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This article was originally published as the Commissioners Statement in the Compendium of the same name. The universe and sample survey data are from various studies carried out by NCES, as well as surveys conducted elsewhere, both within and outside of the federal government. | |||
Reliable data are critical in guiding efforts to improve education in America. When the original Department of Education was created in 1867, the law stated that it should gather statistics and facts on the condition and progress of education in the United States and Territories. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) currently carries out this mission for the Department of Education through such work as The Condition of Education, a mandated annual report submitted to Congress on June 1 every year. Drawing on numerous data sources, this annual report presents indicators of important developments and trends in American education. Recurrent themes underscored by the indicators include participation and persistence in education, student performance and other outcomes, the environment for learning, and societal support for education. In addition, this years special feature focuses on the issue of providing equal educational opportunities to first-generation students (i.e., students whose parents did not attend college) and how academic preparation can increase the likelihood of these students access to and persistence in postsecondary education.
Enrollments in the United States are growing at all levels of education, but for different reasons. At the preprimary level, growth is due to higher rates of enrollment; that is, larger percentages of 3- to 5-year-old children are enrolling in school. At the elementary and secondary levels, growth is due to demographic changes, which are also making the student body more diverse. At the postsecondary level, high enrollment rates and population growth are combining to swell enrollments. Among adults, rates of educational attainment and of continued participation in learning activities are on the rise.
![]() NOTE: Includes most kindergarten and some nursery school enrollment. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), various years, and Projections of Education Statistics to 2010 (NCES 2000071). (Originally published as the School Enrollment figure on p. 7 of the complete report.)
At the elementary and secondary levels, trends in student performance are mixed. Participation in advanced mathematics and science courses has increased, and there have been some improvements in mathematics and science performance. But issues of equal educational opportunity and international competitiveness remain.
![]() NOTE: The reading scale score ranged from 0 to 72, and the mathematics scale score from 0 to 64. Based on those assessed in English (excludes 19 percent of Asian/Pacific Islander and 31 percent of Hispanic children). Based on children who entered kindergarten for the first time in fall 1998. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 199899 (ECLS-K), fall 1998 and spring 1999. (Originally published as the Early Reading and Mathematics Performance figure on p. 19 of the complete report.) *Includes high school completers with some college or a bachelors degree or higher. NOTE: The Current Population Survey (CPS) questions used to obtain educational attainment were changed in 1992. The category diploma or equivalency certificate includes those who have a high school diploma or an equivalency certificate; some college includes those with an associates degree or a vocational certificate; and bachelors degree or higher includes those with an advanced degree. In 1994, the survey instrument for the CPS was changed and weights for undercounted populations were adjusted. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Current Population Survey (CPS), March 1971 and 2000. (Originally published as the Educational Attainment figure on p. 51 of the complete report.)
Reflecting the high value placed on postsecondary education, most high school graduates expect to continue their education, and many of them actually do so. However, first-generation students (those whose parents did not attend college) are less likely than their peers with a college-educated parent to enroll in postsecondary education.
Academic preparation has a striking impact on the likelihood that first-generation students will enroll and persist in postsecondary education, but it does not completely close the gaps in postsecondary access and persistence between first-generation students and their peers with a college-educated parent.
Figure D.Percentage of 199596 beginning postsecondary students at 4-year institutions who stayed on the persistence track to a bachelors degree, by rigor of high school curriculum and parents highest level of education: 1998
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1996 Beginning Postsecondary Students Longitudinal Study, First Follow-up (BPS:96/98), as published in Bridging the Gap: Academic Preparation and Postsecondary Success of First-Generation Students (NCES 2001153), table 15.
Student performance in elementary and secondary schools is undoubtedly shaped by the quality of the teaching staff and the climate for learning within and outside schools.
Society and its membersthe family, the individual, employers, and government and private organizationsprovide support for education in various ways, such as spending time on learning activities, providing encouragement to learners, and investing money in education.
Education provides many lasting benefits to society as a whole and its members.
In examining trends in the condition of American education, some encouraging signs emerge. These include higher rates of educational participation in the overall population as well as increases in the mathematics performance of students, some increases in science performance in the 1980s (but with no further increases in the 1990s), and increased advanced coursetaking of high school students in four major academic subject areas (mathematics, science, English, and foreign languages). But international comparisons of student performance and instructional quality raise concerns about how well the American education system compares with the systems of other economically developed countries, especially at the middle school and secondary levels.
Also, disturbing gaps persist in academic performance and educational participation among different racial/ethnic and socioeconomic groups. These gaps exist when children enter kindergarten but show few signs of closing by the end of first grade or at higher grade levels. The parents of at-risk children are less likely to engage in early literacy activities with their children and to enroll them in a preschool program of some kind.
A growing and increasingly diverse population of elementary and secondary students continues to increase the challenge of providing high-quality instruction and equal educational opportunities. At the postsecondary level, institutions must prepare for the record numbers of enrollments expected over the next few decades. U.S. spending per student is similar to that in other major industrialized countries at the elementary/secondary level but higher at the postsecondary level.
NCES produces an array of reports each month presenting important findings about the U.S. education system. In April 2001, more than a dozen reports were released, including two major studies: The Nations Report Card: Fourth-Grade Reading 2000 (Donahue et al. 2001) from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and What Democracy Means to Ninth-Graders: U.S. Results From the International IEA Civic Education Study (Baldi et al. 2001). The Condition of Education represents the culmination of a year-long project and some materials, such as the results from these two surveys, were not available in time to be included in this years edition.
In the coming months many other reports and surveys informing us about education will also be released, including the NAEP Report Cards for the Nation and States on mathematics and on science, which will both include results on students performance in the 4th, 8th, and 12th grades; the 19992000 Schools and Staffing Survey; and the Program for International Student Assessment.
Baldi, S., Perie, M., Skidmore, D., Greenberg, E., and Hahn, C. (2001). What Democracy Means to Ninth-Graders: U.S. Results From the International IEA Civic Education Study (NCES 2001096). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Berkner, L., and Chavez, L. (1997). Access to Postsecondary Education for the 1992 High School Graduates (NCES 98105). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Campbell, J.R., Hombo, C.M., and Mazzeo, J. (2000). NAEP 1999 Trends in Academic Progress: Three Decades of Student Performance (NCES 2000469). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Donahue, P.L., Finnegan, R.J., Lutkus, A.D., Allen, N.L., and Campbell, J.R. (2001). The Nations Report Card: Fourth-Grade Reading 2000 (NCES 2001499). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
National Center for Education Statistics. (2000). The Condition of Education: 2000 (NCES 2000062). U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Data sources: Many studies from NCES and other sources.
For technical information, see the complete report:
National Center for Education Statistics. (2001). The Condition of Education: 2001 (NCES 2001072).
For questions about content, contact John Wirt (john.wirt@ed.gov).
To obtain the complete report (NCES 2001072), call the toll-free ED Pubs number (877-433-7827), visit the NCES Web Site (http://nces.ed.gov), or contact GPO (202-512-1800).
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