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	United States U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, S.W., Washington, DC 20202 Download, view and print United States' report as a pdf file. 334KB Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley, Secretary (202) 401-3000 National Center for Education Statistics Gary W. Phillips, Acting Commissioner

GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
1987		1996		Demographics
40,008,213		45,611,046		Students in public elementary and secondary schools
83,248		88,223		Public schools
2,279,241		2,667,419		Teachers in public elementary and secondary schools
3,615,136		3,615,136		Land area in square miles
11.1		12.6		Public school students per square mile
2.3		2.4		Public schools per 100 square miles

Figure 1 School-age population in public elementary and secondary schools

1987		1996		Fiscal summary
242,289		265,179		Population (in thousands)
$2,214		$3,884		State revenue per capita
$1,982		$3,338		State expenditure per capita
$374		$599		State expenditure for elem. and secondary education per capita
$111,815		$153,546		Gross domestic product per school-age child

AGENCY/SCHOOL INFORMATION
1987			1996			Distribution of agencies by type
100%	17,063		100%	16,359		Total public education agencies
91.3%	15,577		90.7%	14,841		Regular school districts
6.7%	1,144		7.1%	1,165		Regional service agencies
1.1%	183		1.2%	194		State-operated agencies
0.9%	159		1.0%	159		Federally operated and other types

1987			1996			Distribution of agencies by number of schools
0.3%	47		0.3%	51		100 or more schools
1.9%	329		2.5%	405		25 to 99 schools
7.5%	1,277		8.1%	1,327		10 to 24 schools
17.6%	3,004		19.3%	3,157		5 to 9 schools
65.5%	11,177		63.9%	10,456		1 to 4 schools
7.2%	1,229		5.9%	963		No schools reported

Figure 2 Regular school districts by student membership size

1987			1996			Distribution of schools by type
100%	83,248		100%	88,223		Total public elementary and secondary schools reported
95.2%	79,292		92.7%	81,803		Regular schools
2.1%	1,775		2.3%	2,058		Special education schools
1.4%	1,196		1.1%	934		Vocational schools
1.2%	985		3.9%	3,428		Other and alternative schools

Figure 3 Distribution of public schools and students by type of locale: 1996-97

Figure 4 Public schools by size of student membership

1987			1996			Number of public schools by grade span category
47.6%	39,598		46.5%	41,058		PK, K, 1 to 3, 4, 5, 6
6.7%	5,552		5.1%	4,543		PK, K, 1 to 8
9.2%	7,641		11.9%	10,499		4, 5, 6, to 6, 7, 8
5.9%	4,900		4.2%	3,707		7 to 8, 9
4.9%	4,048		4.1%	3,614		7, 8 to 12
13.6%	11,349		14.2%	12,518		9, 10, 11 to 12
8.9%	7,424		10.7%	9,479		Other grades
1.2%	1,000		0.7%	640		Ungraded
2.1%	1,736		2.5%	2,165		Not reported

STUDENT INFORMATION
1987		1996		Public school membership by grade
191,669		670,373		Prekindergarten
3,195,533		3,532,263		Kindergarten
3,407,072		3,770,420		First
3,172,777		3,600,076		Second
3,046,374		3,523,762		Third
2,937,636		3,453,769		Fourth
2,900,558		3,452,853		Fifth
2,811,047		3,493,631		Sixth
2,910,432		3,463,954		Seventh
2,838,513		3,402,615		Eighth
3,143,179		3,801,220		Ninth
3,020,018		3,323,171		Tenth
2,935,626		2,930,297		Eleventh
2,680,843		2,586,448		Twelfth
816,669		606,194		Ungraded

Figure 5 Public school student membership by racial/ethnic category

1987		1996
—		—		Students in special education with IEPs
—		—		School membership eligible for free lunch
—		18.8%		School-age children below poverty

1987			1995			High school completers and dropouts
93.3%	2,428,803		91.4%	2,273,109		Regular diploma
0.8%	19,898		2.4%	58,771		Other diploma
5.5%	143,467		5.3%	132,463		High school equivalency
0.4%	10,928		0.9%	23,191		Other completers
	—			—		Dropouts
						Dropouts who were male
						Dropouts who were minority

Figure 6 Grade 8 1996 Mathematics and Science average scale scores and the 25th () and 75th () percentiles

Grade 4		Grade 8		1996 Mathematics and Science achievement levels
222.3		270.5		Average Mathematics scale score [scale 0 to 500]
37.8%		39.1%		Students below basic level
62.2%		60.9%		Students at or above basic level
19.9%		22.6%		Students at or above proficient level
0.2%		3.6%		Students at advanced level
—		148.5		Average Science scale score [scale 0 to 300]
		40.4%		Students below basic level
		59.6%		Students at or above basic level
		27.3%		Students at or above proficient level
		2.8%		Students at advanced level

STAFF INFORMATION
1987			1996			Educational staff
100%	4,267,740		100%	5,091,205		Total education staff
						Instructional staff
53.4%	2,279,241		52.4%	2,667,419		Teachers
7.9%	335,991		10.1%	516,356		Instructional aides
						Support staff
1.6%	70,282		1.7%	88,607		Guidance counselors/directors
1.7%	71,636		1.8%	93,326		Librarians/library support
6.9%	293,529		6.9%	353,964		Administrative support
23.8%	1,016,943		22.9%	1,165,824		Other support services
						Administrators
3.0%	125,927		2.4%	123,734		School-based
1.7%	74,191		1.6%	81,975		School district officials/administrators

Figure 7 Average number of students per teacher, by grade level

1987		1996
1.1		1.1		Teacher to all other staff ratio
11.4		13.0		Teacher to administrator ratio

Figure 8 Average salary of full-time teachers by years of experience

1987		1996
$18,517		$25,012		Average beginning teacher salary
$28,071		$38,436		Average teacher salary

Figure 9 Distribution of public school teachers by age

1987		1993		Preparation of teachers: highest degree earned
0.2%		0.6%		Public school teachers with no degree
52.5%		52.1%		Public school teachers with a Bachelor's or lower degree
40.1%		42.0%		Public school teachers with a Master's degree
7.2%		5.3%		Public school teachers with a degree beyond Master's

FISCAL INFORMATION
FY88		FY97		Federal aid to education under selected programs (in thousands of current dollars)
$2,678,404		$5,397,613		National school lunch
$446,566		$1,188,979		National school breakfast
$4,143,433		$6,871,278		Title I
$1,247,462		$3,321,191		Education for the handicapped
$954,751		$1,326,853		Vocational and adult education
$763,922		$1,607,608		School improvement
$632,429		$639,608		School assistance (federally affected areas)
$130,007		$183,480		Bilingual education
$60,081		$1,567		Indian education

Figure 10 Revenues by source

Figure 11 Current expenditures by function

FY88		FY97		Revenues and expenditures (in current dollars)
$165,621,610		$305,051,963		Revenues (in thousands of dollars)
$4,140		$6,691		Revenue per pupil in membership
$157,097,951		$270,151,583		Current expenditures (in thousands of dollars)
$3,927		$5,925		Current expenditure per pupil in membership