DataQuest Highlights

In July 2025, the California Department of Education released multiple years of Certificated Staff Reports on DataQuest, which comprise of four reports that detail data by race/ethnicity, education levels, years of experience, and student-to-certificated staff ratios.

Certificated staff are defined as those who require credentialing for their position, including classroom-based teachers, administrators (superintendent, principal, vice principal), pupil services (counselors, school psychologists, school social workers, nurses), and non-instructional support staff (mentor teachers, teachers on special assignment). The most recent year released is 2023–24, and all the data are reflective of Census Day information, which are data collected from local educational agencies (LEAs) on the first Wednesday in October.

To access further information about the above report, including key takeaways, resources, and highlights from previously released DataQuest reports, select the links below:

Certificated Staff Counts by Race/Ethnicity
Certificated Staff Education
Certificated Staff Experience
Student/Certificated Staff Ratios
2024–25 Annual Enrollment Report
Resources
Additional Highlights

Multiple-Year Certificated Staff Reports

Each section below includes key takeaways sections that focus on the analysis of five years of certificated staff data, from 2019–20 to 2023–24. DataQuest users can examine these data by overall statewide totals or by county, district, and school. Data may also be viewed by staff type, school type, alternative school, school grade span, and gender. Users can also view the Certificated Staff Demographic Data Flyer(PDF) which highlight the data trends.

Certificated Staff Counts by Race/Ethnicity

This report details race and ethnicity breakdowns by certificated staff, including total counts for all staff. Users can view these counts by the following race/ethnicity categories: African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Filipino, Hispanic or Latino, Pacific Islander, White, Two or More Races, and Not Reported. Reports can be viewed at the Staff and Course Data web page.

Key Takeaways

• There are 285,891 classroom-based kindergarten through grade twelve (K–12) teachers in 2023–24.
• The number of Hispanic or Latino pupil services personnel have increased a dramatic 48.2 percent from 2019–20 to 2023–24.
• Additionally, during the same time period, there has been a 21.1 percent increase in the number of Hispanic or Latino administrators and a 19.4 percent increase in Hispanic or Latino teachers.

Certificated Staff Education

This report details degree attainment by certificated staff, such as Associate, Baccalaureate, Baccalaureate Plus (bachelor’s degree plus at least 30 units of a higher degree level), Master, Master Plus (master’s degree plus at least 30 doctoral-level units), Doctorate, Special (Juris Doctor), and None. Reports can be viewed at the Staff and Course Data web page.

Key Takeaways

• 98.6 percent of K–12 teachers in California possess a 4-year undergraduate degree in 2023–24, an increase of 0.1 percent from 2022–23.
• 44.5 percent of K–12 teachers in California possess a graduate degree in 2023–24, an increase of 0.3 percent from 2022–23.

Certificated Staff Experience

This report details the experience levels of certificated staff such as:

• Experienced: Count of certificated staff who have more than two years of teaching experience.
• Inexperienced: Count of certificated staff who have two or less years of teaching experience.
  • First Year: Count of first year certificated staff.
  • Second Year: Count of second year certificated staff.

Reports can be viewed at the Staff and Course Data web page.

Key Takeaways

• 86.7 percent of K–12 teachers in California in 2023–24 are considered experienced, meaning they have more than two years of teaching experience. This trend has remained unchanged since 2019–20.
• The number of experienced administrators and pupil services educators has also remained steady, with 95.0 percent of administrators considered experienced and 83.1 percent of pupil services staff considered experienced.

Student/Certificated Staff Ratios

This report details student-to-certificated staff ratios. Ratios can be viewed by statewide, county, district, or school aggregates. Data fields include full-time equivalent (FTE) data (1.0 equals full-time employment, 0.5 equals half-time) and certificated staff ratios for teachers, administrators, pupil services and non-instructional support staff. All certificated staff ratios are calculated as student enrollment count divided by certificated staff FTE. Calculated ratios tell users how many students are enrolled per certificated staff personnel. Reports can be viewed at the Staff and Course Data web page.

Key Takeaways

• There are 20.9 students per teaching assignment in California public schools in 2023–24, a decrease of 1.6 since 2019–20.
• There are 203.8 students per administrator assignment in California public schools in 2023–24, a decrease of 31.5 since 2019–20.
• There are 162.2 students per pupil services assignment in California public schools in 2023–24, a decrease of 44.6 since 2019–20.
  

2024–25 Annual Enrollment Report

The Annual Enrollment Report displays the annual TK–12 public school enrollment by student race/ethnicity and grade level. DataQuest users can examine these data by overall statewide totals or by county, district, or school.

Key Takeaways

• Overall, statewide enrollment in 2024–25 decreased -0.54 percent to 5,806,221 students, though the decline is at a slower rate than the decreases that occurred during 2019–20 and immediately after.
• Socioeconomically Disadvantaged students experienced the largest numerical increase of all program participation groups from 2023–24 to 2024–25.
• Enrollment for non-charter schools continues to steadily drop, while enrollment continues to slightly increase for charter schools.
• In examining enrollment data by grade level, it was found that statewide TK enrollment increased from 151,491 in 2023–24 to 177,570 in 2024–25, representing a 17.2 percent increase from last year to this year.
  • Enrollment in TK has increased since 2023–24 for every single race/ethnicity category.
  • Enrollment in TK has also increased for critical program participation groups including socioeconomically disadvantaged, students with disabilities, homeless youth, and migrant.
  • TK students who are English Learners (EL) experienced a -99.8 percent difference from 2023–24 to 2024–25 – this is attributed to the passage of Assembly Bill 22668 (AB 2268) which states that LEAs are no longer able to test TK students in the English Language Proficiency Assessments for California beginning with the 2024–25 academic year.

Resources

Provided below are several CDE web pages and communication links to certificated staff and annual enrollment DataQuest topics:

• Professional Learning: Provides information regarding collaborative professional development aligned to student learning and standards that prepares, trains, and recruits high-quality teachers, principals, paraprofessionals, and other staff.
• Diversifying the Teacher Workforce: Provides information and supportive resources to help recruitment and retention of a diverse teacher workforce.
• Promoting Equitable Access to Teachers: Provides resources to assist LEAs with gathering data and reporting disproportionate access to effective, experienced, and appropriately assigned teachers by low-income and minority students as required under ESSA
• Annual Enrollment: Provides the different ways in which users can access annual enrollment reports on DataQuest.
• Annual Enrollment Flyer (PDF)
• DataQuest Schedule: Provides an overview of upcoming DataQuest reports expected for release in the coming year.
• DataQuest Update: Informs users about released reports, new reports, downloadable data files, enhancements, changes to DataQuest, and tips on how to use DataQuest.

Additional Highlights

The DataQuest Highlights web page is continuously updated with the most recent publicly available DataQuest reports. Please select the link below to access the previous highlighted reports:

• 2023–24 End-of-Year Reports