Facts.
Here are some facts you can use.
About 56.4 million students are projected to attend elementary, middle, and high schools across the United States (in the year 2020).
50.7 million students in public schools
5.7 million students in private schools
Of the 50.7 million public school students:
1.5 million are expected to attend prekindergarten
3.7 million are expected to attend kindergarten
35.3 million are expected to attend prekindergarten to grade 8
15.4 million are expected to attend grades 9 to 12
4.1 million are expected to attend 9th grade, the grade students typically enter high school
About 3.7 million students are expected to graduate from high school during the 2020–21 school year, including 3.3 million students from public schools and 0.4 million from private schools.
The projected 50.7 million public school students entering prekindergarten through grade 12 in fall 2020 are expected to include:
23.4 million White students
14.0 million Hispanic students
7.6 million Black students
2.8 million Asian students
2.3 million students of Two or more races
0.5 million American Indian/Alaska Native students
0.2 million Pacific Islander students
There are expected to be about 3.7 million teachers in fall 2020.
3.2 million teachers in public schools
0.5 million teachers in private schools
30 years ago, America was the leader in quantity and quality of high school diplomas. Today, our nation is ranked 36th in the world.
Distance Learning
How many schools provided distance learning opportunities in previous years?
In 2017–18, about 19 percent of all elementary/secondary schools offered any courses entirely online. This percentage varied by school characteristics:
21 percent of all public schools offered any courses entirely online
20 percent of traditional public schools offered any courses entirely online
30 percent of public charter schools offered any courses entirely online
3 percent of primary school offered any courses entirely online
13 percent of private schools offered any courses entirely online.
Teachers
How many teachers are there in the United States?
There are expected to be about 3.7 million teachers in fall 2020.
3.2 million teachers in public schools
0.5 million teachers in private schools
Expenditures
How much will be spent on PK–12 education this school year?
$14,000: projected current expenditure per student in public elementary and secondary schools for the 2020–21 school year.
$709 billion: projected current expenditures for public elementary and secondary schools.
Here are links to the “Big 5″* trade book publishers. The educational market is over $4 billion. Each of these companies is over a billion dollars making them behemoths and fairly uncontrollable from the public’s point of view.
*It used to be the “Big 6” — until Penguin and Random House merged.
