State Education Statistic Site Launched

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The department of education reform’s Office for Education Policy at the University of Arkansas has launched a new Web resource called the Arkansas Digest of Education Statistics.

The Web site, available at http://www.uark.edu/ua/oep/digest.html, is a clearinghouse for statistical information about public education in Arkansas. Modeled after the federal Digest of Education Statistics, which is operated by the National Center for Education Statistics, the Arkansas Digest of Education Statistics provides data on a variety of topics, including school performance, student test scores and school funding.

Among the key facts available on the digest are:

• Arkansas public schools, on average, received $9,332.50 per pupil in 2005-06.

• Arkansas public schools had an average of 14.8 students per teacher in 2004 compared to 15.4 in the United States.

• The Hispanic student population in Arkansas has grown from 0.7 percent of all students in 1992 to 6.0 percent in 2004.

All of the statistics in the Arkansas Digest of Education Statistics are drawn from state or federal government sources but can be difficult to find and are spread across many Web sites and reports. The idea of the digest is to gather the information together in one place so that it can more easily be used by policymakers, educators and the general public.

“The objective of the Arkansas Digest of Education Statistics is to collect, organize and disseminate existing data related to education in Arkansas,” said Gary W. Ritter, director of the Office for Education Policy and holder of an endowed chair in education policy. “We want it to be an easy-to-access resource for anyone seeking basic — but important — facts on Arkansas’ public schools.”

Jay P. Greene, head of the department of education reform, added, “The department of education reform was created on the belief that bringing more and better information to education policy discussions will improve the quality of our schools. By launching the digest, the Office for Education Policy is serving this central mission.”

For more information, contact the Office for Education Policy in the College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Arkansas at (479) 575-3773 or on the Web at www.uark.edu/ua/oep/index.html.