This comprehensive volume offers a snapshot profile of every public school district in the United States serving 1,500 or more students and provides pertinent evaluative and demographic statistics necessary to evaluate educational programs nationwide. "The Comparative Guide to American Elementary & Secondary Schools" is a comprehensive compilation with more details, more test scores, and more ranking data than the previous edition. The text is arranged by state and each state section is broken down alphabetically by county. Within each county, listings for each school district are arranged alphabetically by city in which the school district headquarters is located. The guide contains four sections. In Section One, "State Educational Profile," two full pages of data per profile allow the user to quickly and easily see a complete statewide educational overview. The first page includes test scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress. Users will find reading and mathematics scores for both 4th grade and 8th grade levels, broken down by gender, race, ethnicity, and class size. Page two of the Profile includes the following categories: Schools, Students, Diploma Recipients, High School Drop-out Rate, Staff, Student/Staff Ratios, Current Spending and College Entrance Exam Scores. Section Two, "School District Profiles," is arranged alphabetically by county, then by name of school district. Each profile includes basic information, including name, address, phone, and web site, and offers data on 9 categories: Grade Span; District Type; Number and Type of Schools; Number of Teachers; Number of Librarians/Media Specialists and Guidance Counselors; Current Spending; Enrollment, Drop-out Rates and Diploma Recipients by Race/Ethnicity. Brand new to this edition is male/female ratio within each district, as well as number of high school diplomas by race. Section Three, "School District Rankings," ranks 15 pieces of data, including the newly added male/female ratios and high school diplomas by race. Following the 50 state chapters is Section Four, an expanded "National Ranking" section where the reader can compare, state by state, each piece of criteria found in the School District Profiles. To further facilitate research, this guide includes two indexes: (1) School District Index: an alphabetical listing of all school districts in this edition, including the city they are located in, and the page number of their detailed profile; and (2) City Index: an alphabetical listing of all cities represented by the school districts profiled in this Guide, and the page number of the school district profile it is included in. "The Comparative Guide to American Elementary & Secondary Schools" is the ideal source to help parents make relocation decisions and teachers to find desirable school districts. The combination of usability, currency of data, breadth of scope, narratives, detailed information, and multiple access points make this guide invaluable. This edition is a must-have resource in any reference collection. [For the 2006 edition, see ED497288.]