Dropout Rate and Graduation Rate

Specific Requirements

Progress toward reducing dropout rates, including the one-year dropout rate listed in the CBEDS or any successor data system for the school site, over the most recent three-year period, and the graduation rate, as defined by the State Board of Education, over the most recent three-year period.

Education Code Section 33126 (b)(2)
PL 107-110 Section 1111(h)(1)(C) (vi)
PL 107-110 Section 1111(h)(2)(B)(i)(I)

Definitions

For the most recent three-year period, data provided regarding progress toward reducing dropout rates include grade nine through twelve enrollment, the number of dropouts, and the one-year dropout rate listed in the CBEDS.

The formula for the one-year dropout rate is:

(Grades 9-12 Dropouts/Grades 9-12 Enrollment) x 100

Until statewide student-level longitudinal data are available, data reported regarding graduation rates will be reported in accordance with the formula negotiated with the United States Department of Education pursuant to NCLB.

The NCLB graduation rate approved for California is a high school four-year completion rate. The rate is calculated by dividing the number of high school graduates by the sum of dropouts for grades 9 through 12, respectively, in consecutive years, plus the number of high school graduates. The rate incorporates four years of data and thus is an estimated cohort rate. Put simply, this rate asks, "Of those students who have left school, what proportion have done so as graduates?" If a hypothetical graduating class began as ninth graders in Year 1, this four-year "graduation" rate would look like:

(High school graduates Year 4) divided by
{dropouts (Grade 9 Year 1 + Grade 10 Year 2 + Grade 11 Year 3 + Grade 12 Year 4) + high school graduates Year 4}

Guidelines and Data Sources

State certification/release dates for dropout data occur too late for inclusion of 2004-05 data with other data from that year. Therefore, 2003-04 data are used for SARCs prepared during 2005-06.

Since these data are older than those of other elements of the report, a brief narrative to explain resulting anomalies may be added, if appropriate.