Percentage of high school graduates taking selected mathematics and science courses in high school, by sex and race/ethnicity: 1982 to 1998

1999 Tables and Figures

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Table 141

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
                                         |     |     |     |     |                     1998
                                         |     |     |     |     |_________________________________________________________
                                         |     |     |     |     |     |    Sex    |      Race/ethnicity
                     Courses             |     |     |     |     |     |___________|_______________________________________
                (Carnegie credits)       |1982 |1987 |1990 |1994 |Total| Men |Women|White|Black|Hispanic| Asian/ |American
                                         |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |        |Pacific | Indian/
                                         |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |        |Islander| Alaskan
                                         |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |        |        | Native
         ________________________________|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|________|________|_________
                        1                |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6  |  7  |  8  |  9  | 10  |   11   |   12   |   13
         ________________________________|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|________|________|_________
                  Mathematics\1\         |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |        |        |
                                         |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |        |        |
         Any mathematics (1.0) ..........|98.5 |99.0 |99.9 |99.8 |99.8 |99.8 |99.8 |99.8 |99.9 |   99.8 |  100.0 |    99.7
           Algebra I (1.0)\2\ ...........|55.2 |58.8 |63.7 |65.8 |62.8 |62.0 |63.6 |63.5 |62.3 |   61.4 |   56.8 |    63.3
           Geometry (1.0) ...............|47.1 |58.6 |63.2 |70.0 |75.1 |73.7 |77.3 |77.7 |72.5 |   62.3 |   75.9 |    57.2
           Algebra II (0.5) \3\ .........|39.9 |49.0 |52.8 |61.1 |61.7 |59.8 |63.7 |64.6 |55.6 |   48.3 |   70.1 |    46.6
           Trigonometry (0.5) ...........| 8.1 |11.5 | 9.6 |11.7 | 8.9 | 8.2 | 9.7 |10.0 | 4.8 |    5.6 |   11.7 |     5.5
           Analysis/pre-calculus (0.5)...| 6.2 |12.8 |13.3 |17.3 |23.1 |23.0 |22.9 |25.0 |13.8 |   15.3 |   41.3 |    16.4
           Statistics/probability (0.5) .| 1.0 | 1.1 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 3.7 | 3.4 | 3.9 | 4.3 | 2.1 |    1.7 |    3.8 |     3.7
           Calculus (1.0) ...............| 5.0 | 6.1 | 6.5 | 9.3 |11.0 |11.2 |10.6 |12.1 | 6.6 |    6.2 |   18.4 |     6.2
           AP calculus (1.0) ............| 1.6 | 3.4 | 4.1 | 7.0 | 6.7 | 7.3 | 6.4 | 7.5 | 3.4 |    3.7 |   13.4 |     0.6
                                         |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |        |        |
                     Science             |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |        |        |
                                         |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |        |        |
         Any science (1.0) ..............|96.4 |97.8 |99.3 |99.5 |99.5 |99.5 |99.6 |99.5 |99.3 |   99.3 |   99.4 |    99.4
           Biology (1.0) ................|77.4 |86.0 |91.0 |93.2 |92.7 |91.4 |94.1 |93.7 |92.8 |   86.5 |   92.9 |    91.3
           AP/honors biology (1.0) ......|10.0 | 9.4 |10.1 |11.9 |16.2 |14.5 |18.0 |16.7 |15.4 |   12.6 |   22.2 |     6.0
           Chemistry (1.0) ..............|32.1 |44.2 |48.9 |55.8 |60.4 |57.1 |63.5 |63.2 |54.3 |   46.1 |   72.4 |    46.9
           AP/honors chemistry (1.0) ....| 3.0 | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.9 | 4.7 | 4.9 | 4.7 | 4.8 | 3.5 |    4.0 |   10.9 |     0.9
           Physics (1.0) ................|15.0 |20.0 |21.6 |24.5 |28.8 |31.7 |26.2 |30.7 |21.4 |   18.9 |   46.4 |    16.2
           AP/honors physics (1.0) ......| 1.2 | 1.8 | 2.0 | 2.7 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 2.1 | 3.0 | 2.1 |    2.1 |    7.6 |     0.9
           Engineering (1.0) ............| 1.2 | 2.6 | 4.2 | 4.5 | 6.7 | 7.1 | 6.5 | 7.9 | 4.8 |    2.3 |    5.2 |     9.6
           Astronomy (0.5) ..............| 1.2 | 1.0 | 1.2 | 1.7 | 1.9 | 2.4 | 1.5 | 2.4 | 0.9 |    0.8 |    1.0 |     2.1
           Geology/earth science (0.5) ..|13.6 |13.4 |24.7 |22.9 |20.7 |21.5 |20.1 |21.5 |24.2 |   15.9 |    9.5 |    21.7
           Biology and chemistry (2.0) ..|29.3 |41.4 |47.5 |53.7 |59.0 |55.4 |62.3 |62.0 |53.0 |   43.7 |   69.5 |    43.2
           Biology, chemistry, and       |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |        |        |
            physics (3.0) ...............|11.2 |16.6 |18.8 |21.4 |25.4 |27.4 |23.7 |27.6 |17.4 |   15.9 |   40.2 |    14.2
         ________________________________|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|_____|________|________|_________

\1\These data only report the percentage of students who earned credit in each mathematics course while in high school and does not count those students who took these courses prior to entering high school.
\2\Excludes prealgebra.
\3\Includes algebra/trigonometry and algebra/geometry.
---Less than 0.05 percent.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, "High School and Beyond," First Followup survey; "1990 High School Transcript Study," "National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988," Second Followup survey; "1994 High School Transcript Study;" and "1998 High School Transcript Study." (This table was prepared February 2000.)

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