Table 1. Selected statistics for public elementary and secondary schools and school districts for the United States and jurisdictions and the 100 largest and 500 largest school districts: School years 2008–09 and 2007–08

Characteristics of the 100 Largest Public Elementary and Secondary School Districts in the United States: 2008–09

NCES 2011-301
November 2010

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Table 1. Selected statistics for public elementary and secondary schools and school districts for the United States and jurisdictions and the 100 largest and 500 largest school districts: School years 2008–09 and 2007–08
	All school districts	100 largest school districts			500 largest school districts
Characteristic	All school districts	Total	Percent of national total		Total	Percent of national total
Districts²	17,953	100	0.6		500	2.8
Schools³	100,713	16,905	16.8		32,957	32.7
Students	49,921,068	11,143,875	22.3		21,507,513	43.1
Full-time equivalent (FTE) teaching positions⁴	3,269,814	710,155	21.7		1,344,340	41.1
High school completers (2007–08)⁵	3,052,260	617,538	20.2		1,226,072	40.2
Median pupil/teacher ratio⁶	15.0	15.3	†		16	†
Average school enrollment⁷	513.8	673.1	†		668	†
† Not applicable.
¹ Total may differ from other published estimates due to inclusion of Puerto Rico, the outlying areas, the Bureau of Indian Education, and the Department of Defense dependents schools.
² Totals for number of districts may differ from published estimates since they exclude closed, inactive, and future school districts.
³ Totals for number of schools may differ from published estimates since they exclude closed, inactive, and future schools.
⁴ FTE is the amount of time required to perform an assignment stated as a proportion of a full-time position. It is computed by dividing the amount of time employed by the amount of time normally required for a full-time position. FTE is not a head count; for example, two half-time employees represent one FTE. The national total is based on state-level reports, whereas reports for the 100 and 500 largest districts are based on district-level reports.
⁵ Includes high school diploma recipients as well as other high school completers (e.g., certificates of attendance), but not high school equivalencies (e.g., General Education Development (GEDs)). Total may differ from other published estimates due to inclusion of Puerto Rico, the outlying areas, the Bureau of Indian Education, and the Department of Defense dependents schools.
⁶ Includes only schools where student membership was greater than zero and for which pupil/teacher ratio data were available. The median is given because it is unaffected by very high or very low values.
⁷ Includes only schools where membership was greater than zero.
NOTE: Data include all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, four outlying areas (American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands), the Bureau of Indian Education, and the Department of Defense dependents schools (overseas and domestic). The 500 largest school districts include 17 school districts that are some other configuration besides prekindergarten (PK) or K–12, although all of the 100 largest school districts are PK or K–12.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), "Public Elementary/ Secondary School Universe Survey," 2008–09, Version 1a, "Local Education Agency Universe Survey," 2008–09, Version 1a, "State Nonfiscal Survey of Public Elementary/Secondary Education," 2008–09, Version 1a, "Local Education Universe Survey Dropout and Completion Restricted-Use Data File," 2008–09, Version 1a, and "State Dropout and Completion Data File," 2007–08, Version 1a.

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