This year, public school enrollment is expected to approach about 50 million students. Total public school enrollment is projected to set new records each year from 2008 to 2017, predicts the Condition of Education, at which time it is expected to reach 54.1 million. Created by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), this congressionally mandated annual report provides a look at this student population.

"This report allows us to take a big-picture look at the condition of American education," said NCES Commissioner Mark Schneider. "What we see are improvements, such as higher math and reading scores for 4th- and 8th-graders, and increases in college enrollment. But persistent challenges remain in educating a growing and increasingly diverse population."

Highlights from the report include:

• Minority students make up 43 percent of the public school enrollment overall and 48 percent in the South and 55 percent in the West.
• Twenty percent of school-age children speak a language other than English at home; about 5 percent speak English with difficulty.
• In 2005-06, about a third of Black students and a third of Hispanic students attended high-poverty schools compared with 4 percent of White students.
• 56 percent of elementary and middle school students from non-poor families participate in after-school activities, only 20 percent of students from poor families participate.
• Between 1989-90 and 2004-05, total spending per student in public elementary and secondary schools rose 29 percent after adjusting for inflation, to $10,892.
• Average reading scores of 4th and 8th graders were higher in 2007 than in 1992.
• Average mathematics scores increased 27 points for 4th-graders and 19 points for 8th-graders between 1990 and 2007.
• The dropout rates for Whites, Blacks, and Hispanics have generally declined between 1972 and 2006. However, over this period, the dropout rates for Hispanics and Blacks remained higher than the White rates.
• Among public high school students in the class of 2005, about three-fourths graduated on time.
• The rate of students entering college immediately after high school graduation increased from 49 percent in 1972 to 67 percent by 1997, but has since fluctuated between 62 and 69 percent.
• Minority students have accounted for about half of the growth in associate's and bachelor's degrees awarded between 1989-90 and 2003-04.

A special analysis of community colleges is forthcoming.

Source: NCES, The Condition of Education 2008 and ASCD, We've Got Good News and Bad News