The U.S. pre-K-12 public education system shrunk slightly, with fewer students, schools and school districts recorded in the 2023-24 school year compared to the 2021-22 school year, according to figures compiled by the U.S. Department of Education's Civil Rights Data Collection.
These trends align with ongoing patterns across the country as districts ramp up student recruitment efforts and consider school closures and consolidations to adjust to falling enrollments fueled by lower birthrates, competition from school choice, changes in immigration policies and other factors.
The 2023-24 civil rights data collection summary, released by the Education Department this fall, also includes statistics about discipline, restraint and seclusion, academic access and student characteristics.
The mandatory data collection takes place every two years. For the 2023-24 school year, the CRDC included data from more than 17,000 school districts and 97,000 schools nationwide.
The Education Department may change data collection prompts between collection years or make other data collection or release changes. In releasing the 2023-24 civil right data this fall, the Education Department redacted data collected about nonbinary students’ experiences, such as enrollment, discipline, bullying and harassment, and whether districts have policies prohibiting the harassment or bullying of students on the basis of their gender identity.
Here, we break down what you need to know about the latest release of civil rights data.
Some student populations overrepresented in discipline
Discipline: Students with disabilities, boys overrepresented
About 5% of K-12 students — or 2.3 million — in 2023-24 received one or more in-school suspensions, which was the same percentage in 2021-22. About 5% of students in both school years also received one or more out-of-school suspensions.
Black boys and girls, Hispanic or Latino boys, White boys, and boys of two or more races in public schools were overrepresented in suspensions and expulsions in both the 2021-22 and 2023-24 school years.
During the 2023-24 school year, students with disabilities served under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act were also disproportionately disciplined — a trend also noted in the 2021-22 school year. Although students with disabilities comprised 15% of K-12 student enrollment overall, they accounted for 24% of students who received one or more in-school suspensions, 27% of those who had one or more out-of-school suspensions, and 23% of those who were expelled.
Restraint and seclusion: Nearly half of mechanically restrained students are Black
More K-12 students were physically restrained, mechanically restrained or placed in seclusion at schools during the 2023-24 school year (129,700) compared to the 2021-22 school year (105,700). About 84,300 students were physically restrained and 32,300 students were secluded in 2023-24.
Overrepresented student subgroups that were restrained or secluded during the 2023-24 school year included boys, Black students, White students, students of two or more races, and students with disabilities.
For instance, Black students accounted for 15% of K-12 student enrollment overall, while making up 19% of students secluded, 29% of students physically restrained, and 46% of students mechanically restrained.
Academics: Higher rates of boys enrolled in STEM courses
Of the country's 27,200 high schools, three-quarters offered chemistry, 59% offered physics, 51% offered computer science, and 45% offered calculus in 2023-24, which is relatively on par with data reported for the 2021-22 school year.
For the 2023-24 school year, a slightly higher rate of high school boys — compared to high school girls — were enrolled in Algebra I, calculus, and physics. Boys were almost twice as likely to enroll in computer science compared to girls — at 11% compared to 6%. Girls, on the other hand, had slightly higher enrollment rates in advanced mathematics, biology and chemistry compared to boys.
High School students with disabilities served under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act had lower enrollment rates in all these courses — except Algebra I — compared to their nondisabled peers.
About 3.1 million, or 18%, of high school students are enrolled in Advanced Placement courses and about 2.1 million high schoolers participated in dual enrollment or dual credit programs in 2023-24.
Pre-K-12 enrollment by race in 2021-22 and 2023-24
Student enrollment and characteristics: English learner population increases
Public school pre-K-12 enrollment dipped slightly from 50 million in 2021-22 to 49.7 million in 2023-24. Of those students in 2023-24, 44% were White, 30% were Hispanic or Latino of any race, 15% were Black, 6% were Asian and 5% were two or more races.
Of the 2023-24 pre-K-12 student population, 15% were students with disabilities served under IDEA and 4% were students with disabilities served only under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. That's a slight increase from 2021-22, when 14% of students were served by IDEA and 3% of students were served under Section 504.
Twelve percent of students were English learners in 2021-22, compared to 11% in 2023-24.
