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Equitable Access to High-Quality Curricula and Instruction Domain

Disparities in Access to and Enrollment in Rigorous Coursework

Last Updated: May 2024 | Suggested Citation

In addition to administering students’ assessments, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) periodically collects data on the transcripts of public and private school high school graduates. The transcript survey gathers information about the types of courses that graduates from regular and honors programs take, how many credits they earn, their grade point averages, and the relationship between course-taking patterns and achievement. The transcript data include only information about the coursework that graduates completed while they were enrolled in grades 9 through 12. This indicator uses data from NAEP, the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC), and the Common Core of Data (CCD) Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey to examine disparities in enrollment in and completion of rigorous coursework by exploring (1) advanced, rigorous coursework in mathematics and science; and (2) Advanced Placement (AP) and dual enrollment programs. Although advanced course completion is an imperfect proxy for access to advanced courses, it still provides an important understanding of the inequity surrounding advanced coursework. Group differences in this indicator are examined by race/ethnicity, student disability, English learner (EL) status, eligibility for free or reduced-price lunch (FRPL), school locale, and sex.

Availability of and Enrollment in Advanced, Rigorous Coursework

In 2019, high school graduates who were Asian, White, and of Two or more races often had higher mathematics and science course completion rates than did their peers of other racial/ethnic groups.
Higher percentages of Asian graduates (88 percent), White graduates (87 percent), and graduates of Two or more races (86 percent) had completed algebra II, compared with their Hispanic and Black peers (82 percent each). The completion rates in algebra II among these groups were all higher than the rate for American Indian/Alaska Native graduates (76 percent).
The percentage of graduates who had completed calculus was highest for those who were Asian (46 percent), followed by those who were of Two or more races (19 percent) and those who were White (18 percent). The percentage who completed calculus was lower among other racial/ ethnic groups (9 percent for Hispanic graduates, 9 percent for Pacific Islander graduates, 7 percent for American Indian/Alaska Native graduates, and 6 percent for Black graduates).
The percentage of graduates who had completed biology, chemistry, and physics was highest for those who were Asian (56 percent) and lowest for those who were American Indian/Alaska Native (17 percent). In between, the percentages were higher for those who were of Two or more races (36 percent), White (35 percent), and Hispanic (35 percent) than for those who were Black (26 percent).

Figure 8. Percentage of public and private high school graduates who completed selected mathematics and science courses in high school, by race/ethnicity: 2019

¹Includes courses that taught both algebra II and trigonometry.

²Indicates graduate completed all three subjects of biology, chemistry, and physics.

NOTE: Completion of a mathematics or science course means that the graduate earned credits in a course within the category. It differs from graduates who took a course but did not pass or complete the course. 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 NAEP and HSTS assessment year, (4) the graduate’s transcript contained 16 or more Carnegie credits, and (5) the graduate’s transcript contained at least 1 Carnegie credit in English courses. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity. Although rounded numbers are displayed, the figures are based on unrounded data.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2019 High School Transcript Study (HSTS). See Digest of Education Statistics 2021, tables 225.40 and 225.45.

In 2019, high school graduates who had completed higher levels of mathematics courses also had higher average scale scores on the NAEP 12th-grade mathematics assessment.

Graduates who had completed only algebra I or below had an average scale score of 112 (on a scale of 0–300), compared with a score of 136 among those whose highest mathematics course completed was algebra II and a score of 192 among those whose highest mathematics course completed was calculus. These patterns held across all racial/ethnic groups with available data.

In 2019, there were gaps in achievement on the NAEP 12th-grade mathematics assessment across demographic subgroups. These gaps differed when considering only graduates who completed the same level of mathematics coursework.

Racial/ethnic gaps in NAEP scores were smaller for graduates who had completed calculus than for all 12th-grade students. Average scale scores for those who had completed calculus were higher for Asian graduates (201), graduates of Two or more races (198), and White graduates (194) than for Hispanic and Black graduates (179 and 177, respectively). The range of scores across these groups was about 25 points, compared with 46 points when considering all 12th-grade students.²⁶

Figure 9. Average National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics scale score of high school graduates at grade 12, by race/ethnicity and highest mathematics course completed in high school: 2019

† Not applicable.

‡ Reporting standards not met (too few cases for a reliable estimate).

¹ Includes courses that taught both algebra II and trigonometry.

