In 2003–04, nearly all elementary and secondary schools had student support staff, with most employed full time.

In addition to employing teachers, most schools employ staff who work directly with students and provide various support services. These student support staff, who include licensed or certified professionals (e.g., school counselors, social workers, and speech therapists) and teacher aides (e.g., special education, regular Title I, and library aides), constituted 27 percent of all public school staff in the 2003–04 school year (see table 35-1). This indicator examines the distribution of these staff in regular public schools in the 2003–04 school year.

About 857,000 support staff worked in elementary schools and 217,000 worked in secondary schools in 2003–04. Nearly all elementary and secondary schools reported having student support staff (99 and 100 percent, respectively), with a greater number employed full time than part time. In terms of licensed or certified professionals, over two-thirds of elementary and secondary schools reported having school counselors, having nurses, and having speech therapists. In terms of teacher aides, 80 percent of elementary schools and 81 percent of secondary schools reported having special education instructional aides. On average, elementary schools had a lower number of students per all student support staff than secondary schools (33 vs. 62 percent). Elementary schools had a lower number of students per staff than secondary schools in each category of support staff except school counselors.

The number, percentage, and availability of student support staff varied by schools that were low poverty when compared with those schools that were high poverty (see table 35-2). A greater percentage of low-poverty schools than high-poverty schools had psychologists, had special education noninstructional aides, and had library instructional and noninstructional aides. In contrast, a greater percentage of high-poverty schools than low-poverty schools had regular Title I (61 vs. 16 percent) and ESL/bilingual (41 vs. 29 percent) instructional aides. With the exception of school counselors, the average number of students per licensed or certified professional (nurses, social workers, psychologists, speech therapists, and other professionals) was smaller in high-poverty schools than in low-poverty schools.