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Tables: Secondary/High School

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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.

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