support services for students. These services included food, health, library assistance, maintenance, transportation, security, and other services in the nation's public schools.

There were 141,407 school administrators (mostly principals and assistant principals), 58,891 school district administrators, and 380,655 school and district administrative support staff. Administrators and administrative support staff made up 10.1 percent of all education staff. On average, there were 15 teachers and 13 other staff for each district and school administrator.

Figure 2.-Percentage of public elementary and secondary staff, by type: School year 2000–01

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), “State Nonfiscal Survey of Public Elementary/Secondary Education,” 2000–01.

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What was the racial/ethnic background of students enrolled in public schools?
In the 2000–01 school year, racial/ethnic data were reported for 47.0 of the 47.2 million students enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools in the 50 states and the District of Columbia (table 4). White, non-Hispanic students made up the majority of students (61.2 percent⁴) followed by Black, non-Hispanic and Hispanic students (17.2 and 16.3 percent, respectively) (figure 3 and table 5). Asian/Pacific Islander students made up 4.1 percent of the public school population and American Indian/Alaska Native students made up 1.2 percent.

In six states (California, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, and Texas) and the District of Columbia, 50 percent or more of students were non-white. Black, non-Hispanic students made up more than 50 percent of all students in the District of Columbia and Mississippi. New Mexico reported 50.2 percent of its students as Hispanic, and Hawaii reported 72.3 percent of its student body as Asian/Pacific Islander. On the other hand, five states (Iowa, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and West Virginia reported that over 90 percent of their students were White, non-Hispanic.

Figure 3.-Percentage of public elementary and secondary students, by race/ethnicity: School year 2000–01

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CDD), “State Nonfiscal Survey of Public Elementary/Secondary Education,” 2000–01.

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How many students graduated from high school during the 1999–2000 school year?
Some 2.5 million students received a high school diploma in the 50 states and the District of Columbia during the 1999–2000 school year and subsequent summer (table 6). Another 41,638 received other high school completion credentials (e.g., certificate of attendance). These high school completers only made up 1.6 percent of all high school completers (diplomas and other high school completers, not including high school equivalencies). In addition, there were students who earned a high school equivalency certificate; however, a national total cannot be computed because of missing data from a number of states. Note that some states grant only diplomas and high school equivalency certificates and do not recognize any other types of high school completion and states are not necessarily comparable.

How many students are educated in Department of Defense and Bureau of Indian Affairs schools?
Two federal offices, the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of the Interior, also administer public schools. The Department of Defense administers schools inside and outside the boundaries of the United States for eligible minor dependents of DoD military and civilian personnel on official assignments. Over 100,000 students attended DoD schools in the 2000–01 school year (73,581 outside the United States and 34,174 inside the United States) (table 1). DoD schools accounted for over 7,504 teachers, and had a student-teacher ratio of 14.4 for schools outside the United States and 14.2 inside the United States (table 2). Over 50 percent of the DoD school students were White, non-Hispanic (table 5). Of the students in the overseas schools, 22 percent were Black, non-Hispanic, 7.8 percent were Hispanic, and 10.1 percent were Asian/Pacific Islander. Of domestic students, 26 percent were Black, non-Hispanic, 18.4 percent were Hispanic, and 3.5 percent were Asian/Pacific Islander.

Approximately 47,000 students attended the Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) schools (table 1). The governance of BIA schools differs from that of the federal DoD schools. The Education Amendments Act of 1978 (P.L. 95-561) and further technical amendments (P.L. 98-511, 99-89, and 100-297) mandated major changes in BIA funded schools. These amendments empowered Indian school boards, provided for local hiring of teachers and staff, and the direct funding of schools. The BIA does not report the number of staff or graduate counts.

How many students are educated in Outlying Areas?
Five outlying areas participate in the CCD collection: American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Marianas, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. Puerto Rico educates 612,725 public school students and is considered the third largest school district (table 1). The other four outlying areas are much smaller, with only 77,638 students combined in the 2000–01 school year. Student-teacher ratios ranged from 12.9 students per teacher (Virgin Islands) to 19.1 (American Samoa), exhibiting about the same range as the 50 states and the District of Columbia (table 2). Each outlying area has less than 2 percent White, non-Hispanic students (table 5). The majority of students in American Samoa, Guam, and the Northern Marianas are Asian/Pacific Islander; and in the Virgin Islands the majority of students are Black, non-Hispanic. Puerto Rico reported that all students are Hispanic.

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Acknowledgments

Thanks are due to Dell Gray from the Census Bureau for the creation and production of the tables. Special thanks as always go to Lee Hoffman and Leslie Scott who provided data and editorial support for this report. Thanks also to Susan Baldridge from Pinkerton Computer Consultants, who did the figures and report formatting.

The author gratefully acknowledges the comments and suggestions of the reviewers. Reviewers from outside the Department of Education include Ron Leclerc, New Hampshire Department of Education, Charlene Swanson, New York Department of Education, Rolf Blank, Council of Chief State School Officers, and Sally Dillow of Education Statistical Services Institute. Reviewers from the Department of Education include Judith Anderson and Alan Ginsburg, Office of the Undersecretary. Thanks to Steve Broughman, Charlene Hoffman, Frank Johnson, Mariann Lemke, and Bruce Taylor from NCES, for their reviews.

Copies of this report and other Common Core of Data (CCD) products are on the CCD website at http://nces.ed.gov/ccd.

Content Contact:
John Sietsema

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Footnotes

¹Grade level counts do not sum to 47.2 million, because of rounding.
²Ungraded students are students assigned to class or program that does not have standard grade designations.
³Percentages for categories shown in Figure 2 may not sum to total, because of rounding.
⁴Based on the 47.0 million students with reported racial/ethnic data.

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