NOTE: Completion of a mathematics course means that the graduate earned credits in a mathematics course within the category. It differs from graduates who took a course but did not pass or complete the course. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics assessment scale score ranges from 0 to 300. 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 NAEP and HSTS assessment year, (4) the graduate’s transcript contained 16 or more Carnegie credits, and (5) the graduate’s transcript contained at least 1 Carnegie credit in English courses. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity. Although rounded numbers are displayed, the figures are based on unrounded data.

In 2019, there were also gaps in achievement on the NAEP 12th-grade mathematics assessment by gender. These gaps differed when considering only graduates who completed the same level of mathematics coursework.

For graduates who had completed calculus, the average scale score was higher for males than for females (196 vs. 187). This gender gap for graduates who had completed calculus (9 points) was larger than the average gap for all 12th-grade students (3 points).²⁷

In 2019, high school graduates identified as students with disabilities and those who were English learners had lower completion rates in the more advanced mathematics and science courses, compared with their peers who were not identified as students with disabilities or English learners.

Lower percentages of graduates who were identified as students with disabilities than of those who were not had completed calculus (4 vs. 17 percent) and biology, chemistry, and physics (17 vs. 37 percent).
Lower percentages of graduates who were English learners than of those who were not had completed calculus (3 vs. 16 percent) and biology, chemistry, and physics (27 vs. 35 percent).

Figure 10. Percentage of public and private high school graduates who completed selected mathematics and science courses in high school, by student with disabilities (SD) status and English learner (EL) status: 2019

¹ SD estimates include both students with an Individualized Education Program (IEP) and students with a plan under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (a "504 plan"). IEPs are only for students who require specialized instruction, whereas 504 plans apply to students who require accommodations but may not require specialized instruction.

² Includes students who were formerly English learners.

³ Indicates graduate completed all three subjects of biology, chemistry, and physics.

NOTE: Completion of a mathematics or science course means that the graduate earned credits in a course within the category. It differs from graduates who took a course but did not pass or complete the course. 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 NAEP and HSTS assessment year, (4) the graduate’s transcript contained 16 or more Carnegie credits, and (5) the graduate’s transcript contained at least 1 Carnegie credit in English courses. Although rounded numbers are displayed, the figures are based on unrounded data.

In 2019, completion rates in the more advanced mathematics and science courses were generally higher for high school graduates from lower poverty schools than for those from higher poverty schools.

Some 25 percent of graduates from schools where 25 percent or less of the students were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch (FRPL) had completed calculus, whereas this completion rate ranged from 9 to 15 percent among graduates from schools where a greater percentage of students were eligible for FRPL.
Some 42 percent of graduates from schools where 25 percent or less of the students were eligible for FRPL had completed biology, chemistry, and physics, whereas this completion rate ranged from 25 to 33 percent among graduates from schools where a greater percentage of students were eligible for FRPL.

Figure 11. Percentage of public and private high school graduates who completed selected mathematics and science courses in high school, by percentage of students at their school who were eligible for free or reduced-price lunch: 2019

¹ Indicates graduate completed all three subjects of biology, chemistry, and physics.

NOTE: Completion of a mathematics or science course means that the graduate earned credits in a course within the category. It differs from graduates who took a course but did not pass or complete the course. 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 NAEP and HSTS assessment year, (4) the graduate’s transcript contained 16 or more Carnegie credits, and (5) the graduate’s transcript contained at least 1 Carnegie credit in English courses. Although rounded numbers are displayed, the figures are based on unrounded data.

In 2019, high school graduates from schools in cities and suburban areas generally had higher completion rates in the more advanced math and science courses, compared with their peers from schools in towns and rural areas.

The percentage of graduates who had completed calculus was highest for those from schools in suburban areas (19 percent), followed by those from schools in cities (16 percent).
The completion rate in calculus was lower for graduates from schools in towns and rural areas (both 12 percent).
The percentage of graduates who had completed biology, chemistry, and physics was highest for those from schools in cities (41 percent), followed by those from schools in suburban areas (37 percent), rural areas (28 percent), and towns (23 percent).

Figure 12. Percentage of public and private high school graduates who completed selected mathematics and science courses in high school, by school locale: 2019

Figure 10. Percentage of public and private high school graduates who completed selected mathematics and science courses in high school, by school locale: 2019

¹ Indicates graduate completed all three subjects of biology, chemistry, and physics.

