Projections of Education Statistics to 2008 / Introduction

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Introduction

Guide to This Edition

This edition of Projections of Education Statistics to 2008 provides projections for key education statistics. This edition includes statistics on enrollment, graduates, classroom teachers, and expenditures in elementary and secondary schools and institutions of higher education. For the Nation, the tables, figures, and text contain data on enrollment, teachers, graduates, and expenditures for the past 14 years and projections to the year 2008. For the 50 States and the District of Columbia, the tables, figures, and text contain data on projections of public school elementary and secondary enrollment and public high school graduates to the year 2008. Similar methodologies were used to obtain a uniform set of projections for the 50 states and the District of Columbia. These projections are further adjusted to agree with the national projections of public elementary and secondary school enrollment and public high school graduates appearing in this report. These projections reflect 1996 estimates and population projections based on the 1990 census. Appendix A describes the methodology and assumptions used to develop the projections. Appendix B contains tables of supplementary data. Data sources are presented in appendix C. Appendix D is a glossary of terms.

Limitations of Projections

Projections of time series usually differ from the final reported data due to errors from many sources. This is because of the inherent nature of the statistical universe from which the basic data are obtained and the properties of projection methodologies, which depend on the validity of many assumptions. Therefore, alternative projections are shown for most statistical series to denote the uncertainty involved in making projections. These alternatives are not statistical confidence limits, but instead represent judgments made by the authors as to reasonable upper and lower bounds. Alternative projections are presented for higher education enrollment, classroom teachers, and expenditures of public elementary and secondary schools and institutions of higher education.

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