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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 156. Percentage distribution of elementary and secondary school children, by average grades and selected child and school characteristics: 1996, 2003, and 2007
Selected characteristic of children and schools Distribution of children, by parental reports of average grades in all subjects
1996 2003 2007
Mostly A's Mostly B's Mostly C's Mostly D's or F's Mostly A's Mostly B's Mostly C's Mostly D's or F's Mostly A's Mostly B's Mostly C's Mostly D's or F's
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
All students 39.5   (0.53) 37.8   (0.56) 18.5   (0.41) 4.2   (0.22) 43.6   (0.62) 37.0   (0.58) 15.9   (0.52) 3.6   (0.24) 47.2   (0.75) 35.0   (0.80) 14.1   (0.72) 3.8   (0.36)
                                                                         
Sex of child                                                                        
Male 32.5   (0.68) 38.3   (0.82) 23.5   (0.62) 5.7   (0.36) 36.4   (0.72) 38.6   (0.86) 19.8   (0.74) 5.2   (0.40) 40.3   (1.01) 37.1   (1.17) 17.0   (1.25) 5.7   (0.64)
Female 46.9   (0.79) 37.2   (0.77) 13.2   (0.60) 2.7   (0.27) 51.0   (0.84) 35.3   (0.76) 11.9   (0.61) 1.9   (0.24) 54.7   (0.99) 32.7   (0.97) 11.0   (0.62) 1.7   (0.24)
                                                                         
Race/ethnicity of child                                                                        
White 43.7   (0.66) 36.1   (0.60) 16.5   (0.48) 3.7   (0.27) 47.8   (0.86) 35.2   (0.75) 14.0   (0.63) 3.1   (0.25) 53.9   (0.97) 32.2   (0.91) 11.7   (0.68) 2.1   (0.27)
Black 27.0   (1.40) 41.0   (1.48) 26.2   (1.51) 5.8   (0.67) 34.5   (1.75) 39.5   (1.65) 20.9   (1.33) 5.0   (0.82) 28.3   (2.04) 40.5   (2.75) 24.9   (2.89) 6.3   (1.41)
Hispanic 31.7   (1.41) 43.8   (1.50) 19.6   (1.17) 4.9   (0.71) 34.9   (1.14) 42.3   (1.24) 18.6   (1.03) 4.2   (0.48) 40.8   (1.68) 39.2   (1.66) 14.1   (1.24) 6.0   (1.15)
Asian/Pacific Islander 55.5   (3.46) 35.0   (3.35) 8.3   (1.93) 1.2 ! (0.72) 62.0   (3.47) 25.5   (2.76) 11.3   (3.06) 1.2 ! (0.90)   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)
Asian   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†) 74.5   (3.67) 20.7   (3.60) 3.2 ! (1.10) 1.7 ! (1.18)
Pacific Islander   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†) 16.9 ! (11.82) 70.5   (18.20) 6.9 ! (5.36)   (†)
American Indian/Alaska Native 30.2   (3.90) 31.9   (4.78) 29.3   (4.92) 8.7 ! (3.82) 29.5   (6.53) 53.3   (6.42) 12.1 ! (4.90) 5.1 ! (2.54) 39.7   (9.13) 29.2   (8.22) 19.9 ! (6.67)   (†)
Other 40.7   (2.98) 33.3   (3.35) 20.1   (2.85) 5.8 ! (1.96) 41.4   (4.34) 36.2   (3.91) 18.8   (2.81) 3.5 ! (1.38) 31.4 ! (18.09) 50.2 ! (21.33)   (†)   (†)
Two or more races   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†)   (†) 44.3   (3.92) 38.2   (4.13) 11.3   (2.25) 6.2   (1.77)
                                                                         
