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|This article was originally published as the Commissioner's 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.|
With the creation of the original Department of Education in 1867, the Congress declared that it should "gather statistics and facts on the condition and progress of education in the United States and Territories."1 The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) currently responds to this mission for the Department of Education through such publications as The Condition of Education, a mandated report submitted to Congress on June 1st each year.
Reauthorization of the Center through the Education Sciences Reform Act of 2002 (P.L. 107–279) reaffirms this mandate. The Act calls upon NCES to release information that is valid, timely, unbiased, and relevant.
Recognizing that reliable data are critical in guiding efforts to improve education in America, The Condition of Education 2004 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 year's volume contains a special analysis that examines changes in undergraduate student financial aid between 1989–90 and 1999–2000.
This statement summarizes the main findings of the special analysis and the 38 indicators that appear in the complete volume.
Special Analysis on Paying for College
The 1990s brought rising tuition and fees but also expanded and restructured financial aid programs to help students pay for college. At the federal level, the 1992 Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act broadened eligibility for need-based aid, raised loan limits, and made unsubsidized loans available to students regardless of need. States and institutions increased their grant aid and put more emphasis on merit as a criterion for awards. As a result, the overall picture of what and how students pay for college has changed substantially since the early 1990s.
This special analysis uses data from the 1989–90 and 1999–2000 administrations of the National Postsecondary Student Aid Study to describe some of these changes. It focuses on students who were enrolled full time and were considered financially dependent on their parents for financial aid purposes. All dollar amounts were adjusted for inflation.
Participation in Education
As the U.S. population increases, so does its enrollment at all levels of education. At the elementary and secondary levels, growth is due largely to the increase in the size of the school-age population. At the postsecondary level, both population growth and increasing enrollment rates help explain rising enrollments. Adult education is also increasing due to demographic shifts in the age of the U.S. population and increasing rates of enrollment, as influenced by changing employer requirements for skills. As enrollments have risen, the cohorts of learners—of all ages—have become more diverse than ever before.
*Represents statistically significant change from 1989–90.
NOTE: Averages computed for all students, including those who did not receive financial aid. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.
SOURCE: Wei, C.C., Li, X., and Berkner, L. (2004). A Decade of Undergraduate Student Aid: 1989–90 to 1999–2000 (NCES 2004–158), tables A-1.2, A-2.2, A-3.2, A-4.2, A-1.6, A-2.6, A-3.6, A-4.6, A-1.10, A-2.10, A-3.10, A-4.10. Data from U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1989–90 and 1999–2000 National Postsecondary Student Aid Study (NPSAS:90 and NPSAS:2000). (Originally published as figure 10 on p. 24 of the complete report from which this article is excerpted.)
How well does the American educational system—and its students—perform? Data from national and international assessments can help answer this question, as can data on adults' educational and work experiences, health, and earnings later in life. In some areas, such as reading, mathematics, and writing, the performance of elementary and secondary students has improved over the past decade, but not in all grades assessed and not equally for all students. Long-term effects of education, such as on the health and earnings of adults, help underscore the importance of education and the outcomes of different levels of educational attainment.
In addition to indicators on students' academic achievement, there are also some indicators on the long-term outcomes of education.
1Family risk factors include living below the poverty level, primary home language was non-English, mother's highest education was less than a high school diploma/GED, and living in a single-parent household, as measured in kindergarten.
NOTE: The findings are based on children who entered kindergarten for the first time in fall 1998 and were assessed in fall 1998, spring 1999, spring 2000, and spring 2002. Estimates reflect the sample of children assessed in English in all assessment years (approximately 19 percent of Asian children and approximately 30 percent of Hispanic children were not assessed). The Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998–99 (ECLS-K) was not administered in spring 2001, when most of the children were in 2nd grade. Although most of the sample was in 3rd grade in spring 2002, 10 percent were in 2nd grade and about 1 percent were enrolled in other grades.
SOURCE: Rathbun, A, and West, J. (2004). From Kindergarten Through Third Grade: Children's Beginning School Experiences (NCES 2004–007), tables A-4 and A-5. Data from U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998–99 (ECLS-K), Longitudinal Kindergarten–First Grade Public-Use data file and Third Grade Restricted-Use data file, fall 1998, spring 1999, spring 2000, and spring 2002. (Originally published as the Early Reading and Mathematics Performance figure on p. 48 of the complete report from which this article is excerpted.)
Student Effort and Educational Progress
Many factors are associated with school success, persistence, and progress toward high school graduation or a college degree. These include student motivation and effort, the expectations of students, encouragement from others, and learning opportunities, as well as various student characteristics, such as sex and family income. Monitoring these factors in relation to the progress of different groups of students through the educational system and tracking students' attainment are important for knowing how well we are doing as a nation in education.
1Includes other fields not shown separately.
NOTE: Based on data from all degree-granting institutions.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2003). Digest of Education Statistics 2002 (NCES 2003–060), tables 246, 276–297, and (forthcoming) Digest of Education Statistics 2003 (NCES 2004–024), tables 265, 268, and 271. Data from U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1969–86 Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS), "Degrees and Other Formal Awards Conferred" and 1987–2002 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, "Completions Survey" (IPEDS-C:87–02), fall 2002. (Originally published as the Bachelor's Degrees table on p. 65 of the complete report from which this article is excerpted.)
