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| 2022 Tables and Figures | All Years of Tables and Figures | Most Recent Full Issue of the Digest |
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| Table 225.70. | Number and percentage of public and private high school graduates who took foreign language courses in high school and average number of credits earned, by language and number of credits: 2000, 2009, and 2019 |
| [Standard errors appear in parentheses] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Language and number of credits | 2000 | 2009 | 2019 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Number of graduates (in thousands) | Percent of graduates | Average credits1 | Number of graduates (in thousands) | Percent of graduates | Average credits1 | Number of graduates (in thousands) | Percent of graduates | Average credits1 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | ||||||||||||||||||
| All foreign languages | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Any credit | 2,473 | (33.2) | 83.5 | (0.92) | 2.4 | (0.03) | 2,602 | (53.2) | 88.6 | (0.47) | 2.5 | (0.02) | 2,489 | (26.8) | 88.7 | (0.32) | 2.4 | (0.02) | |||||||||
Spanish |
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| Any credit | 1,779 | (31.9) | 60.1 | (0.90) | 2.2 | (0.03) | 2,031 | (44.9) | 69.2 | (0.70) | 2.3 | (0.02) | 1,966 | (22.8) | 70.0 | (0.47) | 2.3 | (0.01) | |||||||||
| 2 or more credits | 1,369 | (32.2) | 46.2 | (1.04) | 2.6 | (0.03) | 1,638 | (39.2) | 55.8 | (0.73) | 2.6 | (0.02) | 1,584 | (20.8) | 56.4 | (0.54) | 2.6 | (0.01) | |||||||||
| 3 or more credits | 554 | (26.3) | 18.7 | (0.90) | 3.4 | (0.03) | 721 | (30.2) | 24.5 | (0.78) | 3.4 | (0.02) | 619 | (13.0) | 22.1 | (0.45) | 3.5 | (0.02) | |||||||||
French |
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| Any credit | 528 | (21.5) | 17.8 | (0.73) | 2.3 | (0.04) | 411 | (16.1) | 14.0 | (0.47) | 2.4 | (0.03) | 346 | (9.6) | 12.3 | (0.32) | 2.2 | (0.03) | |||||||||
| 2 or more credits | 398 | (17.8) | 13.4 | (0.61) | 2.7 | (0.04) | 313 | (14.0) | 10.7 | (0.42) | 2.8 | (0.03) | 254 | (8.4) | 9.1 | (0.29) | 2.7 | (0.03) | |||||||||
| 3 or more credits | 190 | (12.1) | 6.4 | (0.42) | 3.5 | (0.03) | 166 | (10.5) | 5.7 | (0.32) | 3.5 | (0.03) | 111 | (5.9) | 4.0 | (0.21) | 3.5 | (0.02) | |||||||||
German |
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| Any credit | 142 | (17.2) | 4.8 | (0.57) | 2.3 | (0.08) | 122 | (8.6) | 4.2 | (0.29) | 2.3 | (0.06) | 75 | (4.5) | 2.7 | (0.16) | 2.2 | (0.06) | |||||||||
| 2 or more credits | 104 | (14.5) | 3.5 | (0.49) | 2.8 | (0.07) | 91 | (7.8) | 3.1 | (0.27) | 2.8 | (0.05) | 54 | (3.7) | 1.9 | (0.13) | 2.7 | (0.04) | |||||||||
| 3 or more credits | 54 | (8.5) | 1.8 | (0.29) | 3.5 | (0.06) | 46 | (5.3) | 1.6 | (0.18) | 3.5 | (0.03) | 24 | (1.9) | 0.9 | (0.07) | 3.6 | (0.06) | |||||||||
Latin |
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| Any credit | 120 | (15.3) | 4.0 | (0.52) | 2.1 | (0.08) | 108 | (10.6) | 3.7 | (0.35) | 2.2 | (0.06) | 76 | (7.7) | 2.7 | (0.27) | 2.1 | (0.09) | |||||||||
Italian |
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| Any credit | 29 | (5.5) | 1.0 | (0.19) | 2.2 | (0.20) | 36 | (7.0) | 1.2 | (0.23) | 2.3 | (0.18) | 28 | (2.6) | 1.0 | (0.09) | 2.4 | (0.10) | |||||||||
Japanese |
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| Any credit | 36 | (7.2) | 1.2 | (0.24) | 2.3 | (0.15) | 28 | (4.3) | 1.0 | (0.15) | 2.5 | (0.12) | 18 | (2.3) | 0.7 | (0.08) | 2.2 | (0.08) | |||||||||
Chinese |
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| Any credit | 9 | ! | (2.8) | # | (†) | 2.4 | (0.30) | 20 | (4.1) | 0.7 | (0.14) | 1.9 | (0.13) | 45 | (4.3) | 1.6 | (0.15) | 2.3 | (0.08) | ||||||||
Arabic |
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| Any credit | 1 | ! | (0.5) | # | (†) | ‡ | (†) | ‡ | (†) | ‡ | (†) | ‡ | (†) | 12 | ! | (5.5) | # | (†) | 2.0 | (0.20) | |||||||
Russian |
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| Any credit | 10 | (2.7) | 0.3 | (†) | 1.9 | (0.25) | 3 | ! | (1.3) | # | (†) | ‡ | (†) | 3 | (0.7) | # | (†) | ‡ | (†) | ||||||||
Other foreign languages |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Any credit | 54 | (10.4) | 1.8 | (0.35) | 1.5 | (0.26) | 91 | (9.7) | 3.1 | (0.33) | 1.5 | (0.09) | 131 | (8.6) | 4.7 | (0.30) | 1.7 | (0.05) | |||||||||
AP/IB/honors foreign languages |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Any credit | 128 | (15.9) | 4.3 | (0.54) | 1.1 | (0.04) | 175 | (12.2) | 6.0 | (0.39) | 1.1 | (0.02) | 249 | (10.2) | 8.9 | (0.36) | 1.3 | (0.06) | |||||||||
| †Not applicable. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| #Rounds to zero. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| !Interpret data with caution. The coefficient of variation (CV) for this estimate is between 30 and 50 percent. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ‡Reporting standards not met. Either there are too few cases for a reliable estimate or the coefficient of variation (CV) is 50 percent or greater. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 Average credits earned are shown only for those high school graduates who earned any high school credit in the specified language. For these graduates, the credits earned include both courses taken in high school and courses taken for high school credit prior to entering high school. Credits are shown in Carnegie units. The Carnegie unit is a standard unit of measurement that represents one credit for the completion of a 1-year course. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| NOTE: For a high school graduate to be included in the analyses, their transcript had to meet five requirements: (1) the graduate received either a standard or honors diploma, (2) the transcript had three or more years of delineated courses, (3) at least one course on the transcript was taken during the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and High School Transcript Study (HSTS) assessment year, (4) the transcript contained 16 or more Carnegie credits, and (5) the transcript contained at least 1 Carnegie credit in English courses. The Carnegie unit is a standard of measurement that represents one credit for the completion of a 1-year course. Some data have been revised from previously published figures. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2000, 2009, and 2019 High School Transcript Study (HSTS). (This table was prepared April 2022.) |
