Educacion en estados unidos

120 Years of American Education: A Statistical Portrait

Editor Thomas D. Snyder Center for Education Statistics

U.S. Department of Education Lamar Alexander Secretary Office of Educational Research and Improvement Diane Ravitch Assistant Secretary National Center for Education Statistics Emerson J. Elliott Commissioner

National Center for Education Statistics ‘‘The purpose of theCenter shall be to collect, analyze, and disseminate statistics and other data related to education in the United States and in other nations.’’—Section 406(b) of the General Education Provisions Act, as amended (20 U.S.C. 1221e–1).

January 1993

Foreword
Emerson J. Elliott Commissioner of Education Statistics
NCES statistics and reports are used for myriad purposes. Congress, federal agencies,state and local officials, business leaders, scholars and researchers, the news media, and the general public use our data to formulate programs, apportion resources, monitor services, research issues, and inform and make decisions. Since 1870, the federal government has collected statistics on the condition and progress of American education. In the beginning, data were collected on very basicitems, such as public elementary and secondary school enrollment, attendance, teachers and their salaries, high school graduates, and expenditures. Over the years, the level of detail has gradually increased. Today, the National Center for Education Statistics has a staff of approximately 130 who collect information through nearly 40 surveys and studies and produce more than 175 publications peryear. Statistics paint a portrait of our Nation. By looking at changes in the data over time—like number of schools, participation rates, completion rates, and expenditures—we see how our Nation has progressed. But the questions, too, have changed. Illiteracy, for example, is defined differently today than it was in earlier years. While we once looked only at whether a person could read or write,today we are concerned with how well a person can function in a modern society. Recent additions to the long-term data series contain more qualitative information, especially on student performance and classroom activities. During the period in which this report was prepared, Diane Ravitch, an educational historian by profession, was Assistant Secretary for Educational Research and Improvement. Dr.Ravitch knows the importance of the record that America’s education data collections form, and it was her personal interest and initiative that prompted preparation of this report. Her support, both as Assistant Secretary and as an historian of education, has been invaluable to the production of this volume and in all other efforts of NCES. The Assistant Secretary’s Introduction to this volumestates that an historical perspective is indispensable for a full understanding of American education and the changes it has undergone. Such a perspective will help supply that meaning, understanding, and judgment needed to help improve education in America. I join her in thanking Vance Grant of OERI and Tom Snyder of NCES for producing this work. We will benefit from the better understanding of ourpast that these education statistics bring to us. This work supplements other major compilations of education statistics, including the annual Digest and the Condition of Education reports, and reaffirms the mission of the National Center for Education Statistics to provide the Nation with data on the condition and progress of education. Our goal is to make education data accessible, useful, andmeaningful to our many publics. I welcome comments for improvements to our data collections and publications.

iii

Acknowledgments
Many people have contributed in one way or another to the development of 120 Years of American Education. Foremost among these contributors is W. Vance Grant, who has served as an education statistics expert since 1955. Thomas D. Snyder was responsible for the...