1. The U.S. has the second-highest level of child poverty among 35 economically advanced countries–23% vs. Finland’s 5.3%.
2. Students and graduate students now owe more than $1 trillion in education loans, putting it right behind the housing debt.
3. The federal National School Lunch Program serves 30 million K-12 students at a cost of $11 billion annually.
4. A SmartBrief for Ed Tech survey found that 79.39% of readers believe it’s very important that schools address the needs of the whole child, everything from nutrition to physical education and emotional well-being; just 50.72% say their school/district does that “somewhat well.”
5. The STEM Index found that American jobs requiring math or science knowledge increased from 12.8 million in 2000 to 16.8 million today, but high school students’ interest in those subjects is now below 2000 levels.
6. According to the Pew Research Center, 33% of teens send over 100 text messages a day.
7. The School Library Journal reports that U.S. schools spent about $73 million on e-books in 2012-13.
8. According to the CDC, as of 2010, there’s been a 30% increase in the number of autism spectrum disorder diagnoses, with one in 68 children now affected vs one in 88 in 2008.
24) Black student enrollment has remained steady at 16% to 17%, but Hispanic enrollment is expected to hit 30% in the next decade.