Trends in Education and Training

In: The annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Band 435, S. 157-178

Abstract

Because of changes in the magnitude of cohorts to be educated, the elementary-school population will decrease by some 7 million pupils & more than 250,000 teachers, followed by increases of the same magnitude over the fourteen years following 1982. Such variation will impose traumatic adjustments upon the educational system. The increasing enrollment in prekindergarten schools pushes new responsibilities on the school system & promises to accelerate progress in primary grades. Several unmet needs of schoolchildren which require attention--correction of speech deficiencies & the special problems of the emotionally disturbed--are identified. The record of retention in school is satisfactory up to high-school ages, but dropouts & decreasing enrollment of youth, ages seventeen & over, are unmistakable. Educational lag is apparent in both dropping out & in falling behind the modal grade of the school-age group. Fs are beginning to surpass Ms in Coll attendance. The continuation from high school to Coll appears to have peaked & is now decreasing, however, Coll attendance by youth in the top half of the ability spectrum may be above the record two decades ago. As to learning, particularly in the secondary schools, evidence of improvement is scant while there are extensive indicators of decreasing test performance at the end of high school. Models of processes of education are needed to identify appropriate educational statistics to improve social indicators of education in the US. 6 Tables, 4 Charts. Modified HA.