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ED3.D High school academic coursetaking: Percentage distribution of high school graduates by the highest level of foreign language courses taken, selected years 1982–2004

excel icon ED3D Excel Table

Characteristic 1982 1987 1990 1992 1994 1998 2000 2004 2004a
No foreign language
Total 45.6 33.3 26.9 22.5 22.3 19.4 17.4 17.3 15.5
Low academic
Total 39.8 47.5 51.4 51.8 51.8 50.7 52.8 49.2 50.0
Year 1 or less 20.4 22.6 21.2 19.9 19.8 19.2 18.0 16.0 16.1
Year 2 19.5 24.9 30.2 32.0 32.1 31.5 34.9 33.3 33.9
Advanced academic
Total 14.6 19.2 21.7 25.7 25.9 30.0 29.8 33.5 34.5
Year 3 8.9 11.9 12.9 14.8 15.0 17.4 16.5 18.4 19.1
Year 4 4.5 5.4 5.6 7.7 7.8 8.6 7.8 9.8 10.1
Advanced placement 1.2 1.9 3.2 3.2 3.1 4.1 5.4 5.3 5.4
a Expanded foreign language coursetaking based upon classes in Amharic (Ethiopian), Arabic, Chinese (Cantonese or Mandarin), Czech, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek (Classical or Modern), Hawaiian, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Norse (Norwegian), Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Turkish, Ukrainian, or Yiddish.
NOTE: Foreign language coursetaking based upon classes in Spanish, French, Latin, or German, unless noted otherwise. From 1982 to 2000, less than 1 percent of students studied only a foreign language other than Spanish, French, Latin, or German. The distribution of graduates among the various levels of foreign language courses was determined by the level of the most academically advanced course they completed. Graduates who had completed courses in different languages were counted according to the highest level course completed. Graduates may have completed advanced levels of courses without having taken courses at lower levels.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, High School and Beyond Study of 1980 Sophomores (1982); National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (1992); National Assessment of Educational Progress Transcript Study (1987, 1990, 1994, 1998, and 2000); Education Longitudinal Study of 2002; and High School Transcript Study (2004).