Tables: Secondary/High School
Table H175. Average number of credits and percentage of total credits public high school graduates earned in each curricular and subject area: 1992, 2004, and 2013 |
Curricular and subject area |
Average number of
credits earned |
|
Percent of total
credits earned |
|
1992 |
|
2004 |
|
2013 |
|
1992 |
|
2004 |
|
2013 |
|
Total, all curricular areas1 |
23.94 |
|
25.86 |
|
26.68 |
|
100.0 |
|
100.0 |
|
100.0 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Academic |
17.26 |
|
18.92 |
|
19.76 |
|
72.1 |
|
73.2 |
|
74.2 |
|
Core academic |
13.86 |
|
14.90 |
|
15.74 |
|
58.1 |
|
57.8 |
|
59.2 |
|
English |
4.12 |
|
4.19 |
|
4.30 |
|
17.4 |
|
16.3 |
|
16.3 |
|
Mathematics |
3.27 |
|
3.57 |
|
3.89 |
|
13.7 |
|
13.8 |
|
14.6 |
|
Science |
2.98 |
|
3.33 |
|
3.62 |
|
12.4 |
|
12.9 |
|
13.6 |
|
Social studies |
3.48 |
|
3.81 |
|
3.92 |
|
14.6 |
|
14.8 |
|
14.8 |
|
Fine arts |
1.70 |
|
2.08 |
|
2.02 |
|
6.9 |
|
7.9 |
|
7.5 |
|
Foreign languages |
1.71 |
|
1.94 |
|
2.01 |
|
7.0 |
|
7.5 |
|
7.5 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Career and technical education (CTE) |
3.13 |
|
2.90 |
|
2.60 |
|
13.1 |
|
11.1 |
|
9.6 |
|
Agriculture and natural resources |
0.19 |
|
0.21 |
|
0.24 |
|
0.8 |
|
0.8 |
|
0.9 |
|
Business, finance, and marketing |
1.35 |
|
0.84 |
|
0.56 |
|
5.7 |
|
3.2 |
|
2.1 |
|
Business management |
0.19 |
|
0.15 |
|
0.13 |
|
0.8 |
|
0.6 |
|
0.5 |
|
Finance |
0.22 |
|
0.10 |
|
0.10 |
|
0.9 |
|
0.4 |
|
0.4 |
|
Marketing |
0.12 |
|
0.13 |
|
0.10 |
|
0.5 |
|
0.5 |
|
0.4 |
|
Office support |
0.83 |
|
0.45 |
|
0.23 |
|
3.5 |
|
1.7 |
|
0.8 |
|
Communication and communication technologies |
0.29 |
|
0.38 |
|
0.34 |
|
1.2 |
|
1.4 |
|
1.3 |
|
Computer and information sciences |
0.16 |
|
0.28 |
|
0.22 |
|
0.7 |
|
1.1 |
|
0.8 |
|
Construction |
0.21 |
|
0.17 |
|
0.16 |
|
0.8 |
|
0.7 |
|
0.6 |
|
Consumer services |
0.25 |
|
0.30 |
|
0.29 |
|
1.0 |
|
1.1 |
|
1.1 |
|
Child and elder care |
0.11 |
|
0.11 |
|
0.06 |
|
0.5 |
|
0.4 |
|
0.2 |
|
Cosmetology |
0.05 |
|
0.04 |
|
0.04 |
|
0.2 |
|
0.1 |
|
0.1 |
|
Hospitality services |
0.06 |
|
0.11 |
|
0.16 |
|
0.3 |
|
0.4 |
|
0.6 |
|
Textiles and furnishings |
0.03 |
|
0.04 |
|
0.02 |
|
0.1 |
|
0.1 |
|
0.1 |
|
Engineering, design, and production |
0.45 |
|
0.41 |
|
0.33 |
|
1.9 |
|
1.6 |
|
1.2 |
|
Engineering and design |
0.17 |
|
0.17 |
|
0.18 |
|
0.7 |
|
0.6 |
|
0.7 |
|
Manufacturing and technology |
0.28 |
|
0.24 |
|
0.15 |
|
1.2 |
|
0.9 |
|
0.6 |
|
Health care |
0.06 |
|
0.12 |
|
0.19 |
|
0.3 |
|
0.5 |
|
0.7 |
|
Mechanical repair and operation |
0.16 |
|
0.14 |
|
0.11 |
|
0.7 |
|
0.5 |
|
0.4 |
|
Public services |
0.02 |
|
0.05 |
|
0.16 |
|
0.1 |
|
0.2 |
|
0.6 |
|
Education |
0.01 |
|
0.02 |
|
0.06 |
|
# |
|
0.1 |
|
0.2 |
|
Public safety and administration |
0.01 |
|
0.03 |
|
0.10 |
|
# |
|
0.1 |
|
0.4 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Other |
3.55 |
|
4.05 |
|
4.32 |
|
14.8 |
|
15.7 |
|
16.2 |
|
CTE-related |
0.65 |
|
0.61 |
|
0.51 |
|
2.8 |
|
2.4 |
|
1.9 |
|
Family and consumer sciences education |
0.48 |
|
0.38 |
|
0.37 |
|
2.0 |
|
1.5 |
|
1.4 |
|
Career exploration |
0.18 |
|
0.23 |
|
0.15 |
|
0.7 |
|
0.9 |
|
0.5 |
|
Non-CTE-related |
2.90 |
|
3.43 |
|
3.80 |
|
12.1 |
|
13.3 |
|
14.3 |
|
Religious education |
0.02 |
|
0.02 |
|
0.02 |
|
0.1 |
|
0.1 |
|
0.1 |
|
Physical and health education |
2.26 |
|
2.28 |
|
2.27 |
|
9.4 |
|
8.9 |
|
8.6 |
|
Military sciences |
0.05 |
|
0.13 |
|
0.14 |
|
0.2 |
|
0.5 |
|
0.5 |
|
Computer literacy |
0.19 |
|
0.18 |
|
0.19 |
|
0.8 |
|
0.7 |
|
0.7 |
|
Miscellaneous |
0.37 |
|
0.83 |
|
1.18 |
|
1.6 |
|
3.2 |
|
4.4 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
CTE and CTE-related |
3.78 |
|
3.51 |
|
3.11 |
|
15.9 |
|
13.4 |
|
11.5 |
|
# Rounds to zero. |
1Total credits are academic, CTE, and other credits. To avoid double counting, “CTE and CTE-related” credits are not included in total credits. |
NOTE: Public high school graduates are defined as students who graduated from a public high school with an honors or standard diploma by August 31 of their scheduled graduation year (1992, 2004, or 2013). The table includes only graduates who had a complete grade 9–12 transcript, defined as one that recorded at least 16 Carnegie units (a Carnegie unit is a credit hour, i.e., the equivalent of a course taken every school day, one period per day, for a full school year), with a positive, nonzero number of units completed in English. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. See https://nces.ed.gov/surveys/ctes/xls/SSCT2018.xls for the taxonomy used to define subject areas. |
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88), Second Follow-up and High School Transcript File; Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002), First Follow-up and High School Transcript File; and High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09), Base-year, 2013 Update, and High School Transcript File. |