The past 30 years have ushered in dramatic changes to American education. That’s the principal message of The Condition of Education 2008, the National Center for Education Statistics’ (NCES) annual compilation of education facts. This congressionally-mandated report – released last week – reveals how significantly American schools have changed to reflect a surging and increasingly diverse U.S. population. Here’s a snapshot of some of the latest data.
Enrollment
Across the U.S., 2008 enrollment in K-12 schools is expected to near 50 million students. Based on current projections, public school enrollments should set yearly records between now and 2017, when researchers anticipate an all-time high of more than 54 million students. Of all the geographic regions in the U.S., the South is expected to accommodate the largest influx of students.
While students are flocking to public schools, private school enrollment is dwindling. Between 1989 and 2005, the percentage of children attending private schools in the U.S. dropped from 11 percent to nine percent. Nationally, the latest numbers show only 5.1 million students enrolled in private schools.
As an aside, it’s worth noting that North Carolina is bucking this national trend. Private school enrollments here have risen steadily for the past four years. New data from the Division of Non-Public Education show a record number of North Carolina schoolchildren attended private schools in 2007-08. The number of children in private schools in our state has increased by almost three percent since last year, according to the Greensboro News and Record – nearly double the uptick officials have seen in public school enrollments.
Ethnicity
Not only is our nation’s public school student body larger than ever, it’s also more racially diverse: minority student enrollments have grown significantly across the country over the past three decades. In 1972, according to NCES, just 22 percent of public school students were from racial minority groups; that number has since climbed consistently up to 43 percent in 2006. By far, the greatest increase has taken place among Hispanics: in 2006, one out of every five public school students was Hispanic. Schools in the South and the West have the highest percentages of minority students – 49 percent and 55 percent respectively.
Student Achievement
Achievement data cited in the NCES report generally mirror trends reported elsewhere: American students are making gains in elementary school but falling behind on some key indicators in the later grades. Since the early 1990s, reading and math scores for fourth and eighth graders have improved. Twelfth grade reading scores, on the other hand, have declined. The black-white achievement gap has narrowed in both reading and math for fourth graders; in eighth grade, however, no discernible progress has been made to close the gap in either subject.
On international comparisons, American students perform competently on reading literacy tests, scoring above the international average. However, U.S. students fall well below the international average in both math and science literacy.
K-12 Expenditures
Few surprises here – spending on K-12 education has risen significantly over the years. Total per-pupil expenditures increased 29 percent (in constant dollars) between 1989 and 2005, jumping from $8,437 to $10,892. In 2004-05, 61 percent of current expenditures paid instructional costs such as teacher salaries and employee benefits.
Compared to other countries, the U.S. doles out quite a bit more for education. In 2004, the U.S. spent an average of $9,638 per student on K-12 education, 42 percent more than the $6,604 average spent by other industrialized nations.
What’s the bottom line? The landscape of American education has changed a great deal over the past few decades. We have made some progress; clearly, though, “persistent challenges remain in educating a growing and increasingly diverse population,” as NCES Commissioner Mark Schneider noted.
Indeed they do. That means ingenuity and innovation – along with education reforms that empower students and families – are more important than ever before. Are we up to the task?