Digest of Education Statistics, 2010

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The number of public school teachers has risen faster than the number of public school students over the past 10 years, resulting in declines in the pupil/teacher ratio. In the fall of 2010, there were a projected 15.6 public school pupils per teacher, compared with 16.0 public school pupils per teacher 10 years earlier. The Digest of Education Statistics, 2010 is the 46th in a series of publications initiated in 1962. The Digest's primary purpose is to provide a compilation of statistical information covering the broad field of American education from prekindergarten through graduate school. The Digest contains data on a variety of topics, including the number of schools and colleges, teachers, enrollments, and graduates, in addition to educational attainment, finances, and federal funds for education, libraries, and international comparisons.

Other findings include:

• Record levels of total elementary, secondary, and college enrollment are expected through at least 2019.

• The status dropout rate—that is, the percentage of 16- to 24-year-olds not enrolled in school and who have not received either a diploma or an equivalency credential—declined from 13 percent in 1989 to 8 percent in 2009. The percentage of young adults (25- to 29-year-olds) who had completed high school in 2010 was about the same as it was in 2000 (89 and 88 percent, respectively).

• Expenditures for public and private education, from prekindergarten through graduate school (excluding postsecondary schools not awarding associate's or higher degrees), are estimated at $1.1 trillion for 2009-10. Total expenditures for education are expected to amount to 7.9 percent of the gross domestic product in 2009-10, about 1 percentage point higher than in 1999-2000.

The Digest of Education Statistics (NCES 2011-015) and the Mini-Digest (NCES 2011-016) are reports from the National Center for Education Statistics of the Institute of Education Sciences.