Research on U.S. public schools

18 studies that compare the 50 states and D.C. on one measure each: what schools spend and on what, how many teachers, counselors and programs they have, how often students miss school or are disciplined, and who the students are. Every figure is computed from its federal file, named with its year, and links to the state's record.

NCES CCD 2024-25 · NCES F-33 fiscal year 2022-23 · CRDC 2021-22 · EDFacts 2022-23 · method

Money

• Per-pupil spending by state

  Census fiscal year 2023-24

• Do poorer districts spend more per student?

  Census 2023-24 and SAIPE 2024

• Teacher salary spending gaps within states

  F-33 fiscal year 2022-23

• How much of spending goes to instruction

  F-33 fiscal year 2022-23

• Federal share of district revenue

  F-33 fiscal year 2022-23

Staff and programs

• Students per teacher by state

  CCD 2024-25

• Students per counselor by state

  CRDC 2021-22

• High schools offering AP courses

  CRDC 2021-22

• Schools with a gifted program

  CRDC 2021-22

Outcomes

• Four-year graduation rate by state

  EDFacts, class of 2023

Attendance and discipline

• Chronic absenteeism by state

  EDFacts 2022-23

• Out-of-school suspensions by state

  CRDC 2021-22

• Expulsions by state

  CRDC 2021-22

Students

• Students eligible for free meals

  CCD 2024-25

• Schools running a Title I program

  CCD 2021-22 status

• Racial and ethnic mix of schools

  CCD 2024-25

• Students in charter schools

  CCD 2024-25

Size

• Average school size by state

  CCD 2024-25

Data and citation

Each study has a CSV download of its table. The state summary behind several of them: plainschools-state-summary.csv.