Chapter 2: Elementary and Secondary Education

This chapter contains a variety of statistics on public and private elementary and secondary education. Data are presented for enrollments, teachers and other school staff, schools, dropouts and achievements, school violence, and revenues and expenditures. These data are derived from surveys conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and other public and private organizations. The information ranges from counts of students and schools to state graduation requirements.

Enrollments

Public elementary and secondary school enrollments increased by 4 percent from 1998 to 2003, but enrollment at the elementary and secondary levels increased at different rates (table 36 and figure 6). Between 1998 and 2003, public elementary enrollment rose by 3 percent, while secondary enrollment increased by 9 percent. Enrollments in private elementary and secondary schools rose by 6 percent between 1998 and 2003 (table 3).

Preprimary education (nursery and kindergarten schools) enrollment was higher in 2004 than in 1994. The enrollment rate of 3- to 5-year-olds in preprimary programs rose from 61 percent in 1994 to 65 percent in 2004 (table 40 and figure 7). An important feature of the increasing participation of young children in preprimary schools is the increasing proportion of children in full day programs. In 2004, about 57 percent of the children attended preprimary school all day compared with 46 percent in 1994.

Slowly increasing numbers and proportions of children are being served in programs for the disabled. During the 1993–94 school year, 12 percent of students were served in these programs compared with 14 percent in 2003–04 (table 50). Some of the rise since 1993–94 may be attributed to the increasing proportion of children identified as having speech or language impairments, which rose from 2.3 percent of enrollment to 3.0 percent of enrollment; other health impairments (having limited strength, vitality, or alertness due to chronic or acute health problems, such as a heart condition, tuberculosis, rheumatic fever, nephritis, asthma, sickle cell anemia, hemophilia, epilepsy, lead poisoning, leukemia, or diabetes), which rose from 0.2 to 1.0 percent of enrollment; and autism and traumatic brain injury, which rose from 0.1 to 0.4 percent of enrollment.

Teachers and Other School Staff

During the 1970s and early 1980s, public school enrollment decreased, while the number of teachers rose. As a result, the public school pupil/teacher ratio declined from 22.3 in 1970 to 17.9 in 1985 (table 63 and figure 6). After 1985, the number of pupils per teacher continued downward, reaching 17.2 in 1989. After a period of relative stability during the late 1980s through the mid 1990s, the ratio declined from 17.3 in 1995 to 16.1 in 1999. Small declines have continued since then, and the public school pupil/teacher ratio was 15.9 in 2003. The estimated pupil/teacher ratio for private schools for 2003 was 15.9. The pupil/teacher ratio includes teachers for disabled students and other special teachers, who generally are excluded from class size calculations. The student count for the pupil/teacher ratio includes all students enrolled in the fall of the school year. The average class size in 1999–2000 was 21.1 pupils for public elementary schools and 23.6 for public secondary schools (table 67).

In 1999–2000, 75 percent of public school teachers were women, 39 percent were under 40, and 47 percent had a master’s or higher degree (table 66). Similar proportions of private school teachers were women (76 percent). However, a lower proportion of private school teachers (35 percent) had a master’s or higher degree.

Public school principals tend to be older and have more advanced credentials compared to public school teachers. In 1999–2000, 10 percent of the public school principals were under age 40 and 98 percent of the public school principals had a master’s or higher degree (table 83). Also, they were more likely to be male. About 44 percent of the principals were women.

The number of non-teaching staff employed by public schools grew during the 1970s, while the number of students declined (tables 78 and 3). Between 1970 and 1980, the proportion of staff who were teachers declined from 60 percent to 52 percent. From 1980 to 2003, the number of teachers and other staff grew at more similar rates than in the 1970s. While the number of staff who were not teachers rose at a greater pace than the number of teachers, the rates were nearly equal (42 percent and 40 percent, respectively). As a result, the proportion of teachers among total staff decreased 1 percentage point during this later period, compared to 8 percentage points in the 1970s. Instructional aides were among the most rapidly increasing staff categories, rising by 110 percent between 1980 and 2003. Taken together, the proportion of staff with some instructional responsibilities (teachers and teacher aides) increased between 1980 and 2003, from 60 to 63 percent. In 2003, there were 8.2 pupils per staff member (total staff) compared with 9.8 pupils per staff member in 1980. In 1999, the number of pupils per staff member at private schools was 7.9 (table 58).

