As part of the end of the civil war in the United States, they brought in an intensive reconstruction. This consisted partly of improving educational opportunities for families. In 1870, every state had tax-subsidized elementary schools, making America one of the most literate groups in the world. In this post, we will dive into Education Industry statistics and trends in detail.
In 1821, the first public high school opened in Boston and by 1900, public secondary schools outnumbered private schools. Along with this, some states had schooling laws, which meant that 72% of kids were attending school by 1910. By the time we reach 1918, every state required students to complete elementary school.
The education industry is always growing and will continue to grow even more, however, the costs of schooling and teaching are also always rising.
Statistics and Trends in the Education Industry
#1. The average public school in the US has an enrolment number of 528 students, making it 8 students higher in 2019 than in 2011.
#2. Around 3.2 million teachers are working at schools in the US and receive support from about 90,000 principals.
#3. The education services in the United States provide a contribution of $2 trillion to the economy each year in revenue.
#4. In 2018, the US education market was approximately $1,411.03 billion.
#5. It’s expected that the market will grow by 4.7% and by 2025, reach about $1,949.99 billion.
#6. Technology is starting to take over education. At the end of 2017, over 6.5 million students applied for online courses.
#7. Every 1 in 5 public school in the United States was offered at least one course, that is entirely online. About 5% of institutions provided all of their courses online for their students.
#8. Due to the Covid pandemic, it is expected that the online working trend will only increase over time and therefore, a demand for skilled professionals will be needed along with software technologies to support it.
#9. The top 5 schools with the highest spending per pupil in 2021 were in New York City, Boston, Baltimore, Montgomery County, MD, and Howard County.
#10. 40% of the most expensive public schools in the US are located in Maryland.
#11. New York spends approximately $23,091 per pupil, making it the most spent per pupil.
#12. This is followed closely by Columbia spending $21,974 per pupil, Connecticut spent $19,322, New Jersey spent $18,920 and Vermont spent $18,290 per pupil in 2017.
#13. The average teacher salary in the United States in the 2017-2018 school year was $39,000. This is actually below the national median income by $12,000.
#14. The lowest pay for instructors is in Oklahoma, where a first-time employee earns on average $32,010.
#15. This is closely followed by Missouri that only pays on average $32,226 for teachers.
#16. Some common trends that are expected to increase in the future include Nano learning. This is a bite-sized learning solution, where pupils are provided with information in smaller amounts and over a shorter period of time.
#17. It is proved that learning in shorter bursts, increases your ability to take in and retain information. By providing pupils with smaller parts of information, they are more likely to increase their productivity, capture their attention and increase their ability to learn.
#18. Another trend is virtual reality and augmented reality which is becoming popular in classrooms. It is thought that students can engage with the technologies to inspire them to think beyond the classroom. Virtual reality includes VR headsets and has a digital interface that projects images and creates a real or virtual world for the user to interact with. Augmented reality can be accessed through a smartphone or tablet and in a similar way to VR, projects images, sounds, and videos using the camera on the device. The virtual world and images are then displayed on the device screen.
#19. Some ways that VR and AR can be used in classrooms include field trips, virtual careers, high-tech training, and language immersion.
#20. There are only 2,500 junior high schools in the United States that operate as public-school districts.
#21. $134 million was invested by the United States, into private enrichment programs for low-income students in 2011. This was to help fill the gaps that were left behind by fewer at-school tutoring opportunities.
#22. Around 7 million students in the United States currently receive services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. This represents about 14% of the total student base.
#23. Those who receive special education services in public schools, in the United States, around 34% have a specific learning disability. 19% of students have language or speech impairments and 10% of students have autism.
#24. Boys are more likely to need special educational help at public schools in the United States than girls are. Boys are 17% more likely than girls at 9%.
#25. However, girls are more likely to have specific learning disabilities that require assistance in school at 44% more than boys at 34%.
#26. Around 3 million children are attending a charter school, 5.7 million attend private schools and 1.68 million are home-schooled in the United States.
#27. Project-based learning is becoming a more common teaching method and the idea of it is that students are learning by doing. The main focus of it is that students will investigate and respond to engaging and complex questions or issues.
#28. The project-based learning method should help to develop thinking, collaboration, creativity, and communication skills. All of which are valued by employers and will, therefore, help students out in the future.
#29. As previously mentioned, online learning has become a hit amongst schools and students within the past year. Online schooling is the most popular educational trend of 2021. It’s flexible, cost-effective, and accessible to a wider range of learners.
