Table 12b. Percentage distribution of high school graduates, by highest level of science courses completed and race/ethnicity: 1998, 2000, and 2004

Status and Trends in the Education of Racial and Ethnic Minorities

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September 2007

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Table 12b.

Percentage distribution of high school graduates, by highest level of science courses completed and race/ethnicity: 1998, 2000, and 2004

Year and race/ethnicity	No science ¹	Low academic level	General biology	Advanced academic level
Year and race/ethnicity	No science ¹	Low academic level	General biology	Total	Chemistry I or physics I	Chemistry I and physics I	Chemistry II or physics II or advanced biology
1998
Total	0.6	9.3	28.6	61.5	30.2	16.3	15.1
White	0.6 !	8.3	27.0	64.1	30.3	17.9	15.9
Black	0.8 !	9.6	34.5	55.1	32.9	12.0	10.3
Hispanic	0.9 !	15.9	34.4	48.8	26.5	11.6	10.7
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.2	7.1	18.5	74.2	30.1	14.6 !	29.5
American Indian/Alaska Native	#	12.5	38.9	48.6	32.4	11.2 !	5.1 !

2000
Total	0.7	8.7	27.5	63.1	30.5	14.8	17.9
White	0.6 !	8.0	27.7	63.7	30.4	15.1	18.2
Black	0.7 !	9.0 !	29.5	60.8	34.0	13.1	13.7
Hispanic	0.9 !	12.2 !	30.7	56.2	30.4	11.1	14.6 !
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.4 !	8.3 !	11.7	79.7	21.4	24.5	33.8
American Indian/Alaska Native	0.9 !	12.3 !	43.7	43.1	30.5	8.2 !	4.4 !

2004
Total	0.6	5.6	25.4	68.4	33.3	17.1	18.1
White	0.5 !	5.0	23.9	70.7	32.1	18.2	20.3
Black	0.9 !	5.0	31.2	63.0	39.8	12.4	10.8
Hispanic	0.7 !	8.3	30.9	60.2	35.9	15.5	8.8
Asian/Pacific Islander	0.5 !	3.0 !	12.8	83.7	25.9	19.1	38.8
American Indian/Alaska Native	#	10.3 !	41.9 !	47.8	28.2 !	12.3 !	7.3 !
# Rounds to zero. ! Interpret data with caution. ¹ Graduates in this category may have taken some science courses, but these courses are not defined as science courses according to the classification used in this analysis. NOTE: The distribution of graduates in the various levels of science courses was determined by the level of the most academically advanced course they had completed. Graduates may have completed advanced levels of courses without having taken courses at lower levels. Academic levels are labeled according to the most commonly known course at that level; courses with different names or on topics of different but similar academic difficulty may be included under these rubrics. See Appendix B: Supplemental Notes for more information on course classifications. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic origin. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Education Progress (NAEP), 1998 and 2000 High School Transcript Studies (HSTS); and Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002/04), "High School Transcript Study."