Schools

During most of the last century, the trend to consolidate small schools brought a large decline in the total number of public schools in the United States. In 1929–30, there were approximately 248,000 public schools, compared with about 96,000 in 2003–04 (table 84). But this number has grown in recent years, with an increase of approximately 10,300 schools between 1993–94 and 2003–04.

The shift in structure of public school systems toward middle schools (low grades 4, 5, or 6 to high grades 6, 7, or 8) since the early 1970s continues (table 91). The number of all elementary schools (beginning in grade 6 or below, with no grade higher than grade 8) rose by 10 percent to 65,758 between 1993–94 and 2003–04, but the subset of middle schools rose by 29 percent during the same time period. Meanwhile, the number of junior high schools (grades 7 to 8 or 7 to 9) declined by 18 percent.

The average number of students in elementary schools was higher in 2003–04 (476) than in 1993–94 (468), but there have been only small fluctuations since 1995–96 (table 93). There has been a more consistent pattern of size increases for secondary schools, which rose from an average of 693 students in 1993–94 to 722 in 2003–04. The average size of regular secondary schools, which exclude alternative schools, special education, and vocational education schools, rose from 748 to 816 between 1993–94 and 2003–04.

Dropouts

The percentage of dropouts among 16- to 24-year-olds shows some decreases over the past 20 years (General Educational Development recipients are treated as completers). This percentage includes all persons in the 16- to 24-year-old age group who are not enrolled in school and who have not completed a high school program, regardless of when they left school. Between 1984 and 2004, the dropout rate declined from 13.1 percent to 10.3 percent (table 105). This measure is based on the civilian noninstitutionalized population, which excludes persons in prisons, in the military, and other persons not living in households.

Achievement

Most of the student performance data in the Digest are drawn from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The NAEP assessments have been conducted using three basic designs: the national main NAEP, state NAEP, and the long-term trend NAEP. The main NAEP reports current information for the nation and specific geographic regions of the country. The assessment program includes students drawn from both public and nonpublic schools and reports results for student achievement at grades 4, 8, and 12. The main NAEP assessments follow the frameworks developed by the National Assessment Governing Board, and use the latest advances in assessment methodology.

Since 1990, NAEP assessments have also been conducted at the state level. Participating states receive assessment results that report on the performance of students in that state. In its content, the state assessment is identical to the assessment conducted nationally. However, because the national NAEP samples prior to 2002 were not designed to support the reporting of accurate and representative state-level results, separate representative samples of students were selected for each participating jurisdiction/state. From 1990 through 2001, the national sample was a subset of the combined sample of students assessed in each participating state, plus an additional sample from the states that did not participate in the state assessment. Since 2002, a combined sample of public schools has been selected for both state and national NAEP.

NAEP long-term trend assessments are designed to give information on the changes in the basic achievement of America’s youth since the early 1970s. They are administered nationally and report student performance at ages 9, 13, and 17 in reading and mathematics. Measuring long-term trends of student achievement requires the precise replication of past procedures. Therefore, the long-term trend instrument does not evolve based on changes in curricula or in educational practices.

Long-term trend data have shown improvements in achievement in a number of areas. The average reading score at age 9 was higher in 2004 than in any previous assessment year (table 108). The average score at age 13 was higher in 2004 than in 1971, but not measurably different from the average score in 1999. Between 1999 and 2004, average reading scores at age 17 showed no measurable changes. The average score for 17-year-olds in 2004 was similar to that in 1971. Significant gaps in performance continue to exist between racial/ethnic subgroups.

For Black 9-, 13-, and 17-year-olds, average reading scores in 2004 were higher than in 1971. At age 9, Black students scored higher on average in 2004 than in any previous administration year. For Blacks ages 13 and 17, scores increased between 1971 and 2004 (table 108). For White students, the average scores for 9- and 13-year-olds were also higher in 2004 than in 1971. Separate data for Hispanics were not gathered in 1971, but as with the other racial/ethnic groups, the average reading score for Hispanic students at age 9 was higher in 2004 than in any other assessment year. The average score for Hispanic students at age 13 shows an increase between 1975 and 2004. The scores for 17-year-old Hispanic students also increased between 1975 and 2004, but no measurable changes were seen between 1999 and 2004.

