U.S. Department of Commerce

Evaluation of April 1, 2000 School District Population Estimates Based on the Synthetic Ratio Method (Working Paper No. 74)

Figure 8. Mean Algebraic Percent Errors (MALPE) for the April 1, 2000 Estimates of the Total Population and School-Age Populations in School Districts Compared with the Census 2000 Enumerated Population by Ten-Year Percent Change in School District Populations

Percent Change, 1990 to 2000	Mean Algebraic Percent Error
Percent Change, 1990 to 2000	Total Population	School-Age Population
Decrease of more than 10.0%	25.7	18.0
Decrease of 5.1% to 10.0%	7.7	3.1
Decrease of 5.0% or less	4.5	0.9
No Change or Increase of less than 5.0%	2.1	-1.5
Increase of 5.0% to 9.9%	-0.5	-3.7
Increase of 10% or more	-8.1	-12.9