Reader's Guide

Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Groups

Reader's Guide

Introduction

This report uses statistics to examine current conditions and changes over time in education activities and outcomes for different racial/ethnic groups in the United States. The indicators in this report show that some traditionally disadvantaged racial/ethnic groups have made strides in educational achievement, but that gaps still persist.

Disparities in the educational participation and attainment of different racial/ethnic groups in the United States are well documented.¹ One study found that school readiness gaps narrowed between 1998 and 2010, but progress was uneven among racial/ethnic groups.² For instance, the gap between White and Hispanic students in school readiness has narrowed, but the gap between White and Black students showed less movement. Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Group 2018 contributes to this body of research by examining the educational progress and challenges of students in the United States by race/ethnicity. The primary focus of this report is to examine differences in educational participation and attainment of students in the racial/ ethnic groups of White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, American Indian/ Alaska Native, and Two or more races. The secondary focus of this report is to illustrate the changing demographics in the United States. Measuring population growth and diversity is important for anticipating the needs of schools and teachers. This report shows that over time, students in these racial/ethnic groups have completed high school and continued their education in college in increasing numbers. Despite these gains, the rate of progress has varied among these racial/ethnic groups and differences by race/ethnicity persist in terms of increases in attainment and progress on key indicators of educational performance. This report uses the most recent data available and reports on demographics, preprimary, elementary, and secondary education participation, student achievement, student behaviors and persistence, postsecondary education, and outcomes of education.

Organization of the Report

The report begins with demographic information (Chapter 1) and then is organized roughly according to the chronology of an individual’s education, starting with indicators on preprimary, elementary, and secondary participation (Chapter 2) and continuing with student achievement (Chapter 3) student behaviors and persistence in education (Chapter 4) postsecondary education (Chapter 5) and outcomes of education (Chapter 6). In addition, it includes two spotlight indicators: characteristics of public school teachers by race/ethnicity (Spotlight A) and characteristics of minority-serving institutions (Spotlight B).

Race and Ethnicity

The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is responsible for the standards that govern the categories used to collect and present federal data on race and ethnicity. The OMB revised the guidelines on racial/ethnic categories used by the federal government in October 1997, with a January 2003 deadline for implementation. The revised standards, available here: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/1997/10/30/97-28653/revisions-to-the-standards-for-the-classification-of-federal-data-on-race-and-ethnicity require a minimum of these five categories for data on race: American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and White require the collection of data on the ethnicity categories Hispanic or Latino and Not Hispanic or Latino. In support of the 1997 OMB guidelines, the Department of Education issued final guidance in 2007 on the collection and reporting of racial/ethnic data. More information on this guidance is available here: https://www2.ed.gov/policy/rschstat/guid/raceethnicity/index.html. It is important to note that Hispanic origin is an ethnicity rather than a race, and therefore persons of Hispanic origin may be of any race. Origin can be viewed as the heritage, nationality group, lineage, or country of birth of the person or the person’s parents or ancestors before their arrival in the United States. The race categories White, Black, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, and American Indian or Alaska Native, as presented in these indicators, exclude persons of Hispanic origin unless noted otherwise.

The categories are defined as follows:

American Indian or Alaska Native: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America) and maintaining tribal affiliation or community attachment.
Asian: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam.
Black or African American: A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa.
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands.
White: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.
Hispanic or Latino: A person of Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race.

Within these indicators, some of the category labels have been shortened in the text, tables, and figures. American Indian or Alaska Native is denoted as American Indian/ Alaska Native (except when separate estimates are available for American Indians alone or Alaska Natives alone); Black or African American is shortened to Black; Hispanic or Latino is shortened to Hispanic; and Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander is shortened to Pacific Islander.

The indicators draw from a number of different sources. Many are federal surveys that collect data using the OMB standards for racial/ethnic classification described above; however, some sources have not fully adopted the standards, and some indicators include data collected prior to the adoption of the OMB standards. This report focuses on the six categories that are the most common among the various data sources used: White, Black, Hispanic, Asian, Pacific Islander, and American Indian/ Alaska Native. In some data sources, Asians and Pacific Islanders are combined into one category so data cannot be reported separately for these two groups.

Some of the surveys from which data are presented in these indicators give respondents the option of selecting either an “other” race category, a “Two or more races” or “multiracial” category, or both. Where possible, indicators present data on the “Two or more races” category; however, in some cases this category may not be separately shown because the information was not collected or due to other data issues such as small sample sizes. The “other” category is not separately shown. Any comparisons made between persons of one racial/ethnic group to “all other racial/ethnic groups” include only the racial/ethnic groups shown in the indicator. For postsecondary data, foreign students are counted separately and are therefore not included in any racial/ethnic category.

