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Digest of Education Statistics
2010 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest


Table 161. Percentage of public and private high school graduates earning minimum credits in selected combinations of academic courses, by sex and race/ethnicity: Selected years, 1982 through 2005
Year of graduation and course combination taken1 All students Sex Race/ethnicity
Male Female White Black Hispanic Asian/ Pacific Islander American Indian/ Alaska Native Other
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
1982 graduates                                    
4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math,
   5 Comp, and 2 FL2
2.0 (0.22) 2.3 (0.31) 1.8 (0.27) 2.4 (0.28) 0.7 (0.28) 0.6 (0.22) 5.8 (1.72) 1.1 (0.77) (†)
4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math,
   and 2 FL
9.5 (0.57) 9.1 (0.70) 9.9 (0.71) 10.9 (0.69) 5.2 (1.02) 3.9 (0.57) 17.0 (2.49) 3.3 (1.68) (†)
4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math 14.3 (0.66) 15.2 (0.86) 13.4 (0.79) 15.9 (0.79) 11.0 (1.39) 6.7 (0.79) 21.1 (2.65) 8.1 (3.02) (†)
4 Eng, 3 SS, 2 Sci, 2 Math 31.5 (1.07) 31.7 (1.26) 31.3 (1.22) 32.4 (1.21) 30.8 (2.32) 25.6 (1.76) 32.0 (3.40) 23.6 (5.39) (†)
                                     
1987 graduates                                    
4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math,
   5 Comp, and 2 FL2
10.6 (0.73) 11.5 (1.01) 9.8 (0.65) 11.3 (0.97) 6.6 (0.91) 5.5 (1.03) 20.5 (2.57) 2.5 (0.86) (†)
4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math,
   and 2 FL
18.1 (0.91) 18.0 (1.13) 18.3 (1.01) 19.0 (1.10) 12.7 (1.15) 10.8 (1.70) 35.7 (4.49) 4.9 (1.40) (†)
4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math 24.8 (1.03) 25.9 (1.27) 23.7 (1.07) 26.1 (1.21) 19.6 (1.99) 14.5 (1.69) 39.8 (4.51) 24.3 (3.69) (†)
4 Eng, 3 SS, 2 Sci, 2 Math 48.1 (1.74) 48.0 (2.22) 48.4 (1.56) 48.1 (2.15) 48.3 (2.63) 43.9 (1.92) 57.9 (4.82) 61.8 (5.56) (†)
                                     
1990 graduates                                    
4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math,
   5 Comp, and 2 FL2
18.0 (1.06) 17.8 (1.16) 18.2 (1.09) 18.6 (1.21) 15.1 (1.66) 17.8 (2.42) 23.3 (2.23) 7.8 (3.33) (†)
4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math,
   and 2 FL
29.9 (1.26) 28.8 (1.38) 31.0 (1.36) 31.7 (1.46) 22.9 (2.27) 25.4 (2.41) 42.6 (2.95) 9.9 (3.70) (†)
4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math 38.2 (1.50) 38.5 (1.69) 37.9 (1.54) 39.2 (1.63) 39.0 (3.57) 29.8 (2.51) 47.4 (3.04) 19.2 (4.70) (†)
4 Eng, 3 SS, 2 Sci, 2 Math 65.5 (1.96) 64.3 (2.09) 66.4 (1.98) 64.9 (2.28) 71.3 (3.00) 63.7 (3.01) 69.1 (3.90) 46.3 (6.39) (†)
                                     
1994 graduates                                    
4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math,
   5 Comp, and 2 FL2
25.1 (1.05) 23.4 (0.93) 26.8 (1.32) 26.4 (1.19) 19.0 (1.45) 27.1 (3.75) 35.5 (2.84) 12.9 (3.09) (†)
4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math,
   and 2 FL
39.0 (1.12) 35.0 (1.11) 42.7 (1.33) 41.6 (1.32) 29.6 (1.52) 35.6 (2.94) 50.1 (2.39) 22.5 (4.31) (†)
4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math 49.3 (1.45) 47.0 (1.45) 51.5 (1.58) 52.4 (1.67) 43.7 (2.39) 40.3 (3.25) 54.9 (2.46) 46.0 (3.30) (†)
4 Eng, 3 SS, 2 Sci, 2 Math 73.9 (1.50) 71.2 (1.63) 76.4 (1.46) 75.1 (1.69) 74.5 (2.32) 74.7 (2.61) 72.3 (3.62) 76.3 (3.60) (†)
                                     
