Indicator 2.1: Elementary and Secondary School Enrollment
Figure 2.1. Percentage distribution of public elementary and secondary school enrollment, by race/ethnicity and urbanicity: Fall 2002
NOTE: A 'central city' is defined as a large or midsize city of a Core Based Statistical Area (CBSA) or Consolidated Statistical Area (CSA); 'urban fringe' is an area within a CBSA or CSA of a city and defined as urban by the Census Bureau, but outside of the central city itself; 'town' is a place not within a CBSA or CSA, but having a population equal to or more than 2,500 people; 'rural' is a place with a population of fewer than 2,500 people. Figures may differ from previously published figures because Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) schools have been included in the Common Core of Data (CCD) total.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), "Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey," unpublished data, 2002-03.
American Indian/Alaska Native students in public elementary and secondary schools account for 1 percent of total enrollment. The majority of American Indian/Alaska Native students attend school in the southern or western regions of the United States.
In 2002, about 1 percent, or 624,000, public elementary and secondary school students were American Indians/Alaska Natives.4 The proportion of public school students who were American Indian/Alaska Native has remained fairly constant since 1986, varying between 0.9 percent in 1986 to 1.2 percent in 2002. The proportion of public school students who were members of a minority group increased from 30 percent in 1986 to 41 percent in 2002, while the proportion who were White decreased from 70 percent to 59 percent over the same period of time.
Excluding Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) schools, the states where American Indian/Alaska Native students compose the largest proportions of the total student populations included Alaska (26 percent), Oklahoma (18 percent), Montana, New Mexico, and South Dakota (11 percent each). BIA schools (located in the South, Midwest, and West regions; data not shown) were attended by 7 percent of all American Indian/Alaska Native students (appendix table A-2.1a).
American Indian/Alaska Native students were more likely than the total student population to have attended school in rural areas (appendix table A-2.1b). In 2002, 38 percent of American Indian/Alaska Native students attended schools in rural areas, compared to 25 percent of Whites, 11 percent of Blacks, 7 percent of Hispanics, and 5 percent of Asian/Pacific Islanders. Almost one-third (31 percent) of American Indian/Alaska Native students attended schools where they were at least 50 percent of the student body.
View Table 2.1a