The American Community Survey (ACS), conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, collects information regarding specific racial/ethnic ancestry. This survey is used as a source for several indicators in this publication. These indicators include Hispanic ancestry subgroups (e.g., Cuban, Dominican, Mexican, Other Central American, Puerto Rican, Salvadoran, and South American) and Asian ancestry subgroups (e.g., Asian Indian, Chinese, Filipino, Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese). For more information on the ACS, see the Guide to Sources (appendix A). For more information on race/ethnicity, see the Glossary (appendix B).

Data Sources and Estimates

The data in these indicators were obtained from many different sources—including students and teachers, state education agencies, local elementary and secondary schools, and colleges and universities—using surveys and compilations of administrative records. Users should be cautious when comparing data from different sources. Differences in aspects such as procedures, timing, question phrasing, and interviewer training can affect the comparability of results across data sources.

Most indicators summarize data from surveys conducted by NCES or by the Census Bureau with support from NCES. Brief explanations of the major NCES surveys used in these indicators can be found in the Guide to Sources (appendix A). Table A provides a summary of some of the variations in the design and coverage of data sources used in this report. More detailed explanations can be obtained on the NCES website (https://nces.ed.gov) under “Surveys and Programs.”

Table A. Nationally representative sample and universe surveys used in this report

Survey	Sample	Year(s) of survey	Reference time period	Indicator(s)
American Community Survey (ACS)	295,000 households within the United States	2010 through 2016	Varies by survey question	2, 3, 17, 27, 28 Snapshot 4, Snapshot 17, Snapshot 19, Snapshot 27
Annual Report to Congress on the Implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)	Children with disabilities receiving special education and related services	2014–15 and 2015–16	December 1 of survey year	9
Census Bureau Population Estimates	Decennial Census	2000 through 2017	July 1 of survey year	1
Civil Rights Data Collection	Public primary and secondary schools and public districts in the United States	2013–14	School year	15
Common Core of Data (CCD)	Universe (public primary and secondary schools and public districts in the United States)	2000–01 through 2015–16	School year	6, 7, 8, 9
Current Population Survey (CPS)	54,000 households within the United States	2000 through 2016	Varies by survey question	4, 15, 17, 18, 19, 29, 30
Early Childhood Program Participation Survey of the National Household Education Surveys Program (ECPP–NHES:2016)	Children between birth and age 6 not yet enrolled in kindergarten	2016	Time of data collection (January through August 2016)	5
Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS)	Students enrolled in postsecondary institutions in fall of survey year	1976 through 1985	Academic year	Spotlight B
High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09)	Students enrolled in grade 9 in fall 2009	2013	Coursetaking histories for grades 9–12 (plus some high school–level courses such as algebra, geometry, or foreign language, taken before grade 9) during school years 2009–10 through 2012–13	13, 14
Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS)	Students enrolled at postsecondary institutions in fall of survey year	1985 through 2016	Institutions using traditional academic year calendars: either institution's fall reporting date or October 15 Institutions using nontraditional academic calendars: August 1 through October 31	Spotlight B, 20, 21
	Full-time, first-time degree- and certificate-seeking undergraduate students who began their postsecondary education and graduated within a specific time frame	2016 (Cohort entry year 2010)	4–year institutions: October 15, 2010 through August 31, 2016	23
		2016 (Cohort entry year 2013)	2–year institutions: October 15, 2013 through August 31, 2015	23
	Postsecondary degree recipients	2000–01 through 2015–16	The number of degrees or other formal awards conferred between July 1, 2015 and June 30, 2016.	Spotlight B, 24, 25, 26
National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)	Students in grades 4, 8, and 12	Mathematics: 1990, 1992, 1996, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017	School year	11, 12
National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)		Reading: 1992, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017	School year	10, 12
National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:16)	Students enrolled at Title IV-eligible postsecondary institutions enrolled between July 1, 2011 and June 30, 2012	2015–16	Academic year	22
National Teacher and Principal Survey (NTPS)	Teachers and principals in elementary and secondary schools	2015–16	School year	Spotlight A
Private School Universe Survey (PSS)	Universe (private schools in the United States)	2015	School year	6
Projections of Education Statistics	Public primary and secondary schools and public districts in the United States	2027	School year	6
School Crime Supplement (SCS) to the National Crime Victimization Survey	Students ages 12–18 enrolled in public and private schools during the school year	2015	Incidents during the school year	16
Schools and Staffing Survey	Public and private school districts, schools, principals, and teachers	2003–04	School year	Spotlight A
Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System (YRBSS)	Students enrolled in grades 9–12 in public and private schools at the time of the survey	2015	Incidents during the previous 30 days or 12 months	16

The Guide to Sources also includes information on non-NCES sources used to compile indicators, such as the American Community Survey (ACS) and the Current Population Survey (CPS). These Census Bureau surveys are used extensively in the indicators. For further details on the ACS, see http://www.census.gov/acs/www/. For further details on the CPS, see https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/cps.html.

