Who Takes Stats in US High Schools? Backgrounds, Interests, & Aspirations

Abstract

Statistics skills are increasingly required for a wide range of careers, and Statistics courses and degrees have exploded in popularity in recent years. We estimate that 920,000 US students are now taking Statistics classes in high school each year. We present results from a nationally representative survey of 15,727 college first-years attending two- and four-year institutions, of whom 26% had taken Statistics while in high school. We are the first to describe in detail this population of US high school Statistics course-takers, and present data about the demographics, career interests and values, STEM identity, grades, and test scores of those who took Statistics in high school. Latent profile analysis is used to characterize the profiles of key subgroups, illustrating the diverse skills, interests, and values of this population.