U.S. News & World Report (14 Apr 2011) -- Today's high school students are taking more classes than ever. According to a new study by the National Center for Education Statistics, the average high school graduate in 2009 earned about three credits more than graduates in 1990. The extra credits amounted to about 420 more hours spent in the classroom than 1990 graduates.
About 13 percent of graduates completed a "rigorous" curriculum, which includes at least three years of a foreign language; math coursework that includes pre-calculus; and at least three years of science, including at least one course in biology, chemistry, and physics. In 1990, just 5 percent of students completed such a rigorous curriculum, and in 2005, 10 percent did.
