Advanced Placement (AP): Courses that teach college-level material and skills to high school students, thus allowing students to earn college credits by demonstrating advanced proficiency on a final course exam. The College Board develops curricula and exams for AP courses, which are available for a wide range of academic subjects.

COVID-19: A contagious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

Elementary school: A school that has no grades higher than grade 8.

English language learner: An individual who, due to any of the reasons listed below, has sufficient difficulty speaking, reading, writing, or understanding the English language so as to be denied the opportunity to learn successfully in classrooms where the language of instruction is English or to participate fully in the larger U.S. society. Such an individual (1) was not born in the United States or has a native language other than English, (2) comes from environments where a language other than English is dominant, or (3) is an American Indian or Alaska Native and comes from environments where a language other than English has had a significant impact on the individual’s level of English language proficiency.

GED (General Educational Development) certificate: This award is received after successfully completing the GED test. The GED program enables individuals to demonstrate that they have acquired a level of learning comparable with that of high school graduates. GED Testing Service is a joint venture of the American Council on Education, which started the GED program in 1942, and leading education company Pearson.

High school: A school that has at least one grade higher than grade 8 and no grade in K–6.

High school completer: An individual who has been awarded a high school diploma or an equivalent credential, including a GED certificate.

High school diploma: A formal document regulated by the state certifying the successful completion of a prescribed secondary school program of studies. In some states or communities, high school diplomas are differentiated by type, such as an academic diploma, a general diploma, or a vocational diploma.

Middle school: A school that has any of grades 5–8, no grade lower than grade 5, and no grade higher than grade 8.

National School Lunch Program (NSLP): Established by President Truman in 1946, the NSLP is a federally assisted meal program operated in public and private nonprofit schools and residential childcare centers. To be eligible for free lunch, a student must be from a household with an income at or below 130% of the federal poverty guideline; to be eligible for reduced-price lunch, a student must be from a household with an income between 130% and 185% of the federal poverty guideline. Student eligibility for this program is a commonly used indicator of family poverty.

Postsecondary education: The provision of a formal instructional program with a curriculum designed primarily for students who have completed the requirements for a high school diploma or its equivalent. These programs include those with an academic, vocational, or continuing professional education purpose and exclude vocational and adult basic education programs.

Scale score: Scale scores place students on a continuous achievement scale based on their overall performance on the assessment. Each assessment program develops its own scales.

Socioeconomic status (SES): Most data sources for this report use participation in the National School Lunch Program as an indicator of socioeconomic status. For the High School Longitudinal Study of 2009 (HSLS:09), SES is a social status construct represented by an index that takes account of the student’s home background as represented by parents’ education, parents’ occupation, and family income.

Underrepresented minorities: This category comprises racial or ethnic minority groups (Blacks or African Americans, Hispanics or Latinos, American Indians or Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islanders) whose representation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education or employment is smaller than their representation in the U.S. population.

AP: Advanced Placement

GED: General Educational Development

HSLS:09: High School Longitudinal Study of 2009

ICILS: International Computer and Information Literacy Study

K–12: kindergarten through 12th grade

NAEP: National Assessment of Educational Progress

NASEM: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

NCES: National Center for Education Statistics

NSLP: National School Lunch Program

NTPS: National Teacher and Principal Survey

OECD: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

PISA: Program for International Student Assessment

SES: socioeconomic status

STEM: science, technology, engineering, and mathematics

STW: skilled technical workforce

TALIS: Teaching and Learning International Survey

TIMSS: Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study