All reading score differences show female students scored higher on average than their male counterparts in 2004. The gender gap at age 9 decreased from 1971 to 2004. In contrast, there has been no measurable change in the score gap at age 13 between 2004 and any previous assessment year. For 17-year-olds, the score gap in 2004 was larger than the gaps in 1988 and 1980, but showed no measurable difference from the gaps in other assessment years.

The 2005 main NAEP reading assessment of states found that reading proficiency varied among public school fourth-graders in the 53 participating jurisdictions (50 states, Department of Defense overseas and domestic schools, and the District of Columbia) (table 112). The U.S. average score was 217. The scores for the participating jurisdictions ranged from 191 in the District of Columbia and 207 in New Mexico to 227 in New Hampshire and Vermont.

Results from the long-term trend NAEP of mathematics achievement indicate a significant improvement at ages 9 and 13 between 1973 and 2004, but not for age 17 (table 118). At 241, the average score at age 9 was higher in 2004 than in any previous year—up 9 points from 1999 and 22 points from 1973. At age 13, the average score in 2004 was higher than in any other assessment year. The 5-point increase between 1999 and 2004 resulted in an average score in 2004 that was 15 points higher than the average score in 1973. The average score at age 17 was not measurably different from the average score in 1973 or 1999. The apparent difference in average mathematics scores at age 9 between male and female students in 2004 was not statistically significant, while the change in the gender score gap between 1973 and 2004 was statistically significant. Males had higher average scores than females at ages 13 and 17. The gender score gaps for 13- and 17-year-olds were measurably different between 1973 and 2004.

The 2005 main NAEP assessment of states found that mathematics proficiency varied among public school eighth-graders in the 53 participating jurisdictions (50 states, Department of Defense overseas and domestic schools, and the District of Columbia) (table 122). Overall, 68 percent of these eighth-grade students performed at or above the Basic level in mathematics, and 29 percent performed at or above the Proficient level. The District of Columbia had 31 percent of students performing at least at the Basic level in math.

The SAT (formerly known as the Scholastic Assessment Test and the Scholastic Aptitude Test) is not designed as an indicator of student achievement, but rather to help predict how well students will do in college. Between 1994–95 and 2004–05, mathematics SAT scores increased by 14 points, while verbal scores rose by 4 points (table 127).

The average number of science and mathematics courses completed by public high school graduates increased between 1982 and 2000. The mean number of mathematics courses (Carnegie units) completed in high school rose from 2.6 in 1982 to 3.6 in 2000, and the number of science courses rose from 2.2 to 3.2 (table 132). The average number of courses in vocational areas completed by all high school graduates was lower in 2000 (4.2 units) than in 1982 (4.6 units). As a result of the increased academic course load, the proportion of students completing the 1983 National Commission on Excellence recommendations for college-bound students (4 units of English, 3 units of social studies, 3 units of science, 3 units of mathematics, 2 units of foreign language, and .5 units of computer science) rose from 2 percent in 1982 to 31 percent in 2000 (table 135).

School Violence

About 86 percent of public schools had a criminal incident in 1999–2000, including a serious violent crime or a less serious crime such as a fight without weapons, theft, or vandalism (table 141). In 1999–2000, 71 percent of schools reported a violent incident; 46 percent of schools reported theft/larceny; and 73 percent other types of incidents. Overall, there were about 5 crime incidents reported per 100 students.

Revenues and Expenditures

The state share of revenues for public elementary and secondary schools generally grew from the 1930s through the mid 1980s, at the same time as the local share declined (table 152 and figure 9). However, this pattern changed in the late 1980s when the local share began to increase, while the state share fell. Between 1986–87 and 1993–94, the state share fell from 49.7 percent to 45.2 percent, while the local share rose from 43.9 percent to 47.8 percent. Between 1993–94 and 2002–03, the state share increased to 48.7 percent and the federal share rose to 8.5 percent. The local share of revenues fell to 42.8 percent.

After adjustment for inflation, current expenditures per student in fall enrollment in public schools rose during the 1980s, remained stable during the first part of the 1990s, and rose between 1992–93 and 2002–03 (table 162 and figure 10). There was an increase of 14 percent from 1985–86 to 1990–91; an increase of less than 1 percent from 1990–91 to 1995–96 (which resulted from small decreases at the beginning of this period, followed by small increases after 1992–93); and an increase of 20 percent from 1995–96 to 2002–03. In 2002–03, current expenditures per student in fall enrollment were $8,044.

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