Trends in Elementary and Secondary Education - Who's Taking Advanced Classes?

Students expect to go to college. In line with this expectation, they are taking more advanced courses. They are concentrating on mathematics, science, English, and foreign languages. They are going beyond what New Basics curriculum requires. In 1998, young women were generally more likely to take advanced courses than young men — except in the areas of chemistry or physics. White and Asian/Pacific Islander high school graduates were more likely to complete advanced mathematics and science classes than were graduates from other racial/ethnic groups. The racial/ethnic pattern in English and foreign languages is not as marked as the mathematics and science pattern.

The table on the next page shows how the course-taking pattern in mathematics and science has changed since 1982.

The most rigorous advanced placement mathematics curriculum includes such courses as trigonometry, calculus, and calculus/analytic geometry (Advanced Levels II and III). The percentage of high school graduates who achieved these levels went up between 1982 and 1998 from 4.8% and 5.9% to 14.4% and 11.8%. The percentage of students taking any advanced mathematics increased from 26.2% to 41.4%. Students who elect the rigorous curricula are those who are most likely to go to college, and to succeed. These students expect their hard work to pay off with the best jobs and higher income. (Some say that these students may be overeducated. See: "Are We Too Educated for the Future Job Market?" in Work & Leisure, Chapter 3.)

Percentage Distribution of High School Graduates According to the Highest Level of Advanced Mathematics and Science Courses Taken: Selected Years 1982-1998

	Mathematics					Science
	Middle academic		Advanced academic			Chemistry I or Physics I	Chemistry I and Physics I	Chemistry II or Physics II
Year	Level I	Level II	Level I	Level II	Level III
1982	30.6	18.2	15.5	4.8	5.9	18.4	7.4	4.8
1987	26.8	23.1	12.9	9.0	7.6	23.3	11.8	5.1
1990	25.4	26.2	12.9	10.4	7.2	28.2	13.7	5.6
1992	22.7	26.4	16.4	10.9	10.7	29.9	14.3	6.9
1994	22.4	26.9	16.3	11.6	10.2	32.1	15.0	6.4
1998	20.8	27.7	14.4	15.2	11.8	33.8	18.5	7.3

What about hedging one's bets - preparing for life after high school by electing both a vocational education concentration and a college preparatory curriculum? There is a small but growing trend in that direction. We explore the topic in the next panel.

Source: Graphic: U.S. Department of Education, NCES, The Condition of Education 2001, Indicators 34 and 39, retrieved May 28, 2002, from http://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/2000/. Table: U.S. Department of Education, NCES, 1998 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) High School Transcript Study.