PreK-12 Enrollment and Demographics, 2024-2025

Home schooling is growing at a particularly fast rate in the US.

This report found that PreK-12 enrollment has stabilized but is still down approximately 1.2 million from pre-pandemic levels (from 50.7 million in Fall 2019 to 49.6 in Fall 2022. The report provides an extensive analysis of the current trends and future projections in the PreK-12 education sector in the United States.

The current trends identified in the report include:

• Homeschooling has become the fastest growing area in K-12 education with enrollment increasing 51% from 2.5 million in 2019 to 4.3 million in 2022.
• Alternative schools, which cater to students with unique educational needs, have seen a significant increase, especially in the last year, jumping from 5,312 in 2021-22 to 5,810 in 2022-23.
• As of fall 2022, an estimated 1.4 million students across the country were enrolled in dual enrollment courses outnumbering the 1.1 million students that were enrolled in Advanced Placement courses.

The PreK-12 Enrollment and Demographics, 2024-2025 report details a wide range of other issues, trends, and forces impacting the market. These include long-term enrollment and demographic trends, graduation rates, enrollment projections through 2028, growth in home schooling, virtual schooling, poverty and homelessness, ELL students, student migration, special education services, Pre-K programs, and school connectivity. The publisher provides national, state, and district enrollment and demographic data.

This report is a comprehensive resource that captures the complexities and nuances of the current educational landscape. It offers a foresight into the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead in the PreK-12 education sector, emphasizing the need for responsive, flexible, and innovative approaches in catering to an increasingly diverse and dynamic student population. This study is an indispensable tool for anyone engaged in shaping the future of education in the United States.

The report provides an analysis of various enrollment and demographic studies and data sets. This report provides information on enrollment projections through 2028; graduation rates, dual enrollment program rates, broader population trends such as birth rates; youth population and population state; school choice, micro schooling, universal PreK programs, connectivity trends, English language learners and immigrations, data on homeless students and more. The publisher tapped other third-party resources, and their contributions are cited throughout the report. Among those sources are: Associated Press and Stanford University’s Big Local News project, Bellwether Education Partners, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: National Center for Education Statistics, Connected Nation, COVID Collaborative, Education Commission of the States, FWD.us, National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, National Alliance to End Homelessness, National Catholic Education Association, National Center for Health Statistics, National Home Education Research Institute, and state/district enrollment projection reports.

This report covers the following major categories outlining and impacting the market:

• Prek-12 Enrollment
• Prek-12 Demographics
• State Data
• District Data
• Prek-12 Enrollment Projections Through 2028
• Graduation Rates
• Dual Enrollment
• Broader Population Trends
• Youth Population
• School Choice
• Catholic Schools
• Charter Schools
• Micro schooling
• Universal PreK Programs
• Connectivity Trends
• English Language Learners and Immigrations
• Homeless Students

PreK-12 Enrollment and Demographics, 2024-2025 contains detailed and granular data and analysis on key trends and developments with a special focus on:

• PreK-12 Enrollment and Demographics
• Growth in Alternative Schools
• State Enrollment Data
• District Enrollment Data
• Alternative Schools
• Connectivity
• Enrollment Projections

Publishers and investment professionals can trust this report to provide the inside intelligence needed to evaluate and understand the growth potential and trends impacting the education market.

This report is an essential tool for publishing executives, educational technology executives, market analysts, and industry consultants who need to understand the larger impact of US PreK-12 enrollment and demographics trends.

Enrollment Trends

According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), PreK-12 public school enrollment in the US stabilized in 2022, increasing 0.4% between fall 2021 and fall 2022. While public PreK-12 enrollment is in recovery, it has yet to reach pre-pandemic levels; there is potential for future enrollment declines as parents look to pursue either non-traditional or supplementary education programs for their children.

According to the Choose to Learn 2024 study by Tyton Partners (Boston, MA), a leading provider of investment banking and strategy consulting services to the global knowledge sector, 48% of all K-12 parents are “open-minded” and primed to seek new educational opportunities. Growing parental interest in alternative educational opportunities can be attributed to increases in school choice plans at the state level. Growing interest in the latter once signaled that parents were drawn to private or homeschooling options but has now grown to encompass more personalized learning options for parents and students. As described by the

K-12 parents surveyed in the Tyton Partners study, these include:

• Supplementation: Parents may choose to maintain their child’s enrollment at an educational institution but add supplementary activities and programs. This can include tutoring, enrichment programs, internships, and service-learning opportunities among other activities.
• Switching: Parents may choose to switch/transition their child to a new school setting. This can include private schooling, microschooling, and homeschooling.
• Customization Parents may choose a combination of supplementation and switching to best meet their child’s needs. Parents that choose customization focus on creating a “bespoke” educational experience by combining learning experiences and programs from multiple places. The student centric learning opportunities would be vastly different than those found in a traditional classroom.

Homeschooling has become the fastest-gaining area in K-12 education, with enrollment increasing from 2.5 million in 2019 to 4.3 million in 2022 - 51% growth. This change is largely attributable to the pandemic. According to Tyton Partners, 60% of parents reported that the pandemic changed their educational preferences and expectations; many parents (80%) stated that “their child’s learning experiences could and should happen anywhere.