U.S. public education by the latest numbers

Did you know:

*From 1986 to 2007, the percentage of enrolled students in public elementary and secondary schools who were white decreased from 70 percent to 56 percent.
*In 2007–08, the largest number of bachelor’s degrees were awarded in business.
*In a nation with a population of about 307 million in 2009, more than 1 out of every 4 people participated in formal education last fall.

These are some of the facts in the 2010 Digest of Education Statistics just released by the Department of Education. Here’s a look at public education, by the numbers, at least according to some of the stats released by the National Center for Education Statistics. (In each statistic, the latest date cited is the most recent for which information is available.)

Really worth a look. Some great insight on the numbers of education (by numbers, I’m referring quantitative measures). Some of the more useful statistics are comparisons with previous years (or decades) that really make the numbers pop.