This paper describes trends in public elementary and secondary education in the United States. The data were obtained from the "Condition of Education" and the "Digest of Education Statistics," which are prepared annually by the National Center for Education Statistics. Information is presented on the following areas: enrollment, minority enrollment, preprimary education, student and family characteristics, public schools, pupil-teacher ratios and teacher salaries, principals' and teachers' perspectives on education, revenue and expenditures, mathematics performance, and international comparisons. The data project rising enrollments for elementary-secondary education, particularly among minority students, through the early 2000s. Other trends that have occurred since the 1970s are identified: (1) an increase in the number of single-parent homes and women participating in the work force; (2) increased school consolidation, which has resulted in changed school-grade structures and larger schools; (3) an increase in the number of teachers, but no decline in teacher-student ratios; (4) no increase in teacher salaries, when adjusted for inflation; (5) an increase in federal funding and a decrease in state funding; (6) a national increase in per-pupil expenditures for public elementary/secondary education over the past decade; (7) some improvements in mathematics proficiency; and (8) a high literacy assessment compared to other countries. Six figures are included. (LMI)