2005 NAEP High School Transcript Study

NAEP HSTS is a periodic survey that provides educational professionals, such as administrators, policymakers, and researchers, with information regarding the coursetaking patterns of high school graduates and their grade point averages (GPAs). It can also be used to provide information on the relationship of graduate coursetaking patterns to achievement as measured by NAEP. NAEP is an ongoing, periodic assessment of educational achievement in U.S. schools. The transcript studies serve as a barometer for changes in high school graduates’ coursetaking patterns. Coursetaking patterns provide valuable information about the rigor of high school curricula followed across the nation. The first national transcript study was conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) in 1982 and captured baseline information on high school students’ patterns prior to the publication of A Nation at Risk and the resulting changes in curricula and educational reform.

For HSTS 2005, complete transcripts for 26,200 graduates from public and private high schools in 2005 were collected from a nationally representative sample of schools from May through October 2005. The survey was conducted in conjunction with NAEP 2005 mathematics and science assessments in the 12th grade. A description of this survey can be found on the NAEP home page at http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/.