Sunday, May 26, 2013

Geography of Public School Students

The United States is the third largest country in the world. This makes it hard to provide a public education to all children because many live in remote rural areas. In 2010, more than 1 million of the nation's 49 million public elementary and secondary school students (2 percent) lived in a remote rural location--defined as being at least 25 miles from the nearest urban area. Of course, this figure varies greatly by state.

Six states are so small and densely settled that no students are in remote areas: Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Rhode Island. In seven states, the percentage of students in remote rural areas is in the double-digits: North Dakota (28 percent), South Dakota (26 percent), Montana (20 percent), Alaska (18 percent), Wyoming (18 percent), Nebraska (14 percent), and Vermont (11 percent).

Source: National Center for Education Statistics, The Condition of Education,  2013 Spotlights: The Status of Rural Education

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