The primary purpose of the "Digest of Education Statistics" is to provide a compilation of statistical information covering the broad field of American education from prekindergarten through graduate school. The "Digest" includes a selection of data from both government and private sources, and draws especially on the results of surveys and activities carried out by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). To qualify for inclusion, material must be nationwide in scope and of current interest and value. The publication contains information on a variety of subjects in the field of education statistics, including the number of schools and colleges, teachers, enrollments, and graduates, in addition to educational attainment, finances, federal funds for education, libraries, and international comparisons. Although the "Digest" contains information on federal education funding, more detailed information on federal activities is available from federal education program offices. In addition to updating many of the statistics that have appeared in previous years, this edition contains new material, including (1) Average base salary for full-time public elementary and secondary school teachers with a bachelor's degree as their highest degree, by years of full-time teaching experience and state; (2) Average base salary for full-time public elementary and secondary school teachers with a master's degree as their highest degree, by years of full-time teaching experience and state; (3) Averaged freshman graduation rates for public secondary schools, by state; (4) Average reading scale scores of 4th- and 8th-graders, by selected student and parent characteristics and school type; (5) Average mathematics scale scores of 4th-, 8th-, and 12th-graders, by selected student and parent characteristics and school type; (6) Average science scale scores and achievement-level results of 4th-, 8th-, and 12th-graders, by selected student characteristics and percentile; (7) Number and percentage of students expelled and suspended from public elementary and secondary schools, by sex, race/ethnicity, and state; (8) Bachelor's, master's, and doctor's degrees conferred by degree-granting institutions, by field of study; and (9) Current postsecondary education and employment status, wages earned, and living arrangements of special education students out of secondary school up to 4 years, by type of disability. Supplemental information on population trends, attitudes on education, education characteristics of the labor force, government finances, and economic trends provides background for evaluating education data. The document includes seven chapters: (1) All Levels of Education; (2) Elementary and Secondary Education; (3) Postsecondary Education; (4) Federal Programs for Education and Related Activities; (5) Outcomes of Education; (6) International Comparisons of Education; and (7) Libraries and Educational Technology. Preceding these chapters is an Introduction that provides a brief overview of current trends in American education, which supplements the tabular materials in chapters 1 through 7. An additional 6 tables are included in Appendix A. Appended are: (1) Guide to Sources; (2) Definitions; and (3) Index of Table Numbers. (Contains 29 figures and 427 tables.) [For 2005 "Digest", see ED492945.]