The effects of higher requirements for high school graduation on patterns of participation in secondary education among high school graduates and different patterns of course-taking among college-bound and non-college-bound students from 1969 to 1987 were studied. Data sets were from four national studies on high school students: (1) the Educational Testing Service's Study of Academic Prediction and Growth (1969); (2) the National Longitudinal Survey of Labor Force Experience--Youth Cohort (1975-82); (3) the High School and Beyond Study (1982); and (4) the National Assessment of Educational Progress Transcript Study (1987). Each data set contained complete transcripts for a sample of students. A taxonomy of secondary courses was applied to the transcript files for college-bound and non-college-bound students. Policy efforts to raise high school graduation requirements appear to have resulted in greater average course loads among high school graduates, and more course work in mathematics, science, and foreign languages. More students in 1987 indicated that they planned to go to college than did those in 1982. However, non-college-bound students did not complete more advanced mathematics and science credits in 1987 than in 1982 or 1969. The students most responsive to educational reforms were those who planned to go to college; those planning to enter the labor force were not experiencing the same benefits. An outline of the secondary school taxonomy and seven data tables are provided. (SLD)