Highest education level
   of parents
                                                                       
Less than high school 28.7   (1.87) 39.2   (1.89) 24.0   (1.68) 8.1   (1.04) 27.8   (2.17) 41.6   (2.05) 22.7   (2.27) 7.8   (1.46) 26.8   (3.18) 41.9   (4.27) 22.0   (2.55) 9.3   (2.02)
High school/GED 30.5   (0.90) 40.5   (1.09) 23.1   (0.91) 5.9   (0.52) 32.1   (1.20) 41.4   (1.23) 21.7   (1.12) 4.8   (0.57) 32.9   (1.70) 39.8   (1.64) 21.9   (2.02) 5.4   (0.82)
Vocational/technical or
    some college
35.2   (1.25) 41.3   (1.20) 19.4   (0.82) 4.1   (0.52) 39.8   (1.34) 38.3   (1.36) 17.2   (0.95) 4.7   (0.58) 40.7   (1.65) 38.6   (2.03) 16.6   (1.43) 4.0   (0.78)
Associate's degree 41.5   (1.83) 36.9   (1.88) 18.0   (1.53) 3.5   (0.68) 46.7   (2.13) 34.5   (1.94) 16.4   (1.51) 2.4   (0.57) 40.3   (2.27) 38.4   (2.00) 15.7   (1.76) 5.5 ! (2.10)
Bachelor's degree/some
    graduate school
52.7   (1.32) 32.9   (1.16) 12.5   (0.92) 1.9   (0.31) 53.0   (1.26) 34.2   (1.29) 11.1   (0.85) 1.7   (0.28) 58.9   (1.62) 32.2   (1.52) 7.3   (0.85) 1.6   (0.38)
Graduate/professional
    degree
59.1   (1.40) 30.4   (1.26) 9.5   (0.99) 1.0   (0.24) 61.9   (1.71) 30.5   (1.75) 6.7   (0.67) 0.9   (0.24) 68.2   (1.59) 24.1   (1.37) 6.6   (1.33) 1.2 ! (0.38)
                                                                         
Family income (in current dollars)                                                                        
$5,000 or less 28.9   (2.50) 38.8   (2.39) 23.3   (2.35) 8.9   (1.67) 31.8   (4.43) 38.9   (4.27) 21.0   (3.53) 8.3 ! (3.25) 22.9   (4.72) 31.0   (5.89) 32.6   (7.04) 13.6   (3.93)
$5,001 to 10,000 26.6   (1.97) 41.9   (2.30) 24.6   (2.33) 6.9   (1.15) 31.6   (2.90) 40.1   (3.70) 24.9   (2.70) 3.4   (0.98) 26.4   (4.16) 51.1   (5.45) 17.2   (3.65) 5.3 ! (1.97)
$10,001 to 15,000 27.6   (2.00) 40.0   (2.33) 26.1   (1.95) 6.3   (1.10) 33.4   (3.49) 35.1   (2.85) 23.9   (2.67) 7.5   (1.44) 34.7   (3.80) 38.9   (4.35) 21.1   (3.21) 5.3   (1.44)
$15,001 to 20,000 32.7   (2.34) 38.4   (1.99) 21.6   (1.81) 7.3   (1.35) 34.6   (2.28) 41.1   (2.41) 18.8   (2.00) 5.4   (1.26) 30.0   (4.45) 35.7   (4.69) 29.5   (7.46) 4.8   (1.45)
$20,001 to 25,000 34.4   (1.92) 40.8   (2.19) 20.6   (1.77) 4.2   (0.88) 33.5   (2.51) 42.1   (2.93) 19.8   (1.99) 4.7   (0.96) 32.3   (3.13) 39.8   (3.38) 20.2   (3.49) 7.7   (1.85)
$25,001 to 30,000 33.0   (1.88) 42.0   (2.05) 19.8   (1.41) 5.2   (0.76) 34.5   (2.67) 42.6   (3.13) 17.9   (1.92) 5.0   (1.21) 38.5   (4.05) 39.2   (4.27) 16.2   (2.91) 6.1 ! (2.01)
$30,001 to 35,000 40.0   (1.88) 38.0   (1.66) 18.1   (1.44) 3.9   (0.69) 35.1   (2.76) 43.1   (2.57) 16.9   (1.84) 5.0   (1.09) 44.2   (3.61) 32.7   (3.44) 18.7   (3.83) 4.4 ! (1.67)
$35,001 to 40,000 40.4   (1.70) 37.3   (1.69) 19.4   (1.22) 2.8   (0.65) 39.6   (3.20) 37.8   (2.79) 19.1   (1.78) 3.6   (0.93) 37.6   (3.35) 36.4   (3.56) 19.8   (2.89) 6.1   (1.75)
$40,001 to 50,000 43.2   (1.49) 36.0   (1.51) 16.8   (1.09) 4.0   (0.57) 43.9   (2.06) 35.8   (1.95) 15.8   (1.51) 4.4   (0.75) 37.9   (2.57) 39.4   (2.92) 15.9   (1.76) 6.9 ! (2.57)
$50,001 to 75,000 50.2   (1.05) 32.7   (1.04) 14.9   (0.86) 2.2   (0.34) 48.0   (1.29) 35.0   (1.22) 14.0   (0.81) 3.0   (0.45) 53.0   (1.50) 33.8   (1.42) 11.0   (0.97) 2.2   (0.42)
Over $75,000 51.0   (1.58) 36.8   (1.55) 10.9   (0.93) 1.3   (0.31) 54.0   (1.19) 33.8   (1.18) 11.0   (0.78) 1.2   (0.19) 59.4   (1.13) 31.3   (1.09) 8.0   (0.70) 1.3   (0.25)
                                                                         
