In this study, 91.9 percent of the schools with the 9th grade, had pupils enrolled in elementary algebra and 75.1 percent, in general mathematics. Table 12 shows that 1,462 schools in the sample offered plane geometry. This number was 81.2 percent of the schools enrolling pupils in the grade where the course is usually offered. Approximately two-thirds of the schools offered intermediate algebra, the course basic to further study in mathematics or science. About one-third had pupils enrolled in trigonometry, normally a 12th grade course. As the grade level of college preparatory mathematics courses increases, the number of schools offering the courses decreases. For example, table 12 shows 91.9 percent of the schools offering elementary algebra, a 9th grade course, and only 27.2 percent offering solid geometry, a 12th grade course,

Also the percentage of schools offering specific mathematics courses varies among types of schools. (See table 12) The percentage offering elementary algebra was greater in the combined junior-senior high school than in any other type and least in the junior high school. Senior high schools had more extensive offerings in mathematics than any other type. This may be because there are fewer small schools in this type. The average senior high school 10th grade class in this study was 334; the same class in the regular 4-year high school was 70.

Since a fifth of our schools do not offer plane geometry, one might conclude that the same proportion of high school pupils do not have an opportunity to study this mathematics course, which is usually required of pupils going to college. Such a conclusion is false. The schools that did not offer plane geometry were small ones; the average 10th grade enrollment in these schools was 35 and represented 6%1⁄2 percent rather than 20 percent of all 10th grade pupils in the study.

Table 13 shows the percent of pupils, by type of school, that were in schools that did not offer certain mathematics courses. For example, 21,093 11th grade pupils were in schools that did not offer intermediate algebra; this number is 14.3 percent of all 11th grade pupils in the sample. There were 35,422 12th grade pupils, or 28.1 percent of all 12th grade pupils in the sample, who were in schools that offered neither solid geometry nor trigonometry. The category "other mathematics" is mostly non-college preparatory, such as business mathematics and advanced general mathematics, although occasionally including a college-preparatory course. More than 10,000 pupils (8.0 percent) in the sample had no opportunity to study any type of advanced high school mathematics, whether college preparatory or non-college preparatory. A conservative estimate based on these data indicates that in the United States 100,000 of our high school seniors are in schools that do not offer advanced high school mathematics.

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