Education in States and Nations: 1991

(ESN) Indicator 23: Secondary school completion

Upper secondary school completion is measured by the number of graduates per 100 persons in the general population of the graduation reference age, which is age 17 in the United States but which varies across countries. Countries and states with high upper secondary completion ratios may have economies that require highly skilled labor forces and that depend on the education system to provide necessary training. They also may place a higher priority on programs designed to encourage teenagers to stay in school rather than drop out. Countries and states with relatively high ratios, furthermore, may educate a large number of students from outside the typical age range enrolled in upper secondary education. This situation is common in countries where older students return for specialized vocational training, sometimes earning second or third credentials.

• Among the G-7 countries in 1991, West Germany and Japan had the highest secondary school completion ratios, above 90 graduates per 100 persons at the graduation reference age; Italy had the lowest at about 50. The graduation ratios for France, the United Kingdom, and Canada were close to that of the United States (74).

• The range of secondary school graduation ratios across the U.S. states, from 63 in Florida and Louisiana to 91 in Maine, was not as broad as that across countries, which ranged from 28 in Turkey to 125 graduates per 100 persons in Finland.

• The secondary school completion ratio was above 85 in only four U.S. states. However, nine of the nineteen other countries recorded completion ratios that high.

Notes on interpretation:

For the United States, upper secondary education is defined as the last three years of high school. In some countries, a large proportion of upper secondary students attend vocational, technical, or apprenticeship programs. In countries where the graduation ratio exceeds 100, it is likely that there are some students earning second degrees.

Countries differ greatly in how they classify certain programs as either higher education or upper secondary programs. For example, some programs that are begun subsequent to the completion of general secondary education are classified as non-university higher education in the United States and in parts of Canada, whereas they are defined as upper secondary education in most other countries.

A completion ratio should not be interpreted as a completion rate. Completion ratios allow comparisons across states and nations by standardizing the number of graduates at a particular education level to the size of the population in an age group typical for graduation at that level. It is not, however, an estimate of the percentage of that age group who have graduated. See supplemental note for an explanation of graduation reference age.

Table 22b

Figure 23