2000 High School Transcript Study Tabulations ReportAbout the 2000 HSTS Tabulations Report

The NAEP High School Transcript Study (HSTS), a program conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), is designed to examine the high school course offerings and course-taking patterns of graduating seniors in a representative sample of schools across the nation. In addition, the HSTS provides valuable information about the rigor of high school curricula, including both academic and vocational courses. Following NCES confidentiality requirements, student and school names are removed from the information collected, and other disclosure prevention measures are taken.

The HSTS is linked to grade 12 NAEP results to provide information on the relationship between student course-taking patterns and achievement. Providing findings from six separate data collections, the study has been helpful to a diverse audience including teachers, curriculum specialists, parents, researchers, and policymakers.

Many reform efforts have focused on school curricula to address the issue of a quality education. Efforts have emphasized the importance of courses in core subject areas such as mathematics and science, as well as the number of courses completed. As the HSTS periodically surveys the curricula being offered in our nation's high schools, it serves as a barometer for change in high school student course-taking patterns. To learn more about the NAEP HSTS program, read the pages describing the HSTS design, data collection, and how the HSTS data are linked to NAEP.

This online report contains tabulations that provide a detailed description of the course-taking patterns of high school graduates in 2000. The tables also provide, where possible, comparable details from the previous four HSTS studies and the 1982 High School and Beyond (HS&B) study. Such tables show changes that have taken place in graduates' course-taking patterns since 1982. Additional data tables indicate the relationship between course-taking patterns and student achievement in mathematics and science, which were the subjects assessed in the 2000 NAEP.

For additional background information on the 2000 HSTS, including highlights of findings, refer to The High School Transcript Study: A Decade of Change in Curricula and Achievement, 1990-2000 (NCES 2004-455). For more technical information about 2000 HSTS, refer to The 2000 High School Transcript Study User's Guide and Technical Report (NCES 2005-483).