Contexts of Elementary and Secondary Education
The school environment is shaped by many factors, including the courses offered in the school and taken by students, the instructional methods used by teachers, students' opportunities to attend a "chosen" public school, the role of school staff in providing various support services to students, the extent to which teachers are teaching in their field, and the characteristics of school principals and their influence over school governance. Monitoring these and other factors provides a better understanding of the conditions in schools that influence education.
Contexts of Postsecondary Education
The postsecondary education system encompasses various types of institutions, both public and private. Although issues of student access, persistence, and attainment have been predominant concerns in postsecondary education, the contexts in which postsecondary education takes place matter as well. The diversity of the undergraduate and graduate populations, the various educational missions and learning environments of colleges and universities, the courses that students take, the modes of learning that are employed, and the ways in which colleges and universities attract and use faculty and other resources all are important aspects of the contexts of postsecondary education.
NOTE: "Major" refers to a teacher's primary fields of study for a bachelor's, master's, doctorate, first-professional, or education specialist degree. "Major field" can be an academic or education major. "High minority" refers to schools in which 75 percent or more of their enrollments are minority students; "low minority" refers to schools with a minority enrollment of less than 10 percent. "High poverty" refers to a school in which 75 percent or more of students are eligible to participate in the federal free or reduced-price lunch program, a common proxy measure of poverty; "low poverty" refers to schools in which less than 10 percent of students are eligible to participate in this program.
Societal Support for Learning
Society and its members—families, individuals, employers, and governmental and private organizations—provide support for education in various ways. This support includes learning activities that take place outside schools and colleges as well as the financial support for learning inside schools and colleges. Parents contribute to the education of their children in the home through reading with young children, setting aside a time and place for schoolwork, and seeing that assignments are completed. Communities impart learning and values through various modes, both formal and informal. Financial investments in education are made both by individuals in the form of income spent on their own education (or the education of their children) and by the public in the form of public appropriations for education. These investments in education are made at all levels of the education system. Other collective entities, such as employers and other kinds of organizations, also invest in various forms of education for their members.
Trends in the condition of American education continue to show promise and challenge, as well as underscore the importance of schooling. In reading, the performance of U.S. 8th-graders has increased since 1992, and higher percentages of 4th- and 8th-graders are scoring at or above the Proficient level. Yet the overall reading achievement of 12th-graders has decreased. In mathematics, the performance of 4th- and 8th-graders has risen steadily since 1990. In writing, the performance of 4th- and 8th-graders improved between 1998 and 2002, and in the later year, about one-quarter of 4th-, 8th-, and 12th-graders were at or above the Proficient level.
The poverty level of students and their schools presents a challenge to students' educational progress and achievement. Children with family risk factors, such as poverty, start kindergarten with fewer reading and mathematics skills and end 3rd grade with smaller gains. In the early part of this decade, high school students living in low-income families dropped out of school at six times the rate of their peers from high-income families.
The proportion of kindergarten students enrolled in full-day programs has risen since the late 1970s, and by 1995 exceeded that of students enrolled in half-day programs. In elementary and secondary education, enrollments have followed population shifts, and in the coming decade are projected to remain fairly steady and then climb to an all-time high of 49.7 million in 2013. The current trends toward greater diversity in the racial/ethnic composition of the student population are expected to continue. In addition, the proportion of 10th-graders expecting to complete a bachelor's as their highest degree has nearly doubled since 1980 and the proportion expecting to earn a graduate degree has more than doubled, with the potential of higher educational attainment in the years ahead.
In the past 30 years, rates of enrollment in postsecondary education have increased and are projected to continue to do so in the next decade. At the undergraduate and graduate levels, enrollments have grown faster among women than men. In the next decade, full-time undergraduate enrollment is expected to increase faster than part-time enrollment, and enrollment in 4-year institutions faster than in 2-year institutions. In recent years, the number of course enrollments in distance education has nearly doubled, and continued growth is expected. Also, about one-third of undergraduates are now older students who combine school and work, and many of them characterize themselves as employees first and students second.
Paralleling the growth in postsecondary education, participation in adult education has increased as well. Many adults participate in adult education for work-related purposes, and in 2002–03, 40 percent of all persons age 16 and above did so.
NCES produces an array of reports each month that present findings about the U.S. education system. The Condition of Education 2004 is the culmination of a yearlong project. It includes data that were available by early April 2004. In the coming months, many other reports and surveys informing us about education will be released, including the baseline year for a new longitudinal study tracking the development and early childhood experiences of very young children; the 3rd-grade follow-up to the kindergarten cohort study; international assessments; and the first year of a new longitudinal study of high school students. As is true of the indicators in this volume, these surveys and reports will continue to inform Americans about the condition of education.
Snyder, T.D. (Ed.) (1993). 120 Years of American Education: A Statistical Portrait (NCES 93–442). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: Office of Educational Research and Improvement.
1In 1869, the name of the new department was changed to the Office of Education and it was moved to the Department of the Interior (Snyder 1993).