Students in rural schools or schools with a 12th-grade enrollment of less than 150 have the least opportunity to take one or more advanced courses in mathematics, English, science, and a foreign language.

Since 1982, the percentage of students completing advanced coursework in mathematics, English, science, and foreign language has increased (NCES 2003-067, indicator 24, and NCES 2004-077, indicator 21). However, students can be limited in the number of advanced courses they take by the level of coursework offered in their schools. This indicator examines the extent to which students attend schools that offer advanced courses in these four subject areas.

Overall, 74 percent of high school students attended schools that offered at least one advanced course in each of these four subjects in 2000, some 58 percent attended schools that offered at least two, and 22 percent attended schools that offered four or more (see table 25-1).

Students attending schools in a central city or urban fringe/large town and students in schools with a 12th-grade enrollment of 450 or more were more likely than their peers to have the opportunity to take four or more advanced courses in each subject. Students attending schools in the Northeast and Southeast were also more likely to have such an opportunity than their peers in schools in Central states.

Students in rural/small town schools and in schools with a 12th-grade enrollment of less than 150 students were less likely than their peers to be able to take one or more advanced courses in each subject in 2000. Compared with their peers in central city or urban fringe/large town schools, students in rural/small town schools were also less than one-fourth as likely to be offered seven or more advanced mathematics courses or four or more advanced foreign language courses. They were also half as likely to be offered four or more advanced science courses (see tables 25-2 and 25-3).

Differences in the number of advanced courses offered by race/ethnicity were also found. A greater percentage of Asian/Pacific Islander students than American Indian, Black, White, and Hispanic students were likely to attend schools that offered four or more foreign language courses. When compared with American Indian students, Asian/Pacific Islander students were also more likely to attend schools that offered four or more science courses.