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 basic items, 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 per year.
Statistics paint a portrait of our Nation.
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.