Annual Condition of Education Shows Breadth of Changes to Education in United States Since the Start of the COVID-19 Pandemic
May 24, 2023
Report to Congress summarizes pandemic-era data on school enrollments, learning recovery strategies and challenges, and difficulty hiring K12 teachers
WASHINGTON (May 24, 2023)The 2023 Report on Condition of Education released today by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the statistical center within the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES), presents the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic in every dimension of American education from prekindergarten (preK) and elementary school through college and beyond.
“Blending data from over a dozen sources, the 2023 edition of the Report on the Condition of Education contributes to our understanding of the challenges and recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.” said NCES Commissioner Peggy G. Carr. “These challenges include declines in math and reading scores during the pandemic and greater numbers of students seeking mental health services. This is happening against the backdrop of difficulties hiring teachers and changes in enrollment patterns, for example a drop and partial rebound for public preK and kindergarten enrollment. Our understanding of these issues will grow as NCES continues to collect and report data in the coming months and years.”
The annual Report on the Condition of Education is mandated by the U.S. Congress and is designed to serve as a useful resource to families, practitioners, researchers, and policymakers. Topics range from preK through postsecondary education, as well as labor force outcomes and international comparisons. This report offers a summary of findings from a series of online indicators. A selection of these indicators will be released today alongside the report, with more to follow later this summer.
As part of the 2023 release, NCES is making available several enhancements today to the Condition of Education system. One of these enhancements includes the release of two new indicators spotlighting challenges faced by schools during the coronavirus pandemic. The first focuses on teacher openings and finds that generally, among public and private schools with open teaching positions in particular subject-matter fields, higher percentages reported having difficulties filling these openings in 202021 than in 201112. The second features a closer look at pandemic-era challenges and public school strategies for pandemic recovery.
Additional enhancements for 2023 include new reporting for Puerto Rico in the areas of family characteristics, public school enrollment, public school revenues and expenditures, and measures of achievement in mathematics from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP).
NCES is also releasing today the latest set of Digest of Education Statistics tables. These 184 Digest of Education Statistics tables provide more a more detailed look at the topics discussed within the Condition of Education system.
The Condition of Education system, including the full report and indicators can be accessed at https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe. Today’s release also includes a national dashboard (At a Glance), a Reader’s Guide, and a Glossary.
The Report on the Condition of Education is a compilation of statistical information collected and assembled from other statistical products. For more information on the data sources, please visit https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/sources.
Key Findings
Teacher Openings During the Coronavirus Pandemic and Challenges and Strategies For Recovering from the Pandemic
Preprimary, Elementary, and Secondary Education
Postsecondary Education
Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
Population Characteristics and Economic Outcomes
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The National Center for Education Statistics, a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, is the statistical center of the U.S. Department of Education and the primary federal entity for collecting and analyzing data related to education in the U.S. and other nations. NCES fulfills a congressional mandate to collect, collate, analyze, and report complete statistics on the condition and progress of American education; conduct and publish reports; and review and report on education activities internationally.
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The Institute of Education Sciences (IES) is the independent and nonpartisan statistics, research, and evaluation arm of the U.S. Department of Education. Its mission is to provide scientific evidence on which to ground education practice and policy and to share this information in formats that are useful and accessible to educators, parents, policymakers, researchers, and the public.
CONTACT:
Josh Delarosa, National Center for Education Statistics, ARIS.NCES@ed.gov
James Elias, Hager Sharp, jelias@hagersharp.com