Enrollment in foreign language courses compared with enrollment in grades 9 to 12 in public secondary schools: Selected years, fall 1948 to fall 2000

Digest of Education Statistics: 2004

NCES 2006-005
October 2005

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Table 57.

Enrollment in foreign language courses compared with enrollment in grades 9 to 12 in public secondary schools: Selected years, fall 1948 to fall 2000
[In thousands]

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                            |         |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |Percent change,
                            |    Fall | Fall | Fall | Fall | Fall | Fall | Fall | Fall | Fall | Fall | Fall | Fall | in enrollment
Language                    |    1948 | 1960 | 1965 | 1968 | 1970 | 1974 | 1976 | 1982 | 1985 | 1990 | 1994 | 2000 |_______________
                            |         |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |1976 to|1990 to
                            |         |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |  1990 |   2000
____________________________|_________|______|______|______|______|______|______|______|______|______|______|______|_______|_______
1                           |       2 |    3 |    4 |    5 |    6 |    7 |    8 |    9 |   10 |   11 |   12 |   13 |    14 |    15
____________________________|_________|______|______|______|______|______|______|______|______|______|______|______|_______|_______
Total enrollment,           |         |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |       |
   grades 9 to 12 ..........|\1\ 5,602| 8,589|11,610|12,718|13,336|14,103|14,314|12,405|12,388|11,338|12,213|13,514|  -20.8|   19.2
                            |=========|======|======|======|======|======|======|======|======|======|======|======|=======|=======
All foreign languages\2\    |         |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |       |
  Number enrolled ..........|    1,170| 2,522| 3,659| 3,890| 3,779| 3,295| 3,174| 2,910| 4,029| 4,257| 5,002| 5,898|   34.1|   38.6
  Percent of all students ..|     20.9|  29.4|  31.5|  30.6|  28.3|  23.3|  22.2|  23.3|  32.2|  37.5|  41.0|  43.6|   --- |   ---
                            |_________|______|______|______|______|______|______|______|______|______|______|______|_______|_______
Modern foreign languages    |         |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |       |
  Number enrolled ..........|      741| 1,867| 3,068| 3,518| 3,514| 3,127| 3,023| 2,740| 3,852| 4,093| 4,813| 5,721|   35.4|   39.8
  Percent of all students ..|     13.2|  21.7|  26.4|  27.7|  26.4|  22.1|  21.1|  21.9|  31.1|  36.1|  39.4|  42.3|   --- |   ---
                            |         |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |       |
  Spanish                   |         |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |       |
    Number enrolled ........|      443|   933| 1,427| 1,698| 1,811| 1,678| 1,717| 1,563| 2,334| 2,611| 3,220| 4,058|   52.1|   55.4
    Percent of all students |      7.9|  10.9|  12.3|  13.4|  13.6|  11.9|  12.0|  12.5|  18.8|  23.0|  26.4|  30.0|   --- |   ---
                            |         |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |       |
  French                    |         |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |       |
    Number enrolled ........|      254|   744| 1,251| 1,328| 1,231|   978|   888|   858| 1,134| 1,089| 1,106| 1,075|   22.6|   -1.3
    Percent of all students |      4.5|   8.7|  10.8|  10.4|   9.2|   6.9|   6.2|   6.9|   9.2|   9.6|   9.1|   8.0|   --- |   ---
                            |         |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |       |
  German                    |         |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |       |
    Number enrolled ........|       43|   151|   328|   423|   411|   393|   353|   267|   312|   295|   326|   283|  -16.2|   -4.1
    Percent of all students |      0.8|   1.8|   2.8|   3.3|   3.1|   2.8|   2.5|   2.1|   2.5|   2.6|   2.7|   2.1|   --- |   ---
                            |         |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |       |
  Russian                   |         |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |       |
    Number enrolled ........|     --- |    10|    27|    24|    20|    15|    11|     6|     6|    16|    16|    11|   46.6|  -35.6
    Percent of all students |     --- |   0.1|   0.2|   0.2|   0.2|   0.1|   0.1|    # |    # |   0.1|   0.1|   0.1|   --- |   ---
                            |         |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |       |
  Italian                   |         |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |       |
    Number enrolled ........|     --- |    20|    25|    27|    27|    40|    46|    44|    47|    40|    44|    64|  -11.4|   58.7
    Percent of all students |     --- |   0.2|   0.2|   0.2|   0.2|   0.3|   0.3|   0.4|   0.4|   0.4|   0.4|   0.5|   --- |   ---
                            |         |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |       |
  Japanese\3\               |         |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |       |
    Number enrolled ........|     --- |  --- |  --- |  --- |  --- |  --- |  --- |  --- |  --- |    25|    42|    51|   --- |  102.5
    Percent of all students |     --- |  --- |  --- |  --- |  --- |  --- |  --- |  --- |  --- |   0.2|   0.3|   0.4|   --- |   ---
                            |         |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |       |
  Other modern foreign      |         |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |       |
     languages\4\           |         |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |       |
    Number enrolled ........|        1|     9|     9|    18|    15|    23|     9|     3|    18|    15|    59|   179|   73.0|1,102.3
    Percent of all students |       # |   0.1|   0.1|   0.1|   0.1|   0.2|   0.1|    # |   0.1|   0.1|   0.5|   1.3|   --- |   ---
                            |=========|======|======|======|======|======|======|======|======|======|======|======|=======|=======
Latin                       |         |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |      |       |
  Number enrolled ..........|      429|   655|   591|   372|   265|   167|   150|   170|   177|   164|   189|   177|    8.9|    8.3
  Percent of all students ..|      7.7|   7.6|   5.1|   2.9|   2.0|   1.2|   1.1|   1.4|   1.4|   1.4|   1.5|   1.3|   --- |   ---
____________________________|_________|______|______|______|______|______|______|______|______|______|______|______|_______|_______

---Not available.
#Rounds to zero.
\1\Estimated.
\2\Includes enrollment in ancient Greek (not shown separately). Fewer than 1,000 students were enrolled in this language in each of the years shown.
\3\Until 1990, student enrollment in Japanese courses was included in the Other modern foreign languages category.
\4\Includes students enrolled in unspecified modern foreign languages. Since 1990, enrollment in Japanese courses is reported as a separate category.

NOTE: Percent change computed from unrounded numbers.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, The NCES Common Core of Data (CCD), "State Nonfiscal Survey of Public Elementary/Secondary Education," 1982 through 2000; and American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, Foreign Language Enrollments in U.S. Public Secondary Schools, Fall 2000. (This table was prepared April 2002.)

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