Introduction

This report presents findings on the numbers and types of public elementary and secondary local education agencies (LEAs) in the United States and other jurisdictions¹ in the 2005–06 school year, using data from the Local Education Agency Universe Survey of the Common Core of Data (CCD) survey system. The CCD is an annual collection of data that are reported by state education agencies to the National Center for Education Statistics through its agent, the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Local Education Agency Universe Survey reports the numbers and types of LEAs. Information about LEAs includes the type of agency and its operational status (new, continuing, closed, etc.) the number of teachers, aides, administrators, and student support and other staff members, the total number of prekindergarten–grade 12 students and of students in ungraded classes, and the numbers of students who received a high school diploma or other high school completion credential during the previous school year.²

State education agencies participate voluntarily in the CCD, following standard definitions for the data items they report. In some cases, state education agencies may be unable to report a data item, or may not be able to follow the definition exactly. Examples of situations that could lead to missing data would be a state that collected only limited information about independent charter school districts, or a state that was unable to distinguish prekindergarten and kindergarten teachers from elementary teachers. All states, the District of Columbia, Department of Defense dependents schools (overseas and domestic), and the other jurisdictions reported in the 2005–06 CCD collection. Missing data items were imported from public websites for the Bureau of Indian Education.

Not all LEAs are responsible for educating students. Some regional education service agencies and supervisory unions, for example, provide administrative, research, or other services to regular school districts but do not enroll students.

While tables include data for all of the CCD respondents, the discussion of findings in the text includes only the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The tables in this report include counts, percentages, and ratios.

More information about the survey content and methodology can be found in Appendix A: Methodology and Technical Notes, of this report. The data items are defined in Appendix B: Common Core of Data Glossary.

More information about the CCD surveys and products is available at http://nces.ed.gov/ccd.

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¹ The CCD includes the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Department of Defense dependents schools (domestic and overseas), Bureau of Indian Education, Puerto Rico and the four other jurisdictions of American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
² High school completion data are reported in Public Elementary and Secondary School Student Enrollment, High School Completions, and Staff from the Common Core of Data: School Year 2005–06 (NCES 2007-352).

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