Facts and figures about US education as millions of students return to classrooms this fall - The Washington Post

Facts and figures about US education as millions of students return to classrooms this fall - The Washington Post:

Facts and figures about US education as millions of students return to classrooms this fall

(M. Spencer Green, File/ Associated Press ) - FILE - In this Aug. 26, 2013 file photo safety guard Renee Green high-fives Demari Hill, 5, as she heads to Gresham Elementary School with her parents Destiny and Anthony Hill on her first day of kindergarten classes in Chicago. The National Center for Education Statistics estimated that in 2013, 50.1 million children will be enrolled in U.S. public schools and 5.2 million will be in private school. That doesn’t include home-schooled students, an estimated 1.5 million in 2007, which home-school advocates say are higher now. As for teachers there are about 3.3 million elementary and secondary public teachers in 2013, leading to a student teacher ratio of 15-to-1, NCES said.

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By Associated Press, Updated: Saturday, August 31, 9:37 AM

WASHINGTON — Schools and classrooms are spiffed up — maybe.

New textbooks have been ordered — perhaps.

Teachers are energized — hopefully.

What’s certain is that millions of children in the United States are heading to school after the summer. Many are there for the first time, while others are in the final year of their formal education.

There will be tears, from some prekindergarten and kindergarten youngsters starting school, and from parents as they leave their new college students at the dorm.

Statistics make clear that those with college degrees generally will do better than their peers who do not graduate and that those who drop out from high school face an even more dismal future.

As the school year begins, some facts and figures about education in America:

HOW MANY STUDENTS ARE THERE?

The National Center for Education Statistics estimated that in 2013, 50.1 million children will be enrolled in U.S. public schools and 5.2 million will be in private school. That doesn’t include students who are home-schooled. The Education Department’s statistics arm also estimated there were 1.5 million U.S. students home-schooled in 2007; advocates of home schooling advocates put the number higher.

Enrollment in colleges and universities was