children out of school in america - University of Tennessee Digital ...

certificate, high school diploma, or a college, university
or professional degree.. Persons in custodial
day care centers (with little or no instructional programs),
in specialized vocational, trade or business
school, in on-the-job training, or in correspondence
courses (unless credits are transferable to "regular"
school) are not counted as enrolled even though
they may be considered to be furthering their education.
As a result the Census data may overstate the
number of children not "enrolled" to some extent.
At the same time, it understates the "attendance"
problem. Those who either attend infrequently but
regularly (l or 2 days a week, every other week, etc.)
or those who attend but whose "special" needs are
so unmet by programs that attendance is virtually
meaningless are not counted. These children should
be considered out of school even though they may
have "attended" during the previous two or three
months.
The Census data, within its limitations, is helpful
in quantifying the extent of the problem and in identifying
some of the characteristics of children out of
school.
Children Not Enrolled By State
(Appendix E, Tables I, II and III)
All data are derived from State Summary volumes
of the U.S. Census of Population, 1970, four volumes
per state, lettered A through D, with tables
numbered consecutively through the volumes. We
will refer to the table number, not to the particular
volume in which it is contained.
person toward an elementary school certificate or high
school diploma, or a college, university, or professional
degree. Schooling that was not obtained in a regular
school and schooling from a tutor or through corre·
spondence courses were counted .only if the credits ob·
tained were regarded as transferable to a school in the
regular school system. Persons were included as enrolled
in nursery school only if the school included instruction
as an important and integral phase of its program. Chil·
dren enrolled in "Head Start" programs, or similar programs
sponsored by local agencies to provide preschool
education to young children, are inclUded as enrolled in
schools. Persons who had been enrolled in a regular school
since February 1, 1970, but who had not actually attended,
for example because of illness, were counted as enrolled
in school.
Persons were excluded from the enrollment figures if
the only schools they had been attending at any time since
February 1, 1970, were IlOt "regular" (unless courses taken
Children Not Enrolled
Source. Table 146--Year of School in Which
Enrolled for Persons 3-34 Years Old by Race, Type
of School, Sex and Age.
Procedure. Data given include the number and
percentage of children enrolled by sex and age. To
derive the number out of school, we first calculated
the total number of children for each age:
T I
Number enrolled
ota = -------­
Percentage enrolled
and then determined the grand total for the age
groupings (66 , 7-15, 16 & 17). Enrollment data
were then totaled for the age groupings and subtracted
from total population figures to determine
the number of children not enrolled in each age
grouping.
Note: Although Table 19 does show the total
population by age, that is a total enumeration. The
data in Table 146 came from a 15 percent sample
of households. The total implied by the sample is
not usually the same as that which we know to be
the correct total, but it was the one used to calculate
the percentages and to project the number enrolled.
Therefore, the obvious procedure of subtracting the
number in school (Table 146) from the population
(Table 19) would have been inconsistent.
Not Enrolled (Adjusted)
Source. Table 154-Persons in Group Quarters
by Type of Quarters, Sex, Race and Age.
Procedure. Data is given separately for males
and females, and by age categories: 5-13 years, 14
and 15, and 16 and 17 years. "Inmates of Institutions"
(for each sex) constitute six columns of
the table: "Mental Hospital," "Home for the Aged,"
and "Other Inmate."
Children living in institutions are counted as enrolled
or not enrolled according to Census definition.
However, these breakdowns are only published nationally
and are not available by state. Because
at such 3Chools could have been counted for credit at a
regular school). Schooling which is generally regarded as
/lot "regular" includes that given in nursery schools which
simply provide custodial day care; in specialized vocational,
trade, or ·business schools; in on-the-job training; and
through correspondence courses.
6 Data is shown on 6 year olds for target area states, but
it is not counted in state or grand totals.
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