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Digest of Education Statistics
2005 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 131. Percentage distribution of elementary and secondary school children, by average grades and selected child and school characteristics: 1996, 1999, and 2003
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                               |                           Distribution of children, by parental reports of average grades in all subjects
                               |___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                               |                      1996                 |                      1999                 |                      2003
                               |___________________________________________|___________________________________________|___________________________________________
Selected characteristic        |          |          |          |    Mostly|          |          |          |    Mostly|          |          |          |    Mostly
of children and schools        |Mostly A's|Mostly B's|Mostly C's|D's or F's|Mostly A's|Mostly B's|Mostly C's|D's or F's|Mostly A's|Mostly B's|Mostly C's|D's or F's
_______________________________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________
1                              |         2|         3|         4|         5|         6|         7|         8|         9|        10|        11|        12|        13
_______________________________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________
   All students ...............|39.5(0.53)|37.7(0.56)|18.5(0.41)| 4.2(0.22)|40.3(0.52)|37.7(0.53)|17.8(0.42)| 4.3(0.23)|43.6(0.62)|37.0(0.58)|15.9(0.52)| 3.6(0.24)
                               |__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________
Sex of child                   |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |
  Male ........................|32.5(0.68)|38.3(0.82)|23.5(0.63)| 5.7(0.36)|33.7(0.70)|38.3(0.73)|21.9(0.63)| 6.2(0.39)|36.4(0.72)|38.6(0.86)|19.8(0.74)| 5.2(0.40)
  Female ......................|46.9(0.78)|37.2(0.77)|13.2(0.60)| 2.7(0.27)|47.0(0.77)|37.1(0.76)|13.5(0.54)| 2.4(0.25)|51.0(0.84)|35.3(0.76)|11.9(0.61)| 1.9(0.24)
                               |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |
Race/ethnicity of child        |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |
  White, non-Hispanic .........|43.7(0.66)|36.1(0.61)|16.5(0.49)| 3.7(0.27)|44.6(0.67)|36.1(0.65)|15.8(0.50)| 3.4(0.25)|47.8(0.86)|35.2(0.75)|14.0(0.63)| 3.1(0.25)
  Black, non-Hispanic .........|27.0(1.40)|41.0(1.48)|26.2(1.51)| 5.8(0.67)|27.5(1.20)|40.3(1.42)|26.4(1.22)| 5.8(0.72)|34.5(1.75)|39.5(1.65)|20.9(1.33)| 5.0(0.82)
  Hispanic ....................|31.9(1.40)|43.6(1.47)|19.6(1.18)| 4.9(0.70)|33.3(1.17)|42.7(1.26)|17.4(0.98)| 6.5(0.73)|34.9(1.14)|42.3(1.24)|18.6(1.03)| 4.2(0.49)
  Other non-Hispanic ..........|44.7(1.80)|33.7(2.10)|17.1(1.61)| 4.5(1.12)|45.8(2.38)|35.8(2.36)|14.2(2.03)| 4.2(1.18)|49.3(2.63)|33.7(2.32)|14.3(1.99)| 2.7(0.78)
                               |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |
Highest education level        |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |
   of parents                  |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |
  Less than high school .......|29.0(1.86)|39.0(1.89)|23.9(1.66)| 8.1(1.04)|26.3(1.58)|40.8(1.82)|22.3(1.62)|10.5(1.30)|27.8(2.17)|41.6(2.05)|22.7(2.28)| 7.8(1.46)
  High school/GED .............|30.5(0.90)|40.5(1.09)|23.1(0.91)| 5.9(0.52)|31.6(0.99)|39.5(1.06)|23.3(0.90)| 5.6(0.49)|32.1(1.20)|41.4(1.23)|21.7(1.12)| 4.8(0.57)
  Vocational/technical or      |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |
     some college..............|36.9(0.99)|40.1(1.01)|19.1(0.64)| 3.9(0.43)|38.9(0.93)|39.0(0.94)|18.3(0.75)| 3.8(0.38)|42.0(1.13)|37.1(1.19)|16.9(0.76)| 4.0(0.42)
  Bachelor's degree  ..........|52.5(1.40)|32.9(1.29)|12.7(1.03)| 1.9(0.34)|51.1(1.28)|34.9(1.22)|12.1(0.85)| 1.8(0.34)|53.2(1.30)|34.2(1.29)|10.9(0.90)| 1.7(0.31)
  Graduate/professional degree |58.2(1.30)|30.9(1.21)| 9.8(0.86)| 1.1(0.26)|54.8(1.30)|33.0(1.23)|10.3(0.82)| 1.9(0.39)|60.6(1.67)|30.9(1.70)| 7.5(0.73)| 1.0(0.24)
