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Back To Article 		How Many Kids Are In School This Year?

This chart shows how many kids
across the United States
are heading back to school
this month. It also shows
the enrollments for
U.S. schools in past years.
THE
YEAR		 NUMBER OF STUDENTS
KINDERGARTEN TO GRADE 12
199752,400,000 students
198745,500,000 students
197748,700,000 students
196749,900,000 students
195740,900,000 students
194728,500,000 students
193728,000,000 students
192728,300,000 students
191723,300,000 students
190719,400,000 students

Use the chart above to help you answer the following questions.

  1. How many students are enrolled in schools in the United States this year? ___________________

  2. How many students were enrolled in U.S. schools ten years ago? __________________________

  3. How many more students are there in U.S. schools this year than there were ten years ago? _______________________

  4. In which year were 28,300,000 students enrolled in U.S. schools? __________________________

  5. Were more students enrolled in U.S. schools in 1977 or in 1987? __________________________

  6. How many more students are enrolled in school today than were enrolled in 1907? ______________________________

  7. In which year on the chart was the school enrollment closest to the 1997 figure? _______________________________

  8. In which year was U.S. school enrollment closet to 49,000,000? ___________________________

  9. Use the data above to figure out the average number of students enrolled in U.S. schools from 1907 to 1997. What is the average number? _______________________________

  10. On the back side of this paper, create a bar graph that shows the growth of U.S. school enrollment from 1907 to 1997.

Source: Digest of Education Statistics 1996. All numbers rounded. Data for years prior to 1967 are estimated based on enrollment figures for 1909, 1919, 1929, 1939, 1949, 1959. Beginning in the fall of 1980, data include an expanded universe of private schools. 1997 enrollment projected. Copyright 1997 by Education World. Permission is granted to teachers to reproduce this skill page for classroom use.