Averaged freshman graduation rate for public high school students and number of graduates, by state: School years 2000–01, 2001–02, 2002–03, and 2003

Student Effort and Educational Progress: Tables

Elementary/Secondary Persistence and Progress

Table 24-1. Averaged freshman graduation rate for public high school students and number of graduates, by state: School years 2000–01, 2001–02, 2002–03, and 2003–04

	2000–01		2001–02		2002–03		2003–04
State	Averaged freshman graduation rate¹	Total number of graduates²	Averaged freshman graduation rate¹	Total number of graduates²	Averaged freshman graduation rate¹	Total number of graduates²	Averaged freshman graduation rate¹	Total number of graduates²

United States	71.7	2,569,200	72.6	2,621,534	73.9	2,719,947	74.3³	2,753,438³
Reporting 48 states and D.C.	†	†	†	†	†	†	75.0	2,548,128
Alabama	63.7	37,082	62.1	35,887	64.7	36,741	65.0	36,464
Alaska	68.0	6,812	65.9	6,945	68.0	7,297	67.2	7,236
Arizona	74.2	46,733	74.7	47,175	75.9	49,986	66.8	45,508
Arkansas	73.9	27,100	74.8	26,984	76.6	27,555	76.8	27,181
California	71.6	315,189	72.7	325,895	74.1	341,097	73.9	343,480
Colorado	73.2	39,241	74.7	40,760	76.4	42,379	78.7	44,777
Connecticut	77.5	30,388	79.7	32,327	80.9	33,667	80.7	34,573
Delaware	71.0	6,614	69.5	6,482	73.0	6,817	72.9	6,951
District of Columbia	60.2	2,808	68.4	3,090	59.6	2,725	68.2	3,031
Florida	61.2	111,112	63.4	119,537	66.7	127,484	66.4	131,418
Georgia	58.7	62,499	61.1	65,983	60.8	66,890	61.2	68,550
Hawaii	68.3	10,102	72.1	10,452	71.3	10,013	72.6	10,324
Idaho	79.6	15,941	79.3	15,874	81.4	15,858	81.5	15,547
Illinois	75.6	110,624	77.1	116,657	75.9	117,507	80.3	124,763
Indiana	72.1	56,172	73.1	56,722	75.5	57,897	73.5	56,008
Iowa	82.8	33,774	84.1	33,789	85.3	34,860	85.8	34,339
Kansas	76.5	29,360	77.1	29,541	76.9	29,963	77.9	30,155
Kentucky	69.8	36,957	69.8	36,337	71.7	37,654	73.0	37,787
Louisiana	63.7	38,314	64.4	37,905	64.1	37,610	69.4	37,019
Maine	76.4	12,654	75.6	12,593	76.3	12,947	77.6	13,278
Maryland	78.7	49,222	79.7	50,881	79.2	51,864	79.5	52,870
Massachusetts	78.9	54,393	77.6	55,272	75.7	55,987	79.3	58,326
Michigan	75.4	96,515	72.9	95,001	74.0	100,301	72.5	98,823
Minnesota	83.6	56,581	83.9	57,440	84.8	59,432	84.7	59,096
Mississippi	59.7	23,748	61.2	23,740	62.7	23,810	62.7	23,735
Missouri	75.5	54,138	76.8	54,487	78.3	56,925	80.4	57,983
Montana	80.0	10,628	79.8	10,554	81.0	10,657	80.4	10,500
Nebraska	83.8	19,658	83.9	19,910	85.2	20,161	87.6	20,309
Nevada	70.0	15,127	71.9	16,270	72.3	16,378	57.4	15,201
New Hampshire	77.8	12,294	77.8	12,452	78.2	13,210	78.7	13,309
New Jersey	85.4	76,130	85.8	77,664	87.0	81,391	86.3	83,826
New Mexico	65.9	18,199	67.4	18,094	63.1	16,923	67.0	17,892
New York	61.5	141,884	60.5	140,139	60.9	143,818	60.9⁴	142,526⁴
North Carolina	66.5	63,288	68.2	65,955	70.1	69,696	71.4	72,126
North Dakota	85.4	8,445	85.0	8,114	86.4	8,169	86.1	7,888
Ohio	76.5	111,281	77.5	110,608	79.0	115,762	81.3	119,029
Oklahoma	75.8	37,458	76.0	36,852	76.0	36,694	77.0	36,799
Oregon	68.3	29,939	71.0	31,153	73.7	32,587	74.2	32,958
Pennsylvania	79.0	114,436	80.2	114,943	81.7	119,933	82.2	123,474
Rhode Island	73.5	8,603	75.7	9,006	77.7	9,318	75.9	9,258
South Carolina	56.5	30,026	57.9	31,302	59.7	32,482	60.6	33,235
South Dakota	77.4	8,881	79.0	8,796	83.0	8,999	83.7	9,001
Tennessee	59.0	40,642	59.6	40,894	63.4	44,113	66.1	46,096
Texas	70.8	215,316	73.5	225,167	75.5	238,111	76.7	244,165
Utah	81.6	31,036	80.5	30,183	80.2	29,527	83.0	30,252
Vermont	80.2	6,856	82.0	7,083	83.6	6,970	85.4	7,100
Virginia	77.5	66,067	76.7	66,519	80.6	72,943	79.3	72,042
Washington	69.2	55,081	72.2	58,311	74.2	60,435	74.6	61,274
West Virginia	75.9	18,440	74.2	17,128	75.7	17,287	76.9	17,339
Wisconsin	83.3	59,341	84.8	60,575	85.8	63,272	85.8⁴	62,784⁴
Wyoming	73.4	6,071	74.4	6,106	73.9	5,845	76.0	5,833

† Not applicable.
¹The rate is the number of graduates divided by the estimated count of freshmen 4 years earlier. The estimated averaged freshman enrollment count is the sum of the number of 8th-graders 5 years earlier, the number of 9th-graders 4 years earlier (because this is when current year seniors were freshmen), and the number of 10th-graders 3 years earlier, divided by 3. Enrollment counts include a proportional distribution of students not enrolled in a specific grade.
²Graduates include only those who earned regular diplomas or diplomas for advanced academic achievement (e.g., honors diploma) as defined by the state or district.
³The 2003–04 national estimates include imputed data from two states that did not report diploma counts: New York and Wisconsin.
⁴To impute the number of graduates in these states in 2003–04, the 2002–03 averaged freshman graduation rates for Wisconsin and New York were applied to the average of the grade specific enrollment data in the state for grade 8 in 1999–2000, grade 9 in 2000–01, and grade 10 in 2001–02.
SOURCE: Laird, J., DeBell, M., and Chapman, C. (2006). Dropout Rates in the United States: 2004 (NCES 2007-024), table 12, and Laird, J., Lew, S., DeBell, M., and Chapman, C. (2006). Dropout Rates in the United States: 2002 and 2003 (NCES 2006-062), tables 12-A and 12-B, data from U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), “State Non-Fiscal Data Files,” 1997–2005.

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