Foreword

The 2015 edition of the Digest of Education Statistics is the 51st in a series of publications initiated in 1962. The Digest has been issued annually except for combined editions for the years 1977–78, 1983–84, and 1985–86. Its primary purpose is to provide a compilation of statistical information covering the broad field of American education from prekindergarten through graduate school. The Digest includes a selection of data from many sources, both government and private, and draws especially on the results of surveys and activities carried out by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). To qualify for inclusion in the Digest, material must be nationwide in scope and of current interest and value. The publication contains information on a variety of subjects in the field of education statistics, including the number of schools and colleges, teachers, enrollments, and graduates, in addition to data on educational attainment, finances, federal funds for education, libraries, and international comparisons. Supplemental information on population trends, attitudes on education, education characteristics of the labor force, government finances, and economic trends provides background for evaluating education data. Although the Digest contains important information on federal education funding, more detailed information on federal activities is available from federal education program offices.

The Digest contains seven chapters: All Levels of Education, Elementary and Secondary Education, Postsecondary Education, Federal Funds for Education and Related Activities, Outcomes of Education, International Comparisons of Education, and Libraries and Internet Use. Each chapter is divided into a number of topical subsections. Preceding the seven chapters is an Introduction that provides a brief overview of current trends in American education, which supplements the tabular materials in chapters 1 through 7. The Digest concludes with three appendixes. The first appendix, Guide to Sources, provides a brief synopsis of the surveys used to generate the Digest tables; the second, Definitions, is included to help readers understand terms used in the Digest; and the third, Index of Table Numbers, allows readers to quickly locate tables on specific topics.

In addition to providing updated versions of many statistics that have appeared in previous years, this edition incorporates new material on the following topics:

• Enrollment and percentage distribution of enrollment in public schools, by family poverty rate of 5- to 17-year-olds living in the school district, student race/ethnicity, region, and school locale (table 203.75)
• English language learner (ELL) students enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools, by grade and home language (table 204.27)
• Number and percentage distribution of public elementary and secondary school teachers who met licensing/certification requirements and of public school teachers who had less than 2 years of teaching experience, by state (table 209.25)
• Number and percentage of elementary and secondary school students retained in grade, by sex, race/ethnicity, and grade level (table 225.90)
• Percentage of public school students in grades 6 through 12 who had ever been suspended or expelled, by sex and race/ethnicity (table 233.20)
• Number and percentage of fall 2009 ninth-graders who were ever suspended or expelled through spring 2012, by when student was suspended or expelled and selected student characteristics (table 233.25)
• Number of students receiving selected disciplinary actions in public elementary and secondary schools, by type of disciplinary action, disability status, sex, and race/ethnicity (table 233.27)
• Percentage of students receiving selected disciplinary actions in public elementary and secondary schools, by type of disciplinary action, disability status, sex, and race/ethnicity (table 233.28)
• Number of discipline incidents resulting in removal of a student from a regular education program for at least an entire school day and rate of incidents per 100,000 students, by discipline reason and state (table 233.45)
• Percentage of public schools with a written plan for procedures to be performed in selected crises and percentage that have drilled students on the use of a plan, by selected school characteristics (table 233.65)
• Number of juvenile offenders in residential placement facilities, by selected juvenile and facility characteristics (table 233.90)
• Residential placement rate (number of juvenile offenders in residential facilities) per 100,000 juveniles, by sex and race/ethnicity (table 233.92)
• Percentage distribution of fall 2009 ninth-graders who had completed high school and selected measures of their high school achievement, by postsecondary enrollment status in fall 2013 and selected student characteristics (table 302.43)
• Number, percentage distribution, and median annual earnings of 25- to 34-year-olds with a bachelor's or higher degree, by sex, race/ethnicity, and selected employment and occupational characteristics (table 505.15)
• Average literacy and numeracy scale scores of 25- to 65-year-olds, by sex, age group, highest level of educational attainment, and country or other education system (table 604.10)
• Percentage distribution of 25- to 65-year-olds, by literacy proficiency level, numeracy proficiency level, selected levels of educational attainment, and country or other education system (table 604.20)
• Employment rates and mean monthly earnings of 25- to 65-year-olds, by literacy proficiency level, numeracy proficiency level, and country or other education system (table 604.30)

The Digest can be accessed from http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest.

Thomas D. Snyder
Supervisor
Annual Reports and Information Staff

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