Boomers' Record Enrollment Matched in 1999

By Mary Ann Zehr

Enrollment in the nation's elementary and secondary schools in 1999 equaled that of the record high set in 1970, during the huge population swell known as the baby boom, a school enrollment report released last week by the U.S. Census Bureau shows.

But the makeup of today's students is much more racially and ethnically diverse than it was in 1970, when school enrollment in the United States peaked at 49 million, the study found.

For example, while 15 percent of the nation's students in grades 1 through 12 are now Hispanic, only 6 percent were in 1972. Currently, one in five students has at least one foreign-born parent. That includes the 5 percent of students who are immigrants...