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Selected characteristic | 1961 | 1966 | 1971 | 1976 | 1981 | 1986 | 1991 | 1996 | 2001
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1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10
_______________________________________________|_________|______|______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______
Number of teachers (in thousands) ........| 1,408| 1,710| 2,055| 2,196| 2,185| 2,206| 2,398| 2,164| 2,979
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Sex (percent) | | | | | | | | |
Male ........................................| 31.3| 31.1| 34.3| 32.9| 33.1| 31.2| 27.9| 25.6| 21.0
Female ......................................| 68.7| 68.9| 65.7| 67.1| 66.9| 68.8| 72.1| 74.4| 79.0
| | | | | | | | |
Median age (years) | | | | | | | | |
All teachers ................................| 41| 36| 35| 33| 37| 41| 42| 44| 46
Males .....................................| 34| 33| 33| 33| 38| 42| 43| 46| 47
Females ...................................| 46| 40| 37| 33| 36| 41| 42| 44| 45
| | | | | | | | |
Marital status (percent) | | | | | | | | |
Single ......................................| 22.3| 22.0| 19.5| 20.1| 18.5| 12.9| 11.7| 12.4| 15.2
Married .....................................| 68.0| 69.1| 71.9| 71.3| 73.0| 75.7| 75.7| 75.9| 73.1
Widowed, divorced, or separated .............| 9.7| 9.0| 8.6| 8.6| 8.5| 11.4| 12.6| 11.8| 11.7
| | | | | | | | |
Highest degree held (percent) | | | | | | | | |
Less than bachelor's ........................| 14.6| 7.0| 2.9| 0.9| 0.4| 0.3| 0.6| 0.3| 0.2
Bachelor's ..................................| 61.9| 69.6| 69.6| 61.6| 50.1| 48.3| 46.3| 43.6| 43.1
Master's or specialist degree\1\ ............| 23.1| 23.2| 27.1| 37.1| 49.3| 50.7| 52.6| 54.5| 56.0
Doctor's ....................................| 0.4| 0.1| 0.4| 0.4| 0.3| 0.7| 0.5| 1.7| 0.8
| | | | | | | | |
College credits earned in last 3 years | | | | | | | | |
Percent who earned credits ..................| ---| ---| 60.7| 63.2| 56.1| 53.1| 50.3| 50.2| 46.3
Mean number of credits earned\2\ ............| ---| ---| 14| ---| 9| 4| 4| --- | ---
| | | | | | | | |
Median years of teaching experience ...........| 11| 8| 8| 8| 12| 15| 15| 15| 14
| | | | | | | | |
Teaching for first year (percent) .............| 8.0| 9.1| 9.1| 5.5| 2.4| 3.1| 3.0| 2.1| 3.1
| | | | | | | | |
Average number of pupils per class | | | | | | | | |
Elementary teachers, not departmentalized ...| 29| 28| 27| 25| 25| 24| 23| 24| 21
Secondary and departmentalized elementary | | | | | | | | |
teachers .................................| 27| 27| 27| 25| 23| 26| 26| 31| 28
Mean number of students taught per day by | | | | | | | | |
secondary and departmentalized ele- | | | | | | | | |
mentary teachers .........................| ---| 132| 135| 127| 118| 97| 93| 97| 86
| | | | | | | | |
Average number of hours in required school day | 7.4| 7.3| 7.3| 7.3| 7.3| 7.3| 7.2| 7.3| 7.4
Average number of hours per week spent on | | | | | | | | |
all teaching duties | | | | | | | | |
All teachers ................................| 47| 47| 47| 46| 46| 49| 47| 49| 50
Elementary teachers .......................| 49| 47| 46| 44| 44| 47| 44| 47| 49
Secondary teachers ........................| 46| 48| 48| 48| 48| 51| 50| 52| 52
| | | | | | | | |
Average number of days of classroom teaching | | | | | | | | |
in school year .............................| ---| 181| 181| 180| 180| 180| 180| 180| 181
Average number of nonteaching days | | | | | | | | |
in school year .............................| ---| 5| 4| 5| 6| 5| 5| 6| 7
| | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |
Average annual salary as classroom | | | | | | | | |
teacher (current dollars)...................|\3\$5,264|$6,253|$9,261|$12,005|$17,209|$24,504|$31,790|$35,549|$43,262
Total income, including spouse's (if | | | | | | | | |
married) (current dollars)..................| ---| ---|15,021| 19,957| 29,831| 43,413| 55,491| 63,171| 77,739
Willingness to teach again (percent) | | | | | | | | |
Certainly would .............................| 49.9| 52.6| 44.9| 37.5| 21.8| 22.7| 28.6| 32.1| 31.7
Probably would ..............................| 26.9| 25.4| 29.5| 26.1| 24.6| 26.3| 30.5| 30.5| 28.7
Chances about even ..........................| 12.5| 12.9| 13.0| 17.5| 17.6| 19.8| 18.5| 17.3| 18.4
Probably would not ..........................| 7.9| 7.1| 8.9| 13.4| 24.0| 22.0| 17.0| 15.8| 15.7
Certainly would not .........................| 2.8| 2.0| 3.7| 5.6| 12.0| 9.3| 5.4| 4.3| 5.6
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