#30. Due to the fact that online learning can be accessed anywhere, as long as you have the facilities to access it, it’s starting to break down barriers in education and open up new doors. The concept of location is removed from the equation, making it easier for people to learn from all over.
#31. 76% of teachers working in public schools in the United States are women and 80% of employees are white. This is very different from the student population that the United States is trying to help.
#32. The average principal at a school in the United States, earns around $95,000 per year. This makes their income $30,000 more than the average teacher salary in the United States.
#33. Men are twice as likely to work in the position of a school principal in the United States compared to the role of a classroom teacher.
#34. Over 3,000 businesses provide tutoring services and employ 35,000 people directly. The tutoring can vary from test preparation, summer classes, and exams.
#35. The global private tutoring sector contributes another $1 billion to the American education industry every year. The rate of growth for this has averaged 3.1% since 2014.
#36. Public schools in the United States see an average class size of 24 students and most public schools have a student-to-teacher ratio of 16 to 1.
#37. 21,548 private schools in the United States have a specific religious orientation.
#38. The most common religious-orientated private schools in the United States include Roman Catholic at 7,047 schools, Christian at 4,545 schools, and Baptist at 1,727 schools.
#39. The average tuition cost for private elementary schools in the United States is around $9,946 per year.
#40. The highest charging private school is in the District of Columbia that can charge up to $20,047 per year. On the other hand, the lowest cost for private education is in Nebraska, costing $2,895 a year.
#41. In the school year of 2018-2019, 66.2% or 2.1 million high school graduates, enrolled in college or universities.
#42. In 2019, 19.9 million students started college, 13.9 million students enrolled in 4-year institutions, and 6 million students enrolled in 2-year institutions. 40.9% of college students in the United States are 18- to 24-year-olds.
#43. In 2019, college enrolment was expected to dip to 5% lower than the peak of college enrolment back in 2010, which was 21 million. Judging by these statistics, enrolling at college is becoming a less popular option for those once graduated.
#44. It has been found that there is racial disparity in graduation rates in the United States. White, non-Hispanic households graduate at 85% rate, whereas Asians and Pacific Islanders graduate at 78% and Hispanics and African-Americans graduate at 72% rate.
#45. There is a dramatic variation in pay across teachers, in different states which can range as big as $40,000.
#46. In the school year of 2017-2018, there were 137,432 educational institutions in the United States. This includes elementary, secondary, combined, postsecondary, and university-level institutions.
#47. The amount spent per pupil, in secondary school during the financial year of 2017, averaged at $12,201. This makes it 3.7% higher than the year before.
#48. The total revenue from all sources reached $694 billion, which is an increase of 3.4% from 2016.
Education Industry Trends Analysis
The education industry makes a lot of money every year in the United States and has millions of students attending each year. However, in previous years we have started to see a dip in college enrolments in high school graduates. It is becoming more likely that high school graduates will go straight into working full-time jobs, rather than attending college or university.
There are some common trends that we have seen develop over the years, especially in the way that they are teaching students. There is now more of a focus to get students prepared for the outside and working world and therefore, they have taken on new learning methods to help teach this.
One very common trend that is expected to only increase in the future and possibly change the future of learning, is online learning. Due to the recent Covid pandemic, every school had to adapt to teaching and learning in a way, which involved online learning. It’s a simple and cost-effective method that enabled millions to carry on teaching and learning, from the comfort of their own homes. As well as this, it has shown how well it works and how some educational barriers can now be broken down.
There is no longer an issue of location and instead, people can learn from wherever they are either in the United States or in the world. It’s helping to stop the limit of education for a wider range of people.
One common problem that can be seen is the salaries of teachers in the United States, especially when compared to the principals. On average, men are more likely to have the role of a principal in United States schools and therefore, earn a lot more than most women in schools.
There is also a very large variation in pay between the different states, which some could argue isn’t fair. To keep the education industry rising, it is likely that teachers will need to be paid more.
So, we have seen that the education industry contributes a massive amount towards the economy in the United States per year, but it also costs the schools a lot of money, to fund each pupil and staff. With ongoing teaching trends on the rise, it could be likely to see a change in the way they are teaching, which could possibly affect the contribution towards the economy.
With there being a dip in college enrolments for high school graduates, schools are now looking more into getting students prepared for working and the bigger world.
We are also seeing a big increase in the use of technology amongst teaching in the United States, from AR and VR to online teaching. This is helping students to become more hands-on and creative and helping them to develop skills they will use in the future. It is also helping to reduce the number of issues around education that people may face and make it easier for everyone to access it.