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2000 High School Transcript Study Tabulations Report

Table 36-L.Percentage of high school graduates who earned minimum course credits in science, by selected school and student demographic characteristics: Selected years, 1982–2000 (1.0 credit in both Biology and Chemistry)

CharacteristicPercentage of graduates earning indicated minimum credits
2000 1998 1994 1990 1987 1982
Percent s.e. Percent s.e. Percent s.e. Percent s.e. Percent s.e. Percent s.e.
1.0 credit in both Biology and Chemistry 59.2 1.50 59.1 1.22 53.7 1.20 47.6 1.24 42.6 1.29 28.4 0.81
Student gender
Male 54.3 1.49 55.5 1.49 50.8 1.21 46.3 1.40 42.2 1.49 28.5 1.19
Female 63.6 1.76 62.5 1.42 56.6 1.35 48.8 1.31 42.9 1.36 28.2 0.66
Student race/ethnicity1
White 60.1 1.73 61.8 1.27 56.3 1.30 50.2 1.36 45.3 1.46 31.5 0.95
Black 56.7 2.64 51.9 2.10 42.3 2.63 39.2 2.24 29.5 2.21 20.0 1.45
Hispanic 50.2 4.35 42.1 3.30 44.7 3.34 36.2 2.70 26.3 1.48 14.3 0.99
Asian/Pacific Islander 70.4 3.06 70.6 2.21 65.3 4.65 60.3 3.47 65.5 3.70 48.7 4.02
American Indian 39.5 3.83 45.1 4.17 40.2 5.53 33.6 4.51 26.7 3.01 18.0 4.48
Student program
Academic 67.9 1.50 68.9 1.17 65.8 1.38 63.6 1.32 64.5 1.69 54.3 1.37
Vocational 7.0 1.56 4.0 0.95 4.4 0.81 4.3 0.82 4.3 0.66 3.6 0.38
Both 48.2 2.58 49.4 1.99 39.1 1.51 32.7 1.75 32.1 1.99 29.5 1.66
Neither 15.3 3.90 8.9 1.56 11.2 1.58 11.0 2.35 9.7 1.30 6.8 0.76
Community type2
Urban 62.1 3.22 65.9 1.93 26.1 1.65
Suburban 62.3 2.24 57.1 1.95 30.5 1.37
Rural 50.2 2.85 54.9 1.83 26.3 1.18
Big city 56.2 4.09 49.9 3.05 38.3 2.90
Urban fringe 58.4 2.00 50.6 2.42 48.1 1.62
Medium city 53.5 2.24 48.2 3.13 43.6 3.56
Small place 50.0 1.36 45.1 1.74 40.1 2.65
School type
Public 56.8 1.44 57.4 1.18 52.1 1.13 45.8 1.34 39.8 1.21 26.1 0.91
Nonpublic 85.4 3.87 76.9 5.97 72.5 3.75 65.2 2.69 68.8 5.87 47.1 2.61
Region of the country3
Northeast 64.2 2.53 65.9 2.51 63.5 1.99 57.4 1.71 57.1 3.30 42.2 1.55
South 66.2 2.91 66.0 1.57 51.9 1.77 47.5 2.11 39.1 2.53 24.5 1.09
Midwest 56.4 2.78 55.9 2.80 53.1 2.79 42.7 2.78 37.8 2.13 27.4 1.14
West 46.2 2.47 47.0 3.09 50.2 2.57 43.8 2.67 37.4 1.58 18.2 1.79

† Not applicable. In terms of community type, the community type definitions used in 1987, 1990, and 1994 differed from the community type definitions used in 1998 and 2000.

1 American Indian includes Alaska Native, Black includes African American, Pacific Islander includes Native Hawaiian, and Hispanic includes Latino. Race categories exclude Hispanic origin unless specified.

2 Although having similar names, the definitions for the 1982 high school graduates' community type subgroups are not compatible with the definitions for the 1998 and 2000 high school graduates' community type subgroups.

3 "Region of the country" refers to the Census-defined regions. For more information about Census-defined regions, see the U.S. Census Bureau online publication "Census Regions and Divisions of the United States" (http://www.census.gov/geo/www/us_regdiv.pdf [1.1M PDF]).

NOTE: Credit definitions listed in the row header indicate the minimum number of credits earned. For example, "1.0 credit in … course" represents "1.0 credit or more earned in … course."

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, High School Transcript Study (HSTS), Selected years 1987–2000; High School and Beyond (HS&B), 1982.


Last updated 22 May 2007 (MH)