Foreword

The 2022 edition of the Digest of Education Statistics is the 58th 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. The Digest contains important information on federal education funding, though more detailed information on federal activities is available from federal education program offices.

The Digest contains tables organized into 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. 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 from 1990 to the present can be accessed here and prior editions here. Tables from each edition since 1995 can be viewed by selecting the edition year from a drop-down menu, and tables are available both in HTML format and as downloadable Excel files. The "Most Current Digest Tables" page contains the latest versions of all tables, including any tables already completed for an edition currently in progress. Starting with the 2020 edition, tables are available only online. In addition, as of the 2020 edition, the Digest no longer contains chapter text describing findings from selected tables within each chapter. Instead, readers should refer to the congressionally mandated Condition of Education, which summarizes important education developments and trends using data from the Digest.

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 public and private school students ages 5 to 17 who traveled from home to school, by usual means of travel, distance from home to school, and selected child and family characteristics (table 102.95)
• Number of students participating in Title I programs, by selected student characteristics and state or jurisdiction1 (table 204.04)
• Percentage of public school students participating in Title I programs, by selected student characteristics and state or jurisdiction (table 204.05)
• Number of public elementary and secondary schools with Title I programs, by traditional or charter school status and state or jurisdiction (table 204.06)
• Number and percentage distribution of persons who were enrolled in and who completed a teacher preparation program, by program type (table 209.02)
• Percentage of public and private elementary and secondary schools hiring for at least one open teaching position, and among schools with at least one opening schoolwide, percentage hiring in various subject-matter fields, by selected school characteristics (table 210.50)
• Among public and private elementary and secondary schools that were hiring for at least one open teaching position in a specific field, percentage that found it very difficult or were not able to fill the opening, by subject-matter field of opening and selected school characteristics (table 210.60)
• Employment in and average annual wage of all occupations and selected teaching occupations in elementary and secondary education, by ownership (table 211.70)
• Number and percentage distribution of degree-granting postsecondary institutions with first-year undergraduates, by control and level of institution and percentage of students with disabilities (table 312.80)
• Percentage of 18- to 25-year-olds reporting use of illicit drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes during the past 30 days and the past year, by substance used, sex, and race/ethnicity (table 329.50)

Cristobal de Brey
Kristi Donaldson
Supervisors
Annual Reports and Information Staff