Foreword
The 2019 edition of the Digest of Education Statistics is the 55th 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:
- Enrollment in public elementary and secondary schools, by level, grade, and race/ethnicity (table 203.65)
- Percentage distribution of teachers in public elementary and secondary schools, by school locale and selected teacher characteristics (web-only table 209.26)
- Unadjusted and geographically adjusted average base salary for full-time teachers in public elementary and secondary schools, by highest degree earned and school locale (web-only table 211.45)
- Percentage of fall 2010 first-time kindergartners whose school administrator in fifth grade reported that selected problems occurred at the school at least once a month or were a problem in the school’s neighborhood, by selected child, family, and school characteristics in spring of fifth grade (web-only table 220.65a)
- Percentage distribution of fall 2010 first-time kindergartners in spring of fifth grade and fifth-grade scores on and standard deviations of various academic, social, and emotional scales, by frequency or extent of selected school or neighborhood problems reported by the school administrator (web-only table 220.65b)
- Percentage of fall 2010 first-time kindergartners who reported consistent positive feelings about school in fifth grade and percentage whose parents reported frequent avoidance of school by their child, by frequency or extent of selected school or neighborhood problems reported by school administrator (web-only table 220.65c)
- Average National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics scale score and standard deviation, by selected student characteristics, percentile, and grade (web-only table 222.77)
- Number of casualties from shootings at elementary and secondary schools and number of school shootings, by type of casualty and level of school (web-only table 228.12)
- Number of school shootings at public and private elementary and secondary schools, by type of situation associated with shooting (web-only table 228.13)
- Number of hate crimes occurring at public schools, percentage of schools reporting any hate crimes, and percentage reporting hate crimes motivated by specific types of bias, by school level (web-only table 229.70)
- Percentage of lower secondary teachers in public schools who reported being able to manage various aspects of student behavior “quite a bit” or “a lot,” by selected teacher and school characteristics (web-only table 230.94)
- Number and percentage of public schools providing diagnostic mental health assessments and treatment to students and, among schools providing these services, percentage providing them at school and outside of school, by selected school characteristics (web-only table 233.69a)
- Percentage of public schools reporting that various factors limited in a major way their efforts to provide mental health services to students, by selected school characteristics (web-only table 233.69b)
- Number and percentage distribution of 25- to 64-year-old bachelor’s degree holders, percentage of degree holders among all 25- to 64-year-olds, and unemployment rates and median annual earnings of 25- to 64-year-old bachelor’s degree holders, by age group, field of study, and science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) status of field (web-only table 505.06)
- Percentage of lower secondary teachers in public schools who reported being able to manage various aspects of student behavior “quite a bit” or “a lot,” by country or other education system (web-only table 602.93)
- Percentage distribution of children ages 3 to 18, by whether they have home internet access, whether they have access through computer or only smartphone, and selected child and family characteristics (web-only table 702.12)
Cristobal de Brey
Supervisor
Annual Reports and Information Staff