In 2005-06, about three-quarters of the 2002-03 freshman class graduated from high school with a regular diploma.

This indicator examines the percentage of public high school students who graduate on time with a regular diploma. To do so, it uses the averaged freshman graduation rate—an estimate of the percentage of an incoming freshman class that graduates 4 years later. For each year, the averaged freshman enrollment count is the sum of the number of 8th-graders 5 years earlier, the number of 9th-graders 4 years earlier (when current-year seniors were freshmen), and the number of 10th-graders 3 years earlier, divided by 3. The intent of this averaging is to account for the high rate of grade retention in the freshman year, which adds 9th-grade repeaters from the previous year to the number of students in the incoming freshman class each year.

Among public high school students in the class of 2005-06, the averaged freshman graduation rate was 73.2 percent in the 48 reporting states; that is, 2.6 million students graduated on time (see table A-19-1). Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and the District of Columbia did not report graduation counts in this year. Among the states that reported the 2005-06 graduation counts, Wisconsin had the highest graduation rate, at 87.5 percent. Thirteen other states had rates of 80 percent or more (ordered from high to low): Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, New Jersey, South Dakota, Vermont, North Dakota, Montana, New Hampshire, Missouri, Connecticut, Idaho, and Arkansas. Nevada had the lowest rate, at 55.8 percent. Nine other states had graduation rates below 70 percent (ordered from high to low): California, New York, New Mexico, Alaska, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Georgia, and Louisiana.

In order to compare rates across years, the averaged freshman graduation rates for the District of Columbia and the two states that did not report in 2005-06 were estimated. When these estimates are included with the reported 2005-06 data, the estimated rate for the nation is 73.4 percent. Using these estimates, the overall averaged freshman graduation rate among public school students increased from 71.7 percent for the graduating class of 2000-01 to 73.4 percent for the graduating class of 2005-06. However, between 2004-05 and 2005-06, the overall averaged freshman graduation rate decreased from 74.7 percent to 73.4 percent. Overall, between school years 2000-01 and 2005-06, there was an increase in the graduation rate in 40 states and the District of Columbia; 9 of these states (Arkansas, Delaware, Hawaii, Kentucky, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, South Dakota, and Tennessee) and the District of Columbia (2004-05 data) had an increase of greater than 5 percentage points. The graduation rate decreased in 10 states (Alaska, Arizona, California, Louisiana, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, North Dakota, Utah, and Virginia), with Nevada being the only state experiencing a decline of greater than 5 percentage points.

Technical Notes

Ungraded students were allocated to individual grades proportional to each state's enrollment in those grades. Graduates include only those who earned regular diplomas or diplomas for advanced academic achievement (e.g., honors diploma) as defined by the state or jurisdiction. Totals for reporting states include any of the 50 states and the District of Columbia that reported data for a given year. The 2003-04 national estimates are based on imputed data for New York and Wisconsin. The 2005-06 national estimates are based on imputed data for the District of Columbia, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina. For more information on the Common Core of Data (CCD), see supplemental note 3; for more information on measures of student progress and persistence, see supplemental note 6.