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Long-Term Trend
The Nation's Report Card (home page)

Trends in Mathematics Course-taking

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KEY FINDINGS
  • Thirteen-year-olds. In 2004, a higher percentage of students were enrolled in algebra (29) than in any previous assessment year. The percentage in pre-algebra (32) has also increased, while the percentage in regular mathematics classes has decreased since 1986.
  • Seventeen-year-olds. A greater percentage of students (17) indicated they were taking or had taken calculus in 2004 than in any previous assessment year. The percentage taking second-year algebra also increased from 37 percent in 1978 to 53 percent in 2004. Conversely, the percentage of students who indicated that the highest level of mathematics they had taken was pre-algebra or algebra was lower in 2004 than in 1978.
  • Mathematics course-taking. Background questions about students' mathematics course-taking were first asked of 13-year-old students in 1986 and first asked of 17-year-olds in 1978.

Percentage of students ages 13 and 17, by type of mathematics course taken: 1978–2004 click for additional information

 

Percentage of students age 13, by type of mathematics course taken: Selected years, 1986–2004

 
 

Percentage of students age 17, by type of mathematics course taken: Selected years, 1978–2004

View data with standard errors for age 13 and age 17.
 
 
#The estimate rounds to zero.
* Significantly different from 2004.
1"Something else" implies that students checked a series of courses that did not follow a logical course-taking pattern.
NOTE: Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), selected years, 1978–2004 Long-Term Trend Mathematics Assessments.
Last updated 08 July 2005 (HM)