Data for indicators are obtained from two types of surveys: universe surveys and sample surveys. In universe surveys, information is collected from every member of the population. For example, in a survey regarding certain expenditures of public elementary and secondary schools, data would be obtained from each school district in the United States. When data from an entire population are available, estimates of the total population or a subpopulation are made by simply summing the units in the population or subpopulation. As a result, there is no sampling error, and observed differences are reported as true.

Since a universe survey is often expensive and time consuming, many surveys collect data from a sample of the population of interest (sample survey). For example, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) assesses a representative sample of students rather than the entire population of students. When a sample survey is used, statistical uncertainty is introduced, because the data come from only a portion of the entire population. This statistical uncertainty must be considered when reporting estimates and making comparisons.

Various types of statistics derived from universe and sample surveys are reported in the indicators. Many indicators report the size of a population or a subpopulation, and often the size of a subpopulation is expressed as a percentage of the total population. In addition, the average (or mean) value of some characteristic of the population or subpopulation may be reported. The average is obtained by summing the values for all members of the population and dividing the sum by the size of the population. An example is the annual average salaries of full-time instructional faculty at degree-granting postsecondary institutions. Another measure that is sometimes used is the median. The median is the midpoint value of a characteristic at or above which 50 percent of the population is estimated to fall, and at or below which 50 percent of the population is estimated to fall. An example is the median annual earnings of young adults who are full-time, full-year wage and salary workers.

Standard Errors

Using estimates calculated from data based on a sample of the population requires consideration of several factors before the estimates become meaningful. When using data from a sample, some margin of error will always be present in estimations of characteristics of the total population or subpopulation because the data are available from only a portion of the total population. Consequently, data from samples can provide only an approximation of the true or actual value. The margin of error of an estimate, or the range of potential true or actual values, depends on several factors such as the amount of variation in the responses, the size and representativeness of the sample, and the size of the subgroup for which the estimate is computed. The magnitude of this margin of error is measured by what statisticians call the “standard error” of an estimate.

When data from sample surveys are reported, the standard error is calculated for each estimate. The standard errors for all estimated totals, means, medians, or percentages are reported in the Reference tables.

In order to caution the reader when interpreting findings in the indicators, estimates from sample surveys are flagged with a “!” when the standard error is between 30 and 50 percent of the estimate, and suppressed with a “‡” when the standard error is 50 percent of the estimate or greater.

Data Analysis and Interpretation

When estimates are from a sample, caution is warranted when drawing conclusions about one estimate in comparison to another, or about whether a time series of estimates is increasing, decreasing, or staying the same. Although one estimate may appear to be larger than another, a statistical test may find that the apparent difference between them is not reliably measurable due to the uncertainty around the estimates. In this case, the estimates will be described as having no measurable difference, meaning that the difference between them is not statistically significant. Conversely, statistically significant differences may be referred to as “measurably different” in the text.

Whether differences in means or percentages are statistically significant can be determined using the standard errors of the estimates. In these indicators and other reports produced by NCES, when differences are statistically significant, the probability that the difference occurred by chance is less than 5 percent.

Data presented in the indicators do not investigate more complex hypotheses, account for interrelationships among variables, or support causal inferences. We encourage readers who are interested in more complex questions and in-depth analysis to explore other NCES resources, including publications, online data tools, and public- and restricted-use datasets at https://nces.ed.gov.

For all indicators that report estimates based on samples, differences between estimates are stated only when they are statistically significant. Findings described in this report with comparative language (e.g., higher, lower, increase, and decrease) are statistically significant. To determine whether differences reported are statistically significant, two-tailed t tests at the .05 level are typically used. The t test formula for determining statistical significance is adjusted when the samples being compared are dependent. The t test formula is not adjusted for multiple comparisons, with the exception of statistical tests conducted using the NAEP Data Explorer (https://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/tdw/database/ data_tool.asp). When the variables to be tested are postulated to form a trend, the relationship may be tested using linear regression, logistic regression, or ANOVA trend analysis instead of a series of t tests. These alternate methods of analysis test for specific relationships (e.g., linear, quadratic, or cubic) among variables. For more information on data analysis, please see the NCES Statistical Standards, Standard 5-1, available at https://nces.ed.gov/statprog/2012/pdf/Chapter5.pdf.

