Selected characteristics of public school teachers: Selected years, spring 1961 to spring 2001

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Table 69.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Selected characteristic                        |    1961 | 1966 | 1971 |  1976 |  1981 |  1986 |  1991 |  1996 |  2001
_______________________________________________|_________|______|______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______
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
                                               |_________|______|______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______
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
_______________________________________________|_________|______|______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______|_______

---Not available.
\1\Figures for curriculum specialist or professional diploma based on 6 years of college study are not included.
\2\Measured in semester hours.
\3\Includes extra pay for extra duties.

NOTE: Data are based upon sample surveys of public school teachers. Data differ from figures appearing in other tables because of varying survey processing procedures and time period coverages. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.

SOURCE: National Education Association, Status of the American Public School Teacher, 2000-01. (This table was prepared August 2003.)

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