About 77 million US kids in school and college

About 77 million U.S. children and teens, or 27 percent of population, were enrolled in school -- nursery school to college -- in 2009, the Census Bureau says. Seventy-four percent of children ages 3-6 were enrolled in an all-day kindergarten, as of October 2009, while 55.5 million are projected to be enrolled in the nation's elementary through high school this fall, the Census Bureau says. Eleven percent of students from elementary school to high school are projected to be enrolled in private schools this fall. Forty-three percent of elementary through high school students belonged to a minority population as of October 2009, and 23 percent of enrolled students had at least one foreign-born parent in October 2009. Nearly 80 percent of students ages 12-17 were academically on-track in 2006, up 8 percentage points from 1998. Students are considered to be academically on-track if they were enrolled in school at or above the grade level appropriate for their age. Fifty-two percent of students ages 12-17 reported liking school, being interested in school and working hard in school in 2006, up 5 percentage points from 1998. More than 11 million children ages 5-17 spoke a language other than English at home in 2009. Eight million spoke Spanish at home, the Census Bureau says.