Foreword

The 2017 edition of the Digest of Education Statistics is the 53rd 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 Use of Technology. 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 two 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.

The Digest can be accessed from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest. Tables from each Digest edition since 1995 can be viewed by selecting the edition year from a drop-down menu. All tables that appear in the print version of the Digest are also included in the online version. In addition, the online version of recent editions includes a number of supplemental “web-only” tables. (Web-only tables are identified as such in the print version’s comprehensive List of Reference Tables.) In the online version, Digest tables are available both in HTML format and as downloadable Excel files. The most current versions of Digest tables are posted to the NCES website on a rolling basis before the entire edition of the report has been completed. The “Most Current Digest Tables” page provides access to the most recent versions of all tables, including any tables already completed for an edition currently in progress.

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

• Percentage distribution of children who were under 6 years old and not yet in kindergarten, by main reason household wanted a child care program, primary reason for difficulty finding child care, and selected child and family characteristics (table 202.30a)
• Percentage distribution of children who were under 6 years old and not yet in kindergarten, by reported availability of good child care choices, amount of difficulty finding the type of child care wanted, and selected child and family characteristics (table 202.30b)
• Number of children under 6 years old and not yet in kindergarten whose families paid for child care, and their families’ average out-of-pocket expense, by type of child care arrangement and selected child and family characteristics (table 202.30c)
• Number and percentage distribution of teachers in public traditional and charter elementary and secondary schools, by instructional level and selected teacher and school characteristics (table 209.21)
• Number and percentage distribution of teachers in public elementary and secondary schools, by instructional level and selected teacher and school characteristics (table 209.22)
• Number and percentage distribution of teachers in public elementary and secondary schools, by race/ethnicity and selected teacher and school characteristics (web-only table 209.23)
• Number and percentage distribution of teachers in public elementary and secondary schools, by whether they entered teaching through an alternative route to certification program and selected teacher and school characteristics (table 209.24)
• Number and percentage of teachers who are military veterans, by control of school, sex, race/ethnicity, age group, region, and level of instruction (web-only tables 209.27 and 209.27a)
• Average National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading scale score and percentage distribution of 4th- and 8th-graders in traditional public, public charter, and private schools, by selected characteristics (table 221.32)
• Average National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading scale score and percentage distribution of 4th- and 8th-graders in traditional public, public charter, and Catholic schools, by selected characteristics (web-only table 221.32a)
• Average National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics scale score and percentage distribution of 4th- and 8th-graders in traditional public, public charter, and private schools, by selected characteristics (table 222.32)
• Average National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics scale score and percentage distribution of 4th- and 8th-graders in traditional public, public charter, and Catholic schools, by selected characteristics (web-only table 222.32a)
• Percentage of public schools that took a serious disciplinary action in response to specific offenses, by type of offense and selected school characteristics (table 233.12)
• Percentage of public schools providing training for classroom teachers or aides in specific safety and discipline topics, by safety and discipline training topic (table 233.67a) and by safety and discipline training topic and selected school characteristics (table 233.67b)
• Percentage of public schools with security staff present at least once a week, by full-time or part-time status and selected school characteristics (table 233.70a)
• Percentage of public schools with security staff present at least once a week, by type of security staff, school level, and selected school characteristics (table 233.70b)
• Among public schools with any sworn law enforcement officers present at least once a week, percentage with officers present at specific times and with officers present for all instructional hours every day (table 233.72), with officers who routinely carry or wear specific items (table 233.74a), with officers participating in selected activities (table 233.74b), and with formalized policies or written documents defining the roles of officers at school (table 233.74c), by school level and selected school characteristics
• Enrollment and degrees conferred in Asian and Pacific Islander-serving institutions, by selected institution and student characteristics, degree level, and state or jurisdiction (web-only table 312.60)
• Average amount of financial aid awarded to full-time, full-year postbaccalaureate students, by type of aid, level of study, and control and level of institution (web-only table 332.35)
• Percentage of graduate degree completers with student loan debt and average cumulative amount owed, by level of education funded and graduate degree type, institution control, and degree program (table 332.45)
• Number, percentage, and percentage distribution of persons 16 to 65 years old who have work credentials or have completed a work experience program, by selected characteristics (table 507.50a)
• Percentage and percentage distribution of those 16- to 65-year-olds who have work credentials or have completed a work experience program, by college degree attainment status and selected characteristics (table 507.50b)
• Percentage distribution of persons 16 to 65 years old, by labor force and employment status and earnings, college degree attainment status, and work credential and work experience program status (table 507.50c)
• Average online reading literacy scale scores of fourth-graders and percentage distribution, by international benchmark level and country or other education system (table 602.15)
• Percentage distribution of 15-year-old students in various countries, by extent to which their schools reported that student learning is hindered by student absenteeism or truancy (table 602.90a), by students skipping classes (table 602.90b), by student use of alcohol or illegal drugs (table 602.90c), by students intimidating or bullying other students (table 602.90d), and by students lacking respect for teachers (table 602.90e)
• Number and percentage of public schools with libraries/media centers and average number of staff per library/media center, by staff type and employment status and school level, enrollment size, and locale (table 701.15)

Thomas D. Snyder
Supervisor
Annual Reports and Information Staff

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