                               |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |
Family income                  |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |
  $5,000 or less ..............|28.9(2.50)|38.8(2.39)|23.3(2.35)| 8.9(1.67)|25.0(2.59)|42.9(3.46)|24.4(2.77)| 7.7(1.77)|31.8(4.43)|38.9(4.27)|21.0(3.53)| 8.3(3.25)
  $5,001 to $10,000 ...........|26.6(1.97)|41.9(2.30)|24.6(2.33)| 6.9(1.15)|32.1(2.37)|36.5(2.35)|24.0(2.14)| 7.4(1.32)|31.6(2.90)|40.1(3.70)|24.9(2.70)| 3.4(0.98)
  $10,001 to 15,000 ...........|28.0(1.98)|39.8(2.27)|26.0(1.97)| 6.2(1.10)|30.3(2.00)|38.9(2.16)|23.7(1.92)| 7.1(1.21)|33.5(3.49)|35.1(2.85)|23.9(2.67)| 7.5(1.44)
  $15,001 to 20,000 ...........|32.7(2.34)|38.4(1.99)|21.6(1.81)| 7.3(1.35)|32.0(2.03)|40.0(2.10)|22.3(1.89)| 5.7(0.94)|34.6(2.28)|41.1(2.41)|18.8(2.00)| 5.4(1.26)
  $20,001 to 25,000 ...........|34.4(1.92)|40.8(2.19)|20.6(1.77)| 4.2(0.88)|32.8(1.83)|38.9(1.88)|21.6(1.60)| 6.7(1.09)|33.5(2.51)|42.1(2.93)|19.8(1.99)| 4.7(0.96)
  $25,001 to 30,000 ...........|33.0(1.88)|42.0(2.05)|19.8(1.41)| 5.2(0.76)|37.4(1.91)|37.4(1.90)|19.7(1.54)| 5.4(0.86)|34.5(2.67)|42.6(3.13)|17.9(1.92)| 5.0(1.21)
  $30,001 to 35,000 ...........|40.0(1.88)|38.0(1.66)|18.1(1.44)| 3.9(0.69)|38.2(1.88)|38.8(1.95)|19.2(1.53)| 3.8(0.75)|35.1(2.76)|43.1(2.57)|16.9(1.84)| 5.0(1.09)
  $35,001 to 40,000 ...........|40.4(1.70)|37.3(1.69)|19.4(1.22)| 2.8(0.65)|37.5(1.83)|42.1(1.89)|17.4(1.40)| 3.0(0.62)|39.6(3.20)|37.8(2.79)|19.1(1.78)| 3.6(0.93)
  $40,001 to 50,000 ...........|43.2(1.49)|36.0(1.51)|16.8(1.09)| 4.0(0.57)|45.0(1.52)|35.1(1.44)|16.6(1.14)| 3.3(0.55)|43.9(2.06)|35.8(1.95)|15.8(1.51)| 4.4(0.75)
  $50,001 to 75,000 ...........|50.2(1.05)|32.7(1.04)|14.9(0.86)| 2.2(0.34)|45.8(1.20)|36.8(1.17)|14.5(0.84)| 2.9(0.41)|48.0(1.29)|35.0(1.22)|14.0(0.81)| 3.0(0.45)
  Over $75,000 ................|51.0(1.58)|36.8(1.55)|10.9 (0.9)| 1.3(0.31)|51.9(1.15)|35.4(1.11)|10.9(0.72)| 1.8(0.32)|54.0(1.19)|33.8(1.18)|11.0(0.78)| 1.2(0.19)
                               |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |
Child attending public         |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |
   schools ....................|38.2(0.54)|37.9(0.56)|19.3(0.44)| 4.6(0.23)|39.0(0.55)|37.8(0.56)|18.5(0.45)| 4.7(0.26)|41.8(0.64)|37.5(0.62)|16.8(0.57)| 3.8(0.26)
  Elementary (kindergarten     |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |
    to grade 8) ...............|43.2(0.75)|36.6(0.69)|16.3(0.55)| 3.9(0.26)|43.5(0.71)|36.6(0.71)|15.9(0.54)| 4.1(0.29)|46.1(0.80)|35.9(0.84)|14.6(0.74)| 3.4(0.32)
  Secondary (grades 9 to 12) ..|29.6(0.89)|40.2(1.00)|24.5(0.89)| 5.7(0.46)|31.8(0.87)|39.9(0.92)|22.7(0.79)| 5.6(0.48)|34.6(0.96)|40.2(0.97)|20.6(0.94)| 4.6(0.46)
                               |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |
Child attending private        |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |
   schools ....................|50.8(1.64)|36.1(1.58)|11.8(0.96)| 1.3(0.40)|51.9(1.61)|36.1(1.55)|11.0(1.09)| 1.0(0.27)|57.6(1.72)|33.0(1.68)| 8.1(0.91)| 1.3(0.45)
  Elementary (kindergarten     |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |          |
    to grade 8) ...............|55.7(2.02)|35.3(1.90)| 7.5(0.86)| 1.4(0.57)|56.2(1.88)|34.4(1.80)| 9.0(1.21)| 0.5(0.21)|61.6(2.39)|30.3(2.28)| 7.3(1.03)| 0.8(0.28)
  Secondary (grades 9 to 12) ..|41.5(2.97)|37.7(2.40)|20.4(2.30)| 1.0(0.44)|41.2(3.09)|40.6(3.03)|15.9(2.31)| 2.2(0.79)|48.8(3.22)|38.9(2.94)|10.0(1.77)| 2.3(1.30)
_______________________________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________|__________
NOTE: Includes children enrolled in kindergarten through grade 12. Excludes children whose programs have no classes with lettered grades. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Standard errors appear in parentheses.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Parent and Family Involvement in Education/Civic Involvement Survey (PFI/CI-NHES:1996), Parent Survey (Parent-NHES:1999), and Parent and Family Involvement in Education/Civic Involvement Survey (PFI-NHES:2003) of The National Household Education Surveys Program, unpublished tabulations. (This table was prepared July 2005.)


2005 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest