The indicators in this section measure features of the context of learning in elementary and secondary schools. This includes the content of learning and expectations for student performance; processes of instruction; mechanisms of choice in education; characteristics of teachers and the teaching profession; the climate for learning and other organizational aspects of schools; and financial resources. There are 35 indicators in this section.

The first subsection considers the climate for learning, which is shaped by different factors in the school environment, including parent, teacher, and student attitudes; the concentration of poverty and racial/ethnic groups in schools; and schools’ physical security and freedom from violence.

The indicators in the second subsection look at teachers and school staff. One indicator (31-2008) examines the nature of teacher attrition by various individual and professional characteristics. Other indicators (34-2007, 29-2003 and 27-2004) examine the characteristics of principals, beginning teachers, and guidance counselors.

The third subsection focuses on learning opportunities afforded children. Indicator 33-2008 measures student/teacher ratios in public schools. Additional indicators (25-2005, 33-2006 and 29-2007) highlight the availability of advanced-level academic courses, participation in early literacy activities, and afterschool activities.

Subsection four looks at special programs that serve the particular educational needs of special populations. Indicators 31-2007 and 27-2003 examine the extent to which students with disabilities are included in regular classrooms for instructional purposes and the characteristics of public alternative schools for at-risk students.

School choice provides parents with the opportunity to choose a school for their children beyond the assigned public school. Parents may choose a private school, they may live in a district that offers choice among public schools, or they may select a school by moving into that school’s community. Indicators regarding school choice (36-2006 and 28-2005) examine parental choice of public schools and profile the characteristics of public charter schools.

The final subsection details financial support for education. Fundamentally, these financial sources of support are either private, in which individuals decide how much they are willing to pay for education, or public, in which case funding decisions are made by citizens through their governments. In this subsection of The Condition of Education, the primary focus is on describing the forms and amounts of financial support to education from public and private sources, how those funds are distributed among different types of schools, and on what they are spent. Among the indicators in this section of The Condition of Education are indicators on variations in expenditures per student and trends in expenditures per student in elementary and secondary education.