Public funding for K-12 education has increased 20 percent over the last decade, according to the annual progress report on education, The Condition of Education 2003, released today by the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). Expenditures per student increased the most in rural areas and the central cities of mid-sized metropolitan areas, and least in the urban fringe of mid-sized metropolitan areas.

This congressionally mandated report provides a snapshot of 44 indicators on the conditions and trends in elementary, secondary and postsecondary education. In addition, the report also measures the performance of U.S. students on national and international assessments; student performance in low- and high-poverty schools; the academic level of courses completed by high school graduates; the qualifications of teachers; and trends in school expenditures.

The report's special analysis on the reading achievement of kindergartners and first graders finds that kindergartners from less advantaged family backgrounds made gains that helped close the gap by the end of 1st grade between themselves and their more advantaged peers in basic reading skills but that the gap between these groups widened on more difficult skills. The analysis also found that average gains in reading achievement are larger among children in full-day kindergarten programs than those in half-day kindergarten programs.

"The findings of The Condition of Education show that we as a nation need to focus on ways to improve our schools to ensure that no child is left behind," said U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige. "The No Child Left Behind law says that everyone in this country, no matter the color of their skin, their heritage, their language, deserves a quality education from kindergarten through college. I believe education is a civil right -- we all need to work together to make that a reality and reports like this help us benchmark and see what areas are working and where we need to redouble our efforts."

Highlights of this year's report include:

Public funding for elementary and secondary education has increased:

• Expenditures per student in elementary and secondary education (adjusted for inflation) increased from $6,700 in 1991-92 to $8,100 in 1999-2000--an increase of 20 percent. Expenditures per student have increased the most in rural areas and the central cities of mid-sized metropolitan areas, and least in the urban fringe of mid-sized metropolitan areas.
• Districts with the highest levels of poverty received less revenue from the local tax base than districts with the lowest levels of poverty in 1999-2000. State general revenues and federal and state categorical revenues tended to compensate for these lower amounts.

The extent to which teachers are new or teaching out-of-field varies across different types of schools:

• Beginning teachers (those with 3 or fewer years of teaching experience) were more likely to be employed by private schools and schools with high minority enrollments than by public schools and schools with low minority enrollments in 1999-2000.
• Students in middle grades were more likely than students in high school to have "out-of-field teachers" in 1999-2000. Out-of-field teachers lack a major and certification in the subject they teach.

More students are completing advanced level English and foreign language courses by the time they graduate from high school:

• Between 1982 and 2000, the percentage of high school graduates who complete advanced-level courses in English and a foreign language has doubled.

In reading, 4th-grade students performed above the international average in 35 countries:

• According to the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), three countries had a higher average combined reading literacy scale score than U.S. 4th graders and 23 countries had a lower average score in 2001.

In history and geography 4th- and 8th-grade students have shown gains but 12th-graders have not:

• According to data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), the average performance of 4th- and 8th-graders increased in geography and U.S. history from 1994 to 2001. The average performance of 12th-graders was not statistically different in 1994 and 2001.

Children in high-poverty schools continue to lag in academic achievement:

• According to the report's analyses of NAEP data, 4th-graders in high-poverty schools had markedly lower achievement scores in mathematics in 2000 than their peers in low-poverty schools.
• Children in poverty are concentrated in urban areas. In school districts in the central cities of large metropolitan areas, 1 in 4 children ages 5-17 lived in households where the annual income was below the poverty line in 1999, compared with 1 in 6 children on average nationally.

The costs of attending a 2- or 4-year college have risen but, for students from low-income families, the increases have been offset by increases in grants in aid:

• Both average tuition and fees and the total price of attending college were higher for undergraduates in 1999-2000 than in 1992-93 in inflation adjusted dollars. However, the net price (total price minus grants from institutions and the states and the federal government) did not change for students in the lowest income quartile.

Student progress in postsecondary education can be measured by the time required to earn a bachelor's degree:

• 1999-2000 recipients of bachelor's degrees, who had not left college for more than 6 months, completed their degree in an average of about 55 months. Those who attended more than one institution took longer to complete their degree than those who attended only one institution.

The full text of the report and supporting data tables are available online at http://www.nces.ed.gov. A copy of the report can be ordered by calling toll free 1-877-4ED-Pubs (1-877-433-7827) (TTY/TDD 1-877-576-7734); via e-mail at edpubs@inet.ed.gov; or via the Internet at http://www.edpubs.ed.gov/webstore/Content/search.asp.

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