Breaking: NCES Issues Report On Public Schools in The United States #NCES

The National Center for Educational Statistics of the Institute of Education Sciences  issued a report yesterday. The report Characteristics of Public Elementary and Secondary Schools in the United States: Results From the 2015–16 National Teacher and Principal Survey.  The "First Look" examines descriptive statistics and basic information from the national survey. it provides a fresh look at public schools in the United States.

The report includes a wealth of information about public schools. You can read the entire 46 page report here.

Here are some interesting selected findings of the report: 

• During the 2015–16 school year, there were an estimated 90,400 K–12 public schools in the United States, including 83,500 traditional public and 6,900 public charter schools. These schools served nearly 49.3 million students, with about 46.2 million in traditional public schools and another 3 million in public charter schools. Between the 2011–12 SASS and the 2015–16 NTPS, the number of public charter schools increased from 4,480 to 6,900 (Bitterman, Gray, & Goldring 2013) (table 1).

 • About 99 percent of public schools had at least one student with an Individual Education Plan (IEP) because of special needs. Additionally, 76 percent of public schools had instruction specifically designed to address the needs of English language learners or limited English proficient students (table 2).(emphasis added)

 • Nationwide, about 21 percent of public schools offered at least one course entirely online. This was more common among public charter schools (29 percent) than it was among traditional public schools (20 percent). Offering one or more classes that were entirely online was much more common among high (58 percent) or combined (64 percent) schools, and very small (45 percent) or very large (44 percent) schools than for all public schools (21 percent). Among schools offering online courses, relatively more public charter schools offered all of their classes online (14 percent) than traditional public schools (5 percent) (table 3). 

• Including full-time and part-time staff, public schools employed an estimated 124,420 school counselors, 66,320 psychologists, and 44,920 social workers. They also employed 96,440 speech therapists and 84,020 nurses, as well as 73,580 librarians/library media specialists and 80,920 instructional coordinators and supervisors. In addition, public schools employed a variety of full-time and part-time aides, such as 483,590 special education aides. These schools employed 400,830 food service personnel, 332,270 custodial and maintenance personnel, 66,110 technology specialists, and 260,310 secretaries and other clerical support staff (table 4). (emphasis added)

 • About two-thirds (66 percent) of public schools had teachers or staff with specialist or academic coaching assignments. 2 Among public schools, 78 percent of primary schools, 60 percent of middle schools, 45 percent of high schools, and 50 percent of combined schools had teachers or staff with these assignments. Relatively fewer small schools had such staff, including only 30 percent of schools with less than 100 students and 53 percent of schools with 100 to 199 students in comparison to all public schools (66 percent) (table 5). 

• Overall, 59 percent of public schools had instruction beyond the normal school day for students who need academic assistance. Relatively more charter schools (65 percent) provided this instruction than traditional public schools (59 percent). This type of instruction was most frequently provided in schools with 1,000 or more students (72 percent), middle schools (68 percent), and city schools (68 percent) than for all public schools (59 percent). Additionally, 43 percent of all public schools had instruction beyond the normal school day for students who seek academic advancement or enrichment. Again, relatively more charter schools (50 percent) provided this than traditional public schools (43 percent) (table 6).

 • The average start time for public schools was 8:10 a.m. Nationally, only about 4 percent of schools had start times before 7:30 a.m. This early start was more common among schools with 1,000 or more students (14 percent) than all public schools (4 percent). It was also substantially more common among high schools (10 percent) than among primary (2 percent), middle (7 percent), or combined (4 percent) schools (table 7).