The SAT — formerly known as the Scholastic Assessment Test and the Scholastic Aptitude Test — is not designed as an indicator of student achievement, but rather as an aid for predicting how well students will do in college. Between the school years 1995-'96 and 2005-'06, mathematics SAT scores increased by 10 points, while critical reading scores decreased by 2 points.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Digest of Education Statistics

PUBLIC SCHOOLS ENROLL 50 MILLION

Nearly 50 million students are enrolled in approximately 97,000 public elementary and secondary schools for the fall term, and before the school year is out, an estimated $489 billion will be spent related to their education.

Source: Institute for Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education

MATH, SCIENCE TEACHER SHORTAGE

"High-minority" districts are almost twice as likely as richer areas to struggle at retaining math and science teachers, according to a report released last week by the American Institutes for Research, a nonprofit group based in Washington.

But almost two-thirds of all schools have difficulty recruiting special-education, science or math teachers, according to the report. The biggest recruitment obstacle in "high-poverty," "high-minority" and urban districts is competition from other schools, the report said.

The study, based on data gathered from October 2004 to March 2005 from 8,791 teachers at 1,483 public schools throughout the country, was conducted for the U.S. Department of Education.