In 1983, the National Commission on Excellence in Education recommended that all students take 4 years of English, 3 years each of mathematics, science, and social studies, and a half a year of computer science. For those going on to college an additional 2 years of foreign language study was highly recommended. Over the past 10 years, the average number of science and mathematics credits earned by high school graduates increased substantially. The mean number of mathematics credits (Carnegie units) earned in high school rose from 2.5 in 1982 to 3.3 in 1992, and the number of science credits rose from 2.2 to 3.0.
The proportion of graduates who completed the full college preparatory program recommended by the Commission on Excellence rose from 2 percent in 1982 to 23 percent in 1992.
Year of graduation and
course combinations taken All graduates
------------------------------------------------------
1982 graduates
4 Eng., 3 S.S., 3 Sci., 3 Math,
.5 Comp., & 2 F.L. 1.9
4 Eng., 3 S.S., 3 Sci., 3 Math,
& .5 Comp. 2.7
4 Eng., 3 S.S., 3 Sci., 3 Math,
& 2 F.L. 8.8
4 Eng., 3 S.S., 3 Sci., 3 Math 13.4
4 Eng., 3 S.S., 2 Sci., 2 Math 29.2
1992 graduates
4 Eng., 3 S.S., 3 Sci., 3 Math,
.5 Comp., & 2 F.L. 23.2
4 Eng., 3 S.S., 3 Sci., 3 Math,
.5 Comp. 29.2
4 Eng., 3 S.S., 3 Sci., 3 Math,
2 F.L. 36.9
4 Eng., 3 S.S., 3 Sci., 3 Math 46.8
4 Eng., 3 S.S., 2 Sci., 2 Math 72.8
------------------------------------------------------
Note: Eng. = English; S.S. = social studies; Sci. = science; Comp. = computer science; and F.L. = foreign language.
The number of high school graduates in 1994-95 totaled about 2.6 million. About 2.3 million graduated from public schools and less than 0.3 million graduated from private schools. The number of high school graduates has declined from its peak in 1976-77 when approximately 3.2 million people earned their diplomas. Although the number of graduates has been lower in recent years, the ratio of high school graduates to 17-year-olds has remained relatively stable for more than two decades, declining slightly in the 1970s and increasing slightly in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
The actual graduation rate is higher than this ratio of 73.4 because many students complete high school through alternative programs, such as night schools and the GED. In 1994, about 86 percent of all 25- to 29-year-olds had completed high school.
[In thousands]
Total High Graduates as
School 17-year- school a percent of
year olds graduates 17-year-olds
----------------------------------------------------------
1974-75 4,256 3,133 73.6
1976-77 4,272 3,152 73.8
1978-79 4,327 3,101 71.7
1980-81 4,212 3,020 71.7
1981-82 4,134 2,995 72.4
1982-83 3,962 2,888 72.9
1983-84 3,784 2,767 73.1
1984-85 3,699 2,677 72.4
1985-86 3,670 2,643 72.0
1986-87 3,754 2,694 71.8
1987-88 3,849 2,773 72.1
1988-89 3,842 2,727 71.0
1989-90 3,574 2,588 72.4
1990-91 3,417 2,503 73.0
1991-92 3,381 2,482 73.4
1992-93 3,430 2,481 72.3
1993-94 3,446 2,479 71.5
1994-95* 3,477 2,553 73.4
----------------------------------------------------------
* Preliminary data.
The dropout rate among 16- to 24-year-olds has fallen over the past 20 years. Having fallen more for blacks than for whites, the difference in dropout rates between the races has narrowed. The dropout rate for Hispanics remains relatively high at 30 percent, compared to 8 percent for whites and 13 percent for blacks.
White Black
All non- non-
Year races Hispanic Hispanic Hispanic
-------------------------------------------------------
1975 13.9 11.4 22.9 29.2
1977 14.1 11.9 19.8 33.0
1979 14.6 12.0 21.1 33.8
1980 14.1 11.4 19.1 35.2
1981 13.9 11.4 18.4 33.2
1982 13.9 11.4 18.4 31.7
1983 13.7 11.2 18.0 31.6
1984 13.1 11.0 15.5 29.8
1985 12.6 10.4 15.2 27.6
1986 12.2 9.7 14.2 30.1
1987 12.7 10.4 14.1 28.6
1988 12.9 9.6 14.5 35.8
1989 12.6 9.4 13.9 33.0
1990 12.1 9.0 13.2 32.4
1991 12.5 8.9 13.6 35.3
1992* 11.0 7.7 13.7 29.4
1993* 11.0 7.9 13.6 27.5
1994* 10.5 7.7 12.6 30.0
-------------------------------------------------------
* Wording of questionnaire was changed.
Note: Dropouts are persons not enrolled in school who neither graduated from high school, nor received GED credentials.
