Across the country, hallways and classrooms are full of activity as students return for the 2019–20 school year. Each year, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) compiles back-to-school facts and figures that give a snapshot of our schools and colleges for the coming year. You can see the full report on the NCES website, but here are a few “by-the-numbers” highlights. You can also click on the hyperlinks throughout the blog to see additional data on these topics.
The staff of NCES and of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) hopes our nation's students, teachers, administrators, school staffs, and families have an outstanding school year!
56.6 million
The number of students expected to attend public and private elementary and secondary schools this year—slightly more than in the 2018–19 school year (56.5 million).
Overall, 50.8 million students are expected to attend public schools this year. The racial and ethnic profile of public school students includes 23.7 million White students, 13.9 million Hispanic students, 7.7 million Black students, 2.7 million Asian students, 2.1 million students of Two or more races, 0.5 million American Indian/Alaska Native students, and 0.2 million Pacific Islander students.
About 5.8 million students are expected to attend private schools this year.
$13,440
The projected per student expenditure in public elementary and secondary schools in 2019–20. Total expenditures for public elementary and secondary schools are projected to be $680 billion for the 2019–20 school year.
3.7 million
The number of teachers in fall 2019. There will be 3.2 million teachers in public schools and 0.5 million teachers in private schools.
3.7 million
The number of students expected to graduate from high school this school year, including 3.3 million from public schools and nearly 0.4 million from private schools.
19.9 million
The number of students expected to attend American colleges and universities this fall—lower than the peak of 21.0 million in 2010. About 13.9 million students will attend four-year institutions and 6.0 million will attend two-year institutions.
56.7%
The projected percentage of female postsecondary students in fall 2019, for a total of 11.3 million female students, compared with 8.6 million male students.
By Sidney Wilkinson-Flicker
