Characteristics of the 100 Largest Public Elementary and Secondary School Districts in the United States: 2005–06
NCES 2008-339
June 2008


Table 1.  Selected statistics for public elementary and secondary schools and school districts for the United States and jurisdictions and the 100 largest and 500 largest school districts: School year 2005–06
 
Characteristic National total1 100 largest districts   500 largest districts
Total Percent of national total Total Percent of national total
Districts2  17,765 100 0.6   500 2.8
Schools3  99,436 16,584 16.7   32,162 32.3
Students  49,894,627 11,302,149 22.7   21,526,682 43.1
Teachers (full-time equivalent)4  3,191,539 690,773 21.6   1,305,658 40.9
High school completers (2004–05)5  2,887,254 564,823 19.6   1,131,114 39.2
             
Median pupil/teacher ratio6  15.4 15.9   16.1
Average enrollment7  518.2 694.7   686.5
† Not applicable.
1 Total may differ from other published estimates due to inclusion of Puerto Rico, the outlying areas, the Bureau of Indian Education, and the Department of Defense dependents schools.
2 Totals for number of districts may differ from published estimates since they exclude closed, inactive, and future school districts.
3 Totals for number of schools may differ from published estimates since they exclude closed, inactive, and future schools.
4 Full-time equivalent (FTE) is the amount of time required to perform an assignment stated as a proportion of a full-time position. It is computed by dividing the amount of time employed by the amount of time normally required for a full-time position. FTE is not a head count; for example, 2 half-time employees represent 1 FTE.
5 Includes high school diploma recipients as well as other high school completers (e.g., certificates of attendance), but not high school equivalencies (e.g., GEDs). Total may differ from other published estimates due to inclusion of Puerto Rico, the outlying areas, the Bureau of Indian Education, and the Department of Defense dependents schools.
6 Includes only schools where student membership was greater than zero and for which pupil/teacher ratio data were available. The median is given because it is unaffected by very high or very low values.
7 Includes only schools where membership was greater than zero.
NOTE: Data include all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, four outlying areas (American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands), the Bureau of Indian Education, and the Department of Defense dependents schools (overseas and domestic). The 500 largest school districts include 23 school districts that are some other configuration besides prekindergarten (PK) or K–12, although all of the 100 largest school districts are PK or K–12.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), "Public Elementary/ Secondary School Universe Survey," 2005–06, Version 1a, "Local Education Agency Universe Survey," 2005-06, Version 1a, and "State Nonfiscal Survey of Public Elementary/Secondary Education," 2005–06, Version 1a.

Back Arrow List of Tables Download Excel Excel format (23 KB) Back to Report Return to Report