Some 90 million adults--about 47 percent of the U.S. population--performed at the two lowest levels of literacy in 1992 on a national survey of adult literacy. Literacy was defined as "using printed and written information to function in society, to achieve one's goals, and to develop one's knowledge and potential." Three scales were developed measuring different aspects of literacy: prose, quantitative, and document.
Adults with higher levels of educational attainment had higher average levels of prose literacy. Also, adults aged 19 to 54 had higher average literacy scores than those 55 and older. The differences in literacy between younger and older adults may be due to the higher level of educational attainment among younger adults.
On all three literacy scales, the average literacy scores for Hispanics were below that of blacks which were below that of whites. On the quantitative literacy scale, the difference between blacks and whites was larger than the difference between white high school and college graduates.
Americans are becoming more educated. Between 1980 and 1994, the proportion of the adult population 25 years of age and over with 4 years of high school or more rose from 69 percent to 81 percent. At the same time, the proportion of adults with at least 4 years of college increased from 17 percent to 22 percent.
4 years
Less than of high 4 or
5 years of school more
elementary or years of
Year school more college
----------------------------------------------
March 1970 5.3 55.2 11.0
March 1980 3.4 68.6 17.0
March 1985 2.7 73.9 19.4
March 1986 2.7 74.7 19.4
March 1987 2.4 75.6 19.9
March 1988 2.4 76.2 20.3
March 1989 2.5 76.9 21.1
March 1990 2.4 77.6 21.3
March 1991 2.4 78.4 21.4
March 1992 2.8 80.8 21.4
March 1993 2.1 81.5 21.9
March 1994 1.9 80.9 22.2
----------------------------------------------
Long-term trends in reading achievement show improvements for many of the country's 13- and 17-year-old students and for some groups of 9-year-olds. However, many of the advancements in performance that had been made prior to 1988 among black students have not continued--or have reversed between 1988 and 1992.
Selected characteristics
of students 1971 1980 1992
--------------------------------------------------
Total 285.2 285.5 289.7
Sex
Male 278.9 281.8 284.2
Female 291.3 289.2 295.7
Race/ethnicity
White 291.4 292.8 297.4
Black 238.7 243.1 260.6
Hispanic -- 261.4 271.2
Control of school
Public -- 284.4 287.8
Private -- 298.4 309.6
Parents' education level
Not graduated
high school 261.3 262.1 270.8
Graduated high
school 283.0 277.5 280.5
Post high
school 302.2 298.9 298.6
--------------------------------------------------
-- Data not available.
Note: Scale ranges from 0 to 500.
Results from national assessments of mathematics achievement indicate that students have made some improvements in their basic computation skills. Average proficiency for 9- and 13-year-olds improved between 1982 and 1992. For 17-year-old students, average proficiency had declined between 1973 and 1982, but an upturn during the past decade returned their performance to the 1973 level. However, the performance of older students on advanced mathematical operations has shown little or no improvement.
Numerical
operations Moderately Multistep
and complex problem
beginning procedures solving
Year and problem and and
race/ethnicity solving reasoning algebra
----------------------------------------------------------
Total
1978 92 52 7
1982 93 48 6
1990 96 56 7
1992 97 59 7
White
1978 96 58 9
1982 96 55 6
1990 98 63 8
1992 98 66 9
Black
1978 71 17 0
1982 76 17 1
1990 92 33 2
1992 90 30 1
Hispanic
1978 78 23 1
1982 81 22 1
1990 86 30 2
1992 94 39 1
----------------------------------------------------------
The number of degrees conferred by institutions of higher education was estimated to be at an all-time high for all levels of degrees in 1994-95: 536,000 associate degrees; 1,179,000 bachelor's degrees; 399,000 master's degrees; 78,400 first-professional degrees; and 43,000 doctor's degrees. In 1992-93, women earned the majority of degrees at the associate, bachelor's, and master's degree levels.
Bachelor's Master?s Doctor?s
Year degrees \1\ degrees degrees
--------------------------------------------------
1960-61 365,174 84,609 10,575
1970-71 839,730 230,509 32,107
1975-76 925,746 311,771 34,064
1980-81 935,140 295,739 32,958
1981-82 952,998 295,546 32,707
1982-83 969,510 289,921 32,775
1983-84 974,309 284,263 33,209
1984-85 979,477 286,251 32,943
1985-86 987,823 288,567 33,653
1986-87 991,264 289,349 34,041
1987-88 994,829 299,317 34,870
1988-89 1,018,755 310,621 35,720
1989-90 1,051,344 324,301 38,371
1990-91 1,094,538 337,168 39,294
1991-92 1,136,553 352,838 40,659
1992-93 1,165,178 369,585 41,132
1993-94 \2\ 1,165,000 386,000 42,900
1994-95 \2\ 1,179,000 399,000 43,000
--------------------------------------------------
\1\ First-professional degrees are included with bachelor's degrees in 1960-61.
\2\ Projected.
