New federal data show high school students are taking harder courses, though this new rigor is not translating into higher scores on standardized tests.
Despite this, scores on national math and science tests stayed even or declined over the same span, according to findings from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) high school transcript study looking at the 2019 data, the latest available.
The students at the very top academically have not lost ground on math tests, but those at the bottom have, bringing down the national averages, said Peggy G. Carr, commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics. On science, scores remained unchanged across levels.
The study is based on a nationally representative sample of 47,000 public and private high school graduates from the Class of 2019. It examined transcripts of students who took math and science NAEP tests and then compared the results.
The study found the number of credits earned has steadily climbed from 23.6 in 1990 to 28.1 in 2019, rising for all racial and ethnic groups measured. The number of academic credits earned also hit a high, with the number earned for career and technical education courses falling from 1990.
In 2019, 63 percent of graduates took a mid-level or rigorous curriculum, another high. To qualify as a mid-level curriculum, students had to have taken geometry and algebra as well as at least two of three science courses — biology, chemistry and physics. A rigorous curriculum includes all three sciences plus precalculus or higher in math.
In addition, the average grade-point average in 2019 was 3.11, a bump up from 3.0 in 2009.
But this increased achievement and rigor did not translate to higher scores on the NAEP, in which scores in math and science fell. In 2009, the average score was 156 on math (with a 176 needed to be considered proficient). In 2019, the average score fell to 151.
This rise in rigor can be traced to tougher state requirements for graduation, Carr said. Still, she said, some research shows the courses are not covering the material that would be expected, and that may explain why higher level courses are not translating to higher test scores.
“Algebra 1 is not Algebra 1 just because it’s labeled Algebra 1,” she said.
The portion of Asian American and Pacific Islander graduates taking a rigorous curriculum was, at 28 percent, by far the highest of the racial and ethnic groups reported. Thirteen percent of White students, 10 percent of Hispanic students and 5 percent of Black students took a rigorous curriculum.
Grade-point averages for all groups reached a high in 2019. Among Asian American and Pacific Islander students, it was 3.39; among White students, it was 3.23; among Hispanic students, 2.95; and among Black students, 2.83.

