In 2002, a quarter of 10th-graders reported that they “usually” or “often” came to school without their homework.

Student academic preparedness is a demonstration of the extent to which students are actively engaged in education and is crucial to the learning process (Newmann 1992; Ryan and Deci 2000; Pintrich 2003). This indicator examines student preparedness by looking at high school students’ reports of how often they came to school without books; without paper, pen, or pencil; and without their homework. For each of these three measures, the percentage of students who reported being chronically unprepared for school (i.e., “usually” or “often”) was larger in 2002 than in 1980. However, percentages were lower in 1990 than in 1980 or 2002. For example, the percentage who reported coming to school usually or often without their homework in 2002 was 26 percent, compared with 22 percent in 1980 and 18 percent in 1990. The percentage who reported coming to school usually or often without paper, pen, or pencil or without their books followed a similar pattern.

Across all three years, males reported coming to school unprepared more often than females. For example, in 2002, about 30 percent of males came to school usually or often without their homework, compared with 21 percent of females. Similar patterns held for the two other measures.

Across all three years, students in the lowest test score quarter reported coming to school unprepared more often than students in the highest test score quarter. In 2002, about 38 percent of students with the lowest test scores came to school usually or often without their homework, compared with 18 percent of students with the highest test scores.