IPSPR: Electronic Publications

Definition: The graduation rate is measured by “the averaged freshman graduation rate” which “provides an estimate of the percentage of students who receive a regular diploma within four years of entering 9^th grade. The rate uses aggregate student enrollment data to estimate the size of an incoming freshman class and aggregate counts of the number of diplomas awarded four-years later.”

Significance: Failure to complete high school is associated with serious economic and social ills confronting the individual who fails to graduate and for society as a whole. Almost two-thirds of the jobs in today’s labor market require at least some postsecondary education. Also, the median earnings of a high school graduate are 43% higher than those of the non-graduate.

Data reflect South Carolina (SC) average, United States (US) average, and Southeast (SE) average. The southeast region consists of Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.

Selected State Rankings, 2004-05, High School Graduation Rate (“1” represents state with highest average graduation rate. States are ranked according to a competition ranking method that accounts for ties occurring when two or more states have the same graduation rate.)

Definition: The National Center for Education Statistics defines a “dropout” as one who (1) was enrolled in school at some time during the previous school year; (2) was not enrolled at the beginning of the current school year; (3) has not graduated from high school or completed a state-or-district-approved educational program; (4) does not meet any of the following exclusionary condition: transfer to another public school district, private school, or state-or-district approved educational program (including a correctional or health facility program); and (5) is not simply on temporary absence resulting from suspension to school-excused illness, or death.

Significance: As with the “graduation rate,” failure to complete high school is associated with serious economic social ills confronting the individual who fails to graduate and for society as a whole.

Selected State Rankings, 2004-05 (“1” represents state with highest reported dropout event rate. States are ranked according to a competition ranking method that accounts for ties occurring when two or more states have the same dropout event rate.)

*US and SE include only rates for those states which have reported event data. 2004-05 data unavailable for four states: Oregon, New Jersey, Minnesota, and Connecticut.

Notes: Controversy surrounds the collection of “dropout data.” For a more thorough analysis of the controversy surrounding the scope and measurement of this problem, see Richard D. Young, The High School Crisis in the United States and South Carolina: The Problems Related to Dropouts and Related Solutions. Institute for Public Service and Policy Research, University of South Carolina, 2005. States vary in the degree to which they collect data pursuant to definition of the National Center for Education Statistics. The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) collects “event” data from the states. Event data rates indicate the percentage of students who dropped out of school over a relatively short period of time. According to NCES, such data are useful in analyzing the possible effects of particular phenomena or events on the propensity to drop out. Event dropout rates measure the percentage of high school students who dropped out of high school between the beginning of one school year and the beginning of the next. The data presented here originated from the Current Population Survey (CPS) and describe the percentage of youth ages 15-24 who dropped out of school in grades 10-12.