Child attending public
   school
38.2   (0.54) 37.9   (0.56) 19.3   (0.44) 4.6   (0.23) 41.8   (0.64) 37.5   (0.62) 16.8   (0.57) 3.8   (0.26) 45.5   (0.80) 35.5   (0.84) 14.9   (0.77) 4.1   (0.39)
Elementary (kindergarten
    to grade 8)
43.2   (0.75) 36.6   (0.69) 16.3   (0.55) 3.9   (0.26) 46.1   (0.80) 35.9   (0.84) 14.6   (0.74) 3.4   (0.32) 50.0   (0.99) 33.1   (1.00) 13.4   (1.12) 3.5   (0.43)
Secondary (grades 9 to 12) 29.6   (0.89) 40.2   (1.00) 24.5   (0.89) 5.7   (0.46) 34.6   (0.96) 40.2   (0.97) 20.6   (0.94) 4.6   (0.46) 38.6   (1.36) 39.1   (1.27) 17.2   (1.08) 5.2   (0.71)
                                                                         
Child attending private
   school
50.6   (1.64) 36.3   (1.58) 11.9   (0.96) 1.3 ! (0.40) 57.6   (1.72) 33.0   (1.68) 8.1   (0.91) 1.3 ! (0.45) 60.6   (2.79) 30.8   (2.85) 7.8   (1.73) 0.9 ! (0.35)
Elementary (kindergarten
    to grade 8)
55.5   (2.02) 35.5   (1.90) 7.5   (0.86) 1.4 ! (0.57) 61.6   (2.39) 30.3   (2.28) 7.3   (1.03) 0.8 ! (0.28) 66.1   (3.73) 26.6   (4.05) 6.6   (1.66) 0.6 ! (0.40)
Secondary (grades 9 to 12) 40.9   (2.89) 37.7   (2.39) 20.4   (2.29) 1.0 ! (0.44) 48.8   (3.22) 38.9   (2.94) 10.0   (1.77) 2.3 ! (1.30) 51.2   (3.91) 37.8   (3.43) 9.8 ! (3.87) 1.2 ! (0.68)
—Not available.
†Not applicable.
!Interpret data with caution.
‡Reporting standards not met.
NOTE: Includes children enrolled in kindergarten through grade 12. Excludes children whose programs have no classes with lettered grades. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Standard errors appear in parentheses. Some data have been revised from previously published figures.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Parent and Family Involvement in Education/Civic Involvement Survey and Parent and Family Involvement in Education Survey of the National Household Education Surveys Program (PFI/CI-NHES:1996 and PFI-NHES:2003 and 2007). (This table was prepared August 2009.)

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