1998 graduates                                    
4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math,
   5 Comp, and 2 FL2
28.6 (1.72) 27.6 (2.12) 30.1 (1.90) 29.6 (1.99) 27.9 (3.36) 20.4 (2.44) 38.6 (4.61) 16.5 (4.65) (†)
4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math,
   and 2 FL
44.2 (1.92) 40.5 (2.19) 48.2 (2.05) 46.2 (2.16) 40.0 (3.41) 32.0 (2.94) 57.8 (4.51) 28.3 (4.53) (†)
4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math 55.0 (2.44) 52.9 (2.64) 57.8 (2.48) 56.8 (2.69) 55.6 (4.39) 40.0 (3.28) 66.1 (5.69) 40.0 (4.73) (†)
4 Eng, 3 SS, 2 Sci, 2 Math 74.5 (2.18) 72.8 (2.34) 77.0 (2.14) 74.7 (2.64) 76.0 (3.21) 70.1 (2.57) 79.5 (4.76) 76.4 (5.21) (†)
                                     
2000 graduates                                    
4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math,
   5 Comp, and 2 FL2
31.0 (1.53) 28.6 (1.59) 33.2 (1.73) 31.5 (1.55) 28.9 (1.65) 28.4 (5.50) 37.8 (5.45) 16.2 (2.69) (†)
4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math,
   and 2 FL
46.5 (1.46) 40.3 (1.59) 52.1 (1.60) 47.8 (1.56) 44.2 (2.14) 38.4 (5.05) 56.5 (3.13) 25.6 (3.40) (†)
4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math 57.2 (1.58) 52.9 (1.65) 61.1 (1.70) 58.1 (1.70) 62.4 (2.44) 46.4 (5.46) 61.1 (3.11) 40.9 (5.56) (†)
4 Eng, 3 SS, 2 Sci, 2 Math 77.6 (1.58) 74.2 (1.86) 80.6 (1.44) 77.9 (1.84) 81.2 (2.23) 74.1 (3.24) 74.5 (3.05) 71.2 (4.44) (†)
                                     
2005 graduates                                    
4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math,
   5 Comp, and 2 FL2
36.2 (1.00) 34.6 (0.97) 37.7 (1.23) 35.8 (1.22) 39.9 (1.72) 33.0 (1.86) 42.9 (2.34) 24.5 (3.48) 36.8 (5.09)
4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math,
   and 2 FL
52.1 (1.00) 46.8 (1.16) 57.2 (1.01) 53.3 (1.20) 51.4 (1.88) 41.8 (2.07) 63.6 (2.19) 36.2 (3.40) 65.7 (3.12)
4 Eng, 3 SS, 3 Sci, 3 Math 64.7 (1.07) 61.1 (1.26) 68.0 (0.99) 65.9 (1.32) 69.6 (1.83) 49.8 (2.29) 69.1 (2.20) 59.3 (3.30) 72.4 (3.44)
4 Eng, 3 SS, 2 Sci, 2 Math 81.8 (1.02) 79.2 (1.18) 84.3 (0.97) 81.2 (1.33) 88.7 (0.93) 77.2 (1.33) 83.7 (1.72) 81.0 (3.18) 87.2 (2.71)
—Not available.
†Not applicable.                                    
1 Eng = English; SS = social studies; Sci = science; Comp = computer science; and FL = foreign language.
2 The National Commission on Excellence in Education recommended that all college-bound high school students take these courses as a minimum.
NOTE: Data differ slightly from figures appearing in other NCES reports because of differences in taxonomies and case exclusion criteria. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity. Standard errors appear in parentheses.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, High School and Beyond Longitudinal Study of 1980 Sophomores (HS&B-So:80/82), "High School Transcript Study"; and 1987, 1990, 1994, 1998, 2000, and 2005 High School Transcript Study (HSTS). (This table was prepared January 2007.)

2010 Tables and Figures All Years of Tables and Figures Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest