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Tables: Secondary/High School


Table H182. Average number of total, academic, career and technical education (CTE), and other credits public high school graduates earned, by CTE coursetaking pattern: 1992, 2004, and 2013
CTE coursetaking pattern Total credits1   Academic credits2   CTE credits3   Other credits4  
1992   2004   2013   1992   2004   2013   1992   2004   2013   1992   2004   2013  
Total, all graduates 23.94   25.86   26.68   17.26   18.92   19.76   3.13   2.90   2.60   3.55   4.05   4.32  
                                                 
Number of CTE credits earned                                                
0.00-0.99 24.06   24.91   25.53   20.27   20.78   21.07   0.28   0.24   0.19   3.51   3.89   4.27  
1.00 or more 23.92   26.04   26.95   16.84   18.56   19.44   3.52   3.40   3.18   3.56   4.08   4.33  
1.00-2.99 23.84   25.30   26.17   18.41   19.40   20.07   1.73   1.71   1.65   3.70   4.19   4.44  
3.00 or more 24.00   26.71   27.79   15.50   17.79   18.77   5.07   4.94   4.81   3.43   3.98   4.21  
                                                 
2-credit CTE concentrator status5                                                
Non-concentrators 23.91   25.26   26.03   18.78   19.65   20.29   1.46   1.49   1.33   3.66   4.12   4.41  
Concentrators 23.97   26.69   27.71   15.78   17.90   18.90   4.76   4.84   4.64   3.44   3.95   4.17  
                                                 
3-credit CTE concentrator status5                                                
Non-concentrators 23.87   25.50   26.32   18.14   19.34   20.10   2.08   2.06   1.82   3.65   4.11   4.39  
Concentrators 24.13   27.20   28.12   14.89   17.33   18.34   5.96   6.04   5.77   3.28   3.83   4.01  
                                                 
Any credits earned in                                                
Agriculture and natural resources 23.27   26.45   26.56   14.41   17.42   17.83   5.05   4.71   4.06   3.81   4.32   4.66  
Business, finance, and marketing 23.92   26.12   27.12   17.12   18.56   19.46   3.30   3.45   3.33   3.50   4.11   4.33  
Communication and communication technologies 24.30   26.28   27.00   17.15   18.79   19.65   3.69   3.63   3.18   3.46   3.86   4.17  
Computer and information sciences 24.48   26.41   27.21   17.75   19.03   19.78   3.46   3.53   3.25   3.28   3.85   4.18  
Construction 23.91   25.82   26.72   15.07   16.41   17.67   5.15   4.97   4.48   3.69   4.44   4.57  
Consumer services 23.85   25.88   26.69   16.21   18.14   18.86   3.73   3.51   3.43   3.91   4.23   4.40  
Engineering, design, and production 23.95   25.97   27.03   15.83   17.68   18.80   4.55   4.23   3.95   3.58   4.06   4.28  
Health care 24.06   26.69   27.89   16.59   18.98   20.02   4.02   3.81   3.69   3.45   3.90   4.17  
Mechanical repair and operation 23.62   25.51   26.20   14.62   16.43   16.99   5.21   4.91   4.60   3.79   4.17   4.62  
Public services 24.27   25.94   26.78   16.66   18.67   19.18   3.71   3.42   3.51   3.91   3.85   4.09  
1 Total credits are academic, CTE, and other credits.
2 Academic credits are credits in English, mathematics, science, social studies, fine arts, and foreign languages.
3 CTE credits are credits in these 10 subject areas: agriculture and natural resources; business, finance, and marketing; communications and communication technologies; computer and information sciences; construction; consumer services; engineering, design, and production; health care; mechanical repair and operation; and public services.
4 Other credits are credits in family and consumer sciences education, career exploration, religious education, physical and health education, military sciences, computer literacy, and miscellaneous courses.
5 The 2- and 3-credit CTE concentrators are students who earned at least 2 and at least 3 credits, respectively, in one of the 10 CTE subject areas listed in footnote 3. Graduates who concentrated in more than one CTE area were counted only once. The 2- and 3-credit non-concentrators are students who did not earn at least 2 or at least 3 credits, respectively, in one CTE area.
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.