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120 Years of - National Center for Education Statistics

120 Years ofAmerican Education :A Statistical PortraitEditorThomas D. SnyderCenter for Education Department of EducationLamar AlexanderSecretaryOffice of Educational Research and ImprovementDiane RavitchAssistant SecretaryNational Center for Education StatisticsEmerson J. ElliottCommissionerNational Center for Education Statistics The purpose of the Center shall be to collect, analyze,and disseminate Statistics and other data related to edu-cation in the United States and in other nations. Sec-tion 406(b) of the General Education Provisions Act,as amended (20 1221e 1).January 1993iiiForewordEmerson J. ElliottCommissioner of Education StatisticsNCES Statistics and reports are used for myriadpurposes. Congress, federal agencies, state andlocal officials, business leaders, scholars and re-searchers, the news media, and the general publicuse our data to formulate programs, apportion re-sources, monitor services, research issues, and in-form and make 1870, the federal government has collectedstatistics on the condition and progress of Americaneducation.

Charlene Hoffman developed tables on degrees con-ferred and managed the typesetting. Carol Sue Fromboluti managed the review process of the publi-cation. Celestine Davis provided statistical assist-ance. A number of people outside the Center also ex-pended large amounts of time and effort on 120 Years of American Education. James J. Corina and

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Transcription of 120 Years of - National Center for Education Statistics

1 120 Years ofAmerican Education :A Statistical PortraitEditorThomas D. SnyderCenter for Education Department of EducationLamar AlexanderSecretaryOffice of Educational Research and ImprovementDiane RavitchAssistant SecretaryNational Center for Education StatisticsEmerson J. ElliottCommissionerNational Center for Education Statistics The purpose of the Center shall be to collect, analyze,and disseminate Statistics and other data related to edu-cation in the United States and in other nations. Sec-tion 406(b) of the General Education Provisions Act,as amended (20 1221e 1).January 1993iiiForewordEmerson J. ElliottCommissioner of Education StatisticsNCES Statistics and reports are used for myriadpurposes. Congress, federal agencies, state andlocal officials, business leaders, scholars and re-searchers, the news media, and the general publicuse our data to formulate programs, apportion re-sources, monitor services, research issues, and in-form and make 1870, the federal government has collectedstatistics on the condition and progress of Americaneducation.

2 In the beginning, data were collected onvery basic items, such as public elementary and sec-ondary school enrollment, attendance, teachers andtheir salaries, high school graduates, and expendi-tures. Over the Years , the level of detail has gradu-ally increased. Today, the National Center for Edu-cation Statistics has a staff of approximately 130 whocollect information through nearly 40 surveys andstudies and produce more than 175 publications paint a portrait of our Nation. By lookingat changes in the data over time like number ofschools, participation rates, completion rates, and ex-penditures we see how our Nation has the questions, too, have changed. Illiteracy, forexample, is defined differently today than it was inearlier Years . While we once looked only at whethera person could read or write, today we are con-cerned with how well a person can function in amodern society.

3 Recent additions to the long-termdata series contain more qualitative information, es-pecially on student performance and classroom the period in which this report was pre-pared, Diane Ravitch, an educational historian byprofession, was Assistant Secretary for EducationalResearch and Improvement. Dr. Ravitch knows theimportance of the record that America s educationdata collections form, and it was her personal inter-est and initiative that prompted preparation of this re-port. Her support, both as Assistant Secretary and asan historian of Education , has been invaluable to theproduction of this volume and in all other efforts Assistant Secretary s Introduction to this vol-ume states that an historical perspective is indispen-sable for a full understanding of American educationand the changes it has undergone.

4 Such a perspec-tive will help supply that meaning, understanding,and judgment needed to help improve Education join her in thanking Vance Grant of OERI andTom Snyder of NCES for producing this work. Wewill benefit from the better understanding of our pastthat these Education Statistics bring to work supplements other major compilations ofeducation Statistics , including the annual Digest andthe Condition of Education reports, and reaffirms themission of the National Center for Education Statis-tics to provide the Nation with data on the conditionand progress of Education . Our goal is to make edu-cation data accessible, useful, and meaningful to ourmany publics. I welcome comments for improve-ments to our data collections and people have contributed in one way or an-other to the development of 120 Years of AmericanEducation.