NOTE: Completion of a mathematics or science course means that the graduate earned credits in a course within the category. It differs from graduates who took a course but did not pass or complete the course. 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 NAEP and HSTS assessment year, (4) the graduate’s transcript contained 16 or more Carnegie credits, and (5) the graduate’s transcript contained at least 1 Carnegie credit in English courses. Although rounded numbers are displayed, the figures are based on unrounded data.

During the 2017–18 school year, a higher percentage of females than males in Grades 9–12 in public schools were enrolled in algebra II, advanced mathematics, biology, and chemistry. A higher percentage of males than females were enrolled in physics. Refer to Figure 13 below.

Higher percentages of Asian students than of students of any other racial/ethnic group were enrolled in calculus during the 2017–18 school year (13 percent). Refer to Figure 13 below.
The percentages of students enrolled in calculus were lowest for Black and American Indian/Alaska Native students (2 percent each for both groups). Refer to Figure 13 below.

Availability of and Enrollment in Advanced Placement (AP)

During the 2017–18 school year, a higher percentage of females than males in grades 9–12 in public schools were enrolled in AP science.

The percentage of Asian public school students enrolled in AP mathematics during the 2017–18 school year (14 percent) was higher than the percentage for students of any other racial/ethnic group.
The percentage of public school students enrolled in AP mathematics was lowest for Black students and American Indian/Alaska Native students (2 percent each).
The percentage of public school students enrolled in AP science was highest for Asian students (17 percent) and lowest for American Indian/Alaska Native students (2 percent).
For both males and females, higher percentages of Asian public school students than of students of other racial/ethnic groups were enrolled in AP mathematics and AP science.

Figure 13: Percentage of Public School Students Enrolled In Selected Secondary Mathematics and Science Courses, 2017–18

NOTE: Data reflect the percentage of students in Grades 9–12 and grade equivalents who were enrolled in each course during the 2017–18 school year. Advanced mathematics courses cover the following topics: trigonometry, trigonometry/algebra, trigonometry/analytic geometry, trigonometry/mathematical analysis, analytic geometry, mathematical analysis, mathematical analysis/analytic geometry, probability and statistics, and precalculus.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights, Civil Rights Data Collection and U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data, Public Elementary/Secondary School Universe Survey.

Availability of and Enrollment in Dual Enrollment Programs

Findings are for both public and private high school graduates. For simplicity, “public and private” is denoted only in the first bullet of each section.

In 2019, the percentage of public and private high school graduates who took any dual enrollment course²⁸ was higher for females than males.

In 2019, a higher percentage of female than male public and private high school graduates took

any dual enrollment course (30 vs. 26 percent);
a mathematics dual enrollment course (9 vs. 7 percent); and
a science dual enrollment course (6 vs. 4 percent).²⁹

Figure 14. Percentage of public and private high school graduates who took dual enrollment courses, by selected subject area and sex: 2019

¹Includes all graduates, even if they had missing data for sex.

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 4 years of delineated courses, (3) at least one course on the transcript was taken during the 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 one 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. Data differ slightly from figures appearing in other NCES reports because of differences in taxonomies and case exclusion criteria.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2019 High School Transcript Study (HSTS), retrieved October 12, 2023, from the NAEP Data Explorer (https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/ndecore/xplore/hsts).

In 2019, the percentage of public and private high school graduates who took any dual enrollment course was higher for those who were White than for those who were Asian, Black, Hispanic, and of Two or more races.

In 2019, the percentage of public and private high school graduates who took any dual enrollment course was higher for those who were White (34 percent) than for those who were of other races/ethnicities, except for American Indian/Alaska Native.
The percentage of high school graduates who took any dual enrollment course was lower for those who were Black (19 percent) than for those of any other racial/ethnic group except Pacific Islander.
Similarly, in 2019, the percentages of high school graduates who took a mathematics dual enrollment course or a science dual enrollment course were higher for those who were White (10 percent and 6 percent, respectively) than for those who were of other races/ethnicities, except for American Indian/Alaska Native for mathematics and American Indian/Alaska Native and Pacific Islander for science.
The percentage of high school graduates who took a mathematics dual enrollment course was lower for those who were Black (4 percent) than for those of any other racial/ethnic group except Pacific Islander.

