As the U.S. population increases in size, so does enrollment at all levels of education. Because of mandatory enrollment laws at the elementary and secondary levels, growth is due largely to increases in the size of the school-age population. At the postsecondary level, both population growth and increasing enrollment rates help account for rising enrollments in undergraduate, graduate, and first-professional programs. The cohorts of learners have become more diverse over time, with Hispanic students, in particular, and to a lesser extent, students who are members of other racial/ ethnic groups (in relation to White students) making up increasing proportions of the school-age population in. Similarly, enrollment has risen among students who speak a language other than English at home.

• Between 1970 and 2007, children ages 3-4 (typically preschool ages) experienced the largest increase in enrollment rates, from 20 to 55 percent, of any age group. There was also notable growth in enrollment rates for the 18- to 24-year-old age group, the traditional college-age population. For those ages 18-19, the overall enrollment rate increased from 48 to 67 percent; for those ages 20-21, from 32 to 48 percent; and for those ages 22-24, from 15 to 27 percent (indicator 1).
• According to data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Birth Cohort (ECLS-B), at about 9 months old, 2 years old, and 4 years old, smaller percentages of children in poverty were read to, told stories, or sung to daily by a family member, compared with children not in poverty. Children with other risk factors, such as having a mother whose highest level of education was less than a high school diploma or having a primary home language other than English, were also less likely to have family members who read to them, told them stories, and sang to them (indicator 2).
• A smaller percentage of children born in 2001 who were in poverty demonstrated proficiency in various cognitive skills when they were about 2 years old and 4 years old, compared with their peers who were at or above poverty, according to data from the ECLS-B. For example, 29 percent of 2-year-olds in poverty demonstrated proficiency in listening comprehension, compared with 39 percent of those at or above poverty. Twenty percent of 4-year-olds in poverty were proficient in letter recognition, compared with 37 percent of children at or above poverty (indicator 3).
• Total public school enrollment is projected to set new enrollment records each year from 2009 through 2018, reaching an estimated high of 53.9 million students in 2018. According to projections, 38.2 million will be enrolled in prekindergarten through grade 8 and 15.8 million in grades 9-12 in 2018. The South is expected to maintain the largest share of enrollment in 2018, with 40 percent of students residing in this region (indicator 4).
• Private school enrollment in prekindergarten through grade 12 increased from 5.9 million in 1995 to 6.3 million in 2001, and then decreased to 5.9 million in 2007. About 11 percent of all elementary and secondary school students were in private schools in 2007. While Roman Catholic schools maintained the largest share of total private school enrollment overall from 1995 to 2007, the percentage of private school students enrolled in nonsectarian schools increased from 20 to 22 percent during this period, and the percentage enrolled in Conservative Christian schools increased from 13 to 15 percent (indicator 5).
• In the spring of 2007, about 1.5 million, or 2.9 percent, of all school-age children in the United States were homeschooled, up from 850,000 (1.7 percent) in 1999 and 1.1 million (2.2 percent) in 2003. The most common reasons parents gave as the most important for homeschooling their children in 2007 was a desire to provide religious or moral instruction: 36 percent of parents cited this reason, followed by a concern about school environment (21 percent), dissatisfaction with academic instruction (17 percent), and "other reasons" (14 percent) (indicator 6)
• Between 1972 and 2007, the percentage of public school students who were White decreased from 78 to 56 percent. During this period, the percentage of students from other racial/ethnic groups increased from 22 to 44 percent; this increase largely reflects the growth in the percentage of students who were Hispanic. In 2007, the West had the largest enrollment of Black, Hispanic, Asian/ Pacific Islander, and American Indian/Alaska Native students of any region. Beginning in 2003, the percentage of these students has exceeded the percentage of Whites who are enrolled, and in 2007, these students made up 57 percent of the total enrollment in this region (indicator 7).
• Between 1979 and 2007, the number of school-age children (children ages 5-17) who spoke a language other than English at home increased from 3.8 to 10.8 million, or from 9 to 20 percent of the population in this age range. The percentage of school-age children who spoke English with difficulty increased from 3 to 6 percent between 1979 and 2000, but did not change measurably between 2000 and 2007. Of the school-age children who spoke a language other than English at home and who spoke English with difficulty, 75 percent (or 2.1 million) spoke Spanish (indicator 8).
• Since the enactment of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) in 1975, the number and percentage of children and youth receiving special education services increased nearly every year until 2004-05. In 1976-77, some 3.7 million children and youth (or about 5 percent) were served under IDEA. By 2006-07, some 6.7 million (or about 9 percent) were receiving services. The percentage receiving special education services for a specific learning disability, the most prevalent disability type among school-age children, was 3 percentage points higher in 2006-07 than in 1976-77 (5 vs. 2 percent) (indicator 9).
• From 2000 to 2007, undergraduate enrollment increased 19 percent, from 13.2 to 15.6 million, at both public and private (not-for-profit and for-profit) institutions and is expected to reach 17.5 million in 2018. From 2000 to 2007, there were larger relative gains in female enrollment than male enrollment (20 vs. 16 percent) and in full-time enrollment than part-time enrollment (24 vs. 10 percent). Enrollment in private institutions also increased more than enrollment in public institutions (32 vs. 15 percent) between 2000 and 2007. Undergraduate enrollment at 2-year institutions increased from 5.9 to 6.6 million (11 percent) between 2000 and 2007, while at 4-year institutions it increased from 7.2 to 9.0 million (25 percent) (indicator 10).
• Total graduate enrollment was 1.3 million in 1976; enrollment fluctuated between the mid-1970s and mid-1980s before increasing steadily to 2.3 million in 2007. An additional 244,000 students were enrolled in first-professional programs in 1976; enrollment fluctuated during the 1980s before increasing to 351,000 in 2007. Female enrollment in graduate and first-professional programs increased steadily between the mid-1970s and 2007, when it reached nearly 1.4 million at the graduate level and 173,000 at the first-professional level. Male enrollment increased overall at the graduate level to 910,000 in 2007 but decreased overall at the first-professional level to 178,000. For both graduate and first-professional programs, increases in total enrollment are projected to continue through 2018, with enrollment increasing at a faster rate for females than for males (indicator 11).