5 Foremost among these contributors is Grant, who has served as an Education statis-tics expert since 1955. Thomas D. Snyder was re-sponsible for the overall development and prepara-tion of 120 Years of American Education , which wasprepared under the general direction of Jeanne , Associate Commissioner for Data Sonnenberg served as a statistical consult-ant in all phases of 120 Years of American Educationand was responsible for chapter 2, Elementary andSecondary Education . Irene Baden Harwarth devel-oped a table on higher Education enrollment and wasresponsible for developing charts for the Hoffman developed tables on degrees con-ferred and managed the typesetting. Carol SueFromboluti managed the review process of the publi-cation. Celestine Davis provided statistical number of people outside the Center also ex-pended large amounts of time and effort on 120 Years of American Education .

6 James J. Corina andRobert Craig of Pinkerton Computer Consultants,Inc., provided computer support. Louise Woerner,Barbara Robinson, Jeannette Bernardo, and JeffreySisson of HCR provided research assistance. NancyFloyd copyedited this book, and Margery Martin andWilma Greene provided editorial assistance. AnnieLunsford designed the cover. Jerry Fairbanks andKim Stiles of the Government Printing Officeprovided typesetting Years of American Education has received ex-tensive reviews by individuals within and outside theDepartment of Education . We wish to thank them fortheir time and expert advice. In the Office of Edu-cational Research and Improvement (OERI), DianeRavitch, Maris Vinovskis, Mary Frase, W. VanceGrant, Fred Beamer, Frank Morgan, John Sietsema,and Irene Baden Harwarth reviewed the entire manu-script.

7 Rosemary Clark and Dave Fleck of the Bu-reau of the Census also reviewed the entire docu-ment. Agency reviews were conducted by the Officeof Bilingual Education and Minority Languages Af-fairs, Office of Management and Budget, Office ofPolicy and Planning, Office of Private Education , andOffice of Vocational and Adult Education , De-partment of Deputy Assistant Secretary Francie Alexan-der and NCES Chief of Staff Paul R. Hall providedleadership and gave enthusiastic support to RavitchAssistant SecretaryAs an historian of Education , I have been a regularconsumer of Education Statistics from the De-partment of Education . For many Years , I kept theDepartment s telephone number in my address bookand computer directory. It did not take long to dis-cover there was one person to whom I should ad-dress all my queries: Vance Grant.

8 In my many tele-phone calls for information, I discovered he is theman who knows what data and Statistics have beengathered over the Years by the Department of Edu-cation. No matter how exotic my question, Dr. Grantcould always tell me, without delay, whether the in-formation existed; usually, he produced it I asked a statistical question, I could oftenhear the whir of an adding machine in the back-ground, even after the advent of the electronic my surprise, therefore, to find myself inthe position of Assistant Secretary of the Office ofEducational Research and Improvement (OERI), thevery home of the National Center for Education Sta-tistics (NCES). The latter agency is headed by Emer-son Elliott, the first presidentially appointed Commis-sioner of Education Statistics .

9 And imagine my de-light when I encountered Vance Grant, face to face,for the first time. The voice on the telephone, alwayscheerful and confident, belonged to a man employedby the Department or Office of Education since Grant, a Senior Education Program Special-ist, and Tom Snyder, NCES Chief of the Compila-tions and Special Studies Branch in the Data Devel-opment Division, prepared 120 Years of AmericanEducation: A Statistical Portrait. They did so enthu-siastically, because like me they knew it wasneeded. Historians of Education customarily mustconsult multiple, often disparate, sources to find andcollect the information in this one volume. They cannever be sure if the data they locate are consistentand reliable. This compilation aggregates all relevantstatistics about the history of our educational systemin one convenient book.

10 It will, I believe, become aclassic, an indispensable volume in every library andon every Education scholar s bookshelf, one that willbe periodically updated. Vance Grant s and TomSnyder s careful preparation of this report substan-tially enriches our knowledge of American collecting these historical data in one volumenot only benefits professional historians. As a Nation,we need to develop an historical perspective in ana-lyzing change. Too often, newspapers report impor-tant political, economic, or social events without sup-plying the necessary historical context. We are allnow accustomed to reading headlines about the lat-est test scores. Whether up or down, they invariablyoverstate the meaning of a single year s change. Andthe same short-sightedness often flaws journalisticreports of other major educational ContextOne does not need to be an historian to recognizethe tremendous importance of historical of us should be able to assess events, ideas,and trends with reliable knowledge of what has hap-pened in the past.


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