Figure 15. Percentage of public and private high school graduates who took dual enrollment courses, by selected subject areas and race/ethnicity: 2019

¹ Includes all graduates, even if they had missing data for race/ethnicity.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2019 High School Transcript Study (HSTS), retrieved October 12, 2023, from the NAEP Data Explorer (https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/ndecore/xplore/hsts).

In 2019, the percentage of public and private high school graduates who took any dual enrollment course was lower for those who were ELs than for those who were not ELs.

In 2019, a lower percentage of public and private high school graduates who were ELs than of those who were not ELs took
- any dual enrollment course (16 vs. 29 percent);
- a mathematics dual enrollment course (2 vs. 8 percent); and
- a science dual enrollment course (2 vs. 5 percent).

Figure 16. Percentage of public and private high school graduates who took dual enrollment courses, by selected subject areas and English learner status: 2019

¹ Includes all graduates, even if they had missing data for English learner status.

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 4 years of delineated courses, (3) at least one course on the transcript was taken during the 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 one 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. For the definition of English learner, please see the COE glossary. Data differ slightly from figures appearing in other NCES reports because of differences in taxonomies and case exclusion criteria.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2019 High School Transcript Study (HSTS), retrieved October 12, 2023, from the NAEP Data Explorer (https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/ndecore/xplore/hsts).

In 2019, the percentage of public and private high school graduates who took any dual enrollment course was higher for those from schools in rural areas than for those from schools in cities and suburban areas.

In 2019, the percentage of public and private high school graduates who took any dual enrollment course was higher for those from schools in towns and rural areas (41 and 35 percent, respectively) than for those from schools in cities (26 percent) and suburban areas (23 percent).
Similarly, in 2019, the percentage of high school graduates who took a mathematics dual enrollment course was higher for those from schools in towns (12 percent) and rural areas (10 percent) than for those from schools in cities and suburban areas (7 percent each).
In 2019, the percentage of high school graduates who took a science dual enrollment course was higher for those from schools in rural areas (7 percent) than for those from schools in cities and suburban areas (4 percent each).

Figure 17. Percentage of public and private high school graduates who took dual enrollment courses, by selected subject areas and school locale: 2019

¹ Includes all graduates, even if they had missing data for school locale.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2019 High School Transcript Study (HSTS), retrieved October 12, 2023, from the NAEP Data Explorer (https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/ndecore/xplore/hsts).

Findings in this indicator come from High School Mathematics and Science Course Completion in the Condition of Education and High School Academic Coursetaking from The Forum on Child and Family Statistics. For more information see tables 222.40, 225.40, and 225.45 from the Digest of Education Statistics 2021.

²⁶Data on the achievement gap for all 12th-grade students include all 12th-grade students who participated in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The High School Transcript Study (HSTS) was conducted in conjunction with NAEP, but only a subset of NAEP participants were included in the HSTS. For instance, only 12th-grade students who graduated in the year of the study were included in the HSTS. Thus, data on the achievement gap for graduates who had completed a certain level of mathematics coursework only include those who participated in both NAEP and HSTS. Readers are encouraged to keep these differences between the NAEP and HSTS samples in mind when interpreting the current paragraph.

²⁷Data on the achievement gap for all 12th-grade students include all 12th-grade students who participated in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). The High School Transcript Study (HSTS) was conducted in conjunction with NAEP, but only a subset of NAEP participants were included in the HSTS. For instance, only 12th-grade students who graduated in the year of the study were included in the HSTS. Thus, data on the achievement gap for graduates who had completed a certain level of mathematics coursework only include those who participated in both NAEP and HSTS. Readers are encouraged to keep these differences between the NAEP and HSTS samples in mind when interpreting the current paragraph.

²⁸ Dual enrollment courses may include college-level academic courses taught either at the high school or at a local college, advanced career/technical education courses that count for credit at vocational colleges and/or trade schools, and high school-level academic courses that count for credit at liberal arts or community colleges.

²⁹ In this indicator, only differences in selected dual enrollment subject fields are discussed. However, data on other subject fields such as English language and literature, social science and history, visual and performing arts, world language and literature, and career/technical education can be found in the Digest of Education Statistics 2021, table 225.65 or in the NAEP Data Explorer (https://www.nationsreportcard.gov/ndecore/xplore/hsts).

Suggested Citation

National Center for Education Statistics. (2024). Access to and Enrollment in Rigorous Coursework. Equity in Education Dashboard. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved [date], from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/equity/indicator_f11.asp.