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America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2009

High School Academic Coursetaking

Since A Nation at Risk was published in 1983, school reforms have emphasized increasing the number of academic courses students take in high school. More recent reforms have emphasized increasing the rigor, as well as the amount, of coursetaking. Research suggests a relationship between the level of difficulty of courses students take and their performance on assessments.^107,108

Indicator ED3: Percentage of high school graduates who had completed advanced coursework in mathematics, science, English, and foreign language, selected years 1982–2005

NOTE: Data for 1982 and 1992 are from a series of longitudinal studies, whereas data for 1987, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2000, and 2005 are from the High School Transcript Studies. Due to differences in survey methodology among the data collections, users should use caution when comparing data across the years. Advanced coursework includes the following: mathematics: courses above Algebra II; science: chemistry, physics, or advanced biology; English: some courses at the honors level; and foreign language: a year 3, year 4, or advanced placement course.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, High School Transcript Studies: High School and Beyond Study, National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988, and National Assessment of Educational Progress Transcript Study.

Forty-nine percent of students who graduated from high school in 2005 had taken at least one advanced mathematics course (defined as a course above Algebra II), which was higher than the percentage in 1982 (26 percent). The percentage of graduates in 2005 who had taken a nonacademic or low-level academic course as their most advanced mathematics course was 4 percent, compared with 24 percent of graduates in 1982.
In science, 63 percent of all high school graduates in 2005 had taken a chemistry, physics, or advanced biology course, compared to 35 percent of the graduates in 1982 who had taken this level of science course. The percentage of graduates whose most advanced science course was classified as a low-level academic course dropped from 27 percent in 1982 to 7 percent in 2005.
In English, 31 percent of all high school graduates in 2005 had taken honors-level courses, an increase from 13 percent of graduates in 1982. There was no measurable difference between the percentages of graduates in 1982 and 2005 who had taken low-level academic courses in English (10 and 12 percent, respectively).
In foreign languages, 33 percent of high school graduates had taken a year 3, year 4, or advanced placement course in 2005; this was double the percentage in 1982 (15 percent). Sixteen percent of high school graduates in 2005 had not taken any foreign language course, compared with 46 percent of graduates in 1982.
While the level of high school academic coursetaking rose between 1982 and 2005, the reading, mathematics, or science scores of 12th-graders did not improve on the National Assessment of Educational Progress.¹⁰⁹

table icon ED3.A HTML Table, ED3.B HTML Table, ED3.C HTML Table, ED3.D HTML Table

¹⁰⁷ Dalton, B., Ingels, S.J., Downing, J., and Bozick, R. (2007). Advanced mathematics and science coursetaking in the spring high school senior classes of 1982, 1992, and 2004. National Center for Education Statistics, Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC.

¹⁰⁸ Leow, C., Marcus, S., Zanutto, E., and Boruch, R. (2004). Effects of advanced course-taking on math and science achievement: Addressing selection bias using propensity scores. American Journal of Evaluation, 25, 461–478.

¹⁰⁹ Shettle, C., Roey, S., Mordica, J., Perkins, R., Nord, C., Teodorovic, J., Brown, J., Lyons, M., Averett, C., and Kastberg, D. (2007). The Nation's Report Card: America's high school graduates (NCES 2007-467). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.