In general, only statistically significant findings are discussed in the text. However, statistically nonsignificant differences between groups may be highlighted for clarification purposes. Statistically nonsignificant differences may also be discussed when they relate to a primary focus of the report, such as if achievement gaps have remained unchanged over time.

A number of considerations influence the ultimate selection of the data years to feature in the indicators. To make analyses as timely as possible, the latest year of available data is shown. The choice of comparison years may be based on the need to show the earliest available survey year, as in the case of the NAEP survey. In the case of surveys with long time frames, such as surveys measuring enrollment, the decade’s beginning year (e.g., 2000 or 2010) often starts the trend line. In the figures and tables of the indicators, intervening years are selected in increments in order to show the general trend. The narrative for the indicators typically compares the most current year’s data with those from the initial year and then with those from a more recent period. Where applicable, the narrative may also note years in which the data begin to diverge from previous trends.

Rounding and Other Considerations

All calculations within the indicators are based on unrounded estimates. Therefore, the reader may find that a calculation, such as a difference or a percentage change, cited in the text or figure may not be identical to the calculation obtained by using the rounded values shown in the accompanying tables. Although values reported in the Reference tables are generally rounded to one decimal place (e.g., 76.5 percent), values reported in each indicator are generally rounded to whole numbers (with any value of 0.50 or above rounded to the next highest whole number). Due to rounding, cumulative percentages may sometimes equal 99 or 101 percent rather than 100 percent. While the data labels on the figures have been rounded to whole numbers for most indicators, the graphical presentation of these data is based on the unrounded estimates.

Limitations of the Data

The relatively small sizes of the American Indian/Alaska Native and Pacific Islander populations pose many measurement difficulties when conducting statistical analyses. Even in larger surveys, the numbers of American Indians/Alaska Natives and Pacific Islanders included in a sample are often small. Researchers studying data on these two populations often face small sample sizes that reduce the reliability of results. Survey data for these two groups often have somewhat higher standard errors than data for other racial/ethnic groups. Due to large standard errors, differences that appear substantial are often not statistically significant and, therefore, not cited in the text. Data on American Indians/Alaska Natives are often subject to uncertainties that can result from respondents self-identifying their race/ethnicity. According to research on the collection of race/ethnicity data conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in 1995 (https://www.bls.gov/ news.release/history/ethnic_102795.txt), the categorization of American Indian and Alaska Native is the least stable self-identification. The racial/ethnic categories presented to a respondent, and the way in which the question is asked, can influence the response, especially for individuals who consider themselves of mixed race or ethnicity. These data limitations should be kept in mind when reading this report.

As mentioned above, Asians and Pacific Islanders are combined into one category in indicators for which the data were not collected separately for the two groups. The combined category can sometimes mask significant differences between subgroups. For example, prior to 2011, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) collected data that did not allow for separate reporting of estimates for Asians and Pacific Islanders. Information from the Digest of Education Statistics 2017 (table 101.20), based on the Census Bureau Current Population Reports, indicates that 96 percent of all Asian/Pacific Islander 5- to 24-year-olds are Asian. Thus, the combined category for Asians/Pacific Islanders is more representative of Asians than Pacific Islanders.

Relatively small sample sizes are also an issue for some of the Hispanic and Asian ancestry subgroups discussed in several indicators. Data on these subgroups are only available in the ACS. Even when data are available, the number of individuals within some of the subgroups can be small, often resulting in large standard errors.

Symbols

In accordance with the NCES Statistical Standards, many tables in this volume use a series of symbols to alert the reader to special statistical notes. These symbols, and their meanings, are as follows:

— Not available.
† Not applicable.
# Rounds to zero.
! Interpret data with caution. The coefficient of variation (CV) for this estimate is between 30 and 50 percent.
‡ Reporting standards not met. Either there are too few cases for a reliable estimate or the coefficient of variation (CV) for this estimate is 50 percent or greater.

¹ Ross, T., Kena, G., Rathbun, A., KewalRamani, A., Zhang, J., Kristapovich, P., and Manning, E. (2012). Higher Education: Gaps in Access and Persistence Study (NCES 2012-046). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved from https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2012/2012046.pdf.
² Reardon, S.F., and Portilla, X.A. (2016). Recent Trends in Incomes, Racial, and Ethnic School Readiness Gaps at Kindergarten Entry (CEPA Working Paper No. 15-02). Stanford University. Stanford, CA: Center for Education Policy Analysis. Retrieved June 28, 2018, from https://cepa.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/wp15-02-v201606_0.pdf.