Event and Status Dropout Rates

Race/Ethnicity

Over the past three decades, the status dropout rates for White young adults have persisted at levels that are lower than the rates observed for either Black or Hispanic young adults (figure 2 and table B5). However, from 1972 to 2000, the percentages of both White and Black young adults who were out of school without a high school credential have declined by nearly 40 percent (in each group). Since the dropout rates for Black young adults have been higher than those for Whites, the comparable rates of change have resulted in a narrowing of the gap between the dropout rates for Blacks and Whites. However, the narrowing of the gap between Blacks and Whites occurred in the 1970 and 1980s. Since 1990, the gap has remained fairly constant.

The percentage of Hispanic young adults who were out of school without a high school credential has remained higher than that of Blacks and Whites in every year throughout this 29-year period. During these years, when immigration patterns contributed to substantial changes in the size and composition of the Hispanic population, the status dropout rates for Hispanic young adults did not decline. Over most of the 29-year period, about 3 of every 10 of the 16- through 24-year-old Hispanics in the United States were reported as out of school and lacking a high school credential (table B5)¹⁶.

Due to relatively small sample sizes, reliable estimates of the status dropout rate for Asians/Pacific Islanders could not be calculated before 1998, so they are not shown separately in the trend lines (figure 2). However, in 2000, Asians/Pacific Islanders, who represented 4.1 percent of the total 16- through 24-year-old population, had a status dropout rate of 3.8 percent, the lowest rate among all racial/ethnic groups (table 3). In comparison, 6.9 percent of White young adults ages 16 through 24 were out of school and without a high school credential in 2000. Even though White young adults were less likely to be status dropouts in 2000 than their Black and Hispanic peers, Whites constituted a large group of status dropouts, accounting for 1.6 million (41.4 percent) of the 3.8 million dropouts.

While Hispanics represented approximately the same proportion of the young adult population as did Blacks (15.1 and 14.6 percent, respectively), Hispanics were disproportionally represented among status dropouts in 2000 (38.6 percent of all dropouts). A total of 1.5 million Hispanics were dropouts in 2000, representing 27.8 percent of all Hispanic young adults in this age group not enrolled in school. In comparison, about 660,000 Black young adults, or 13.1 percent of the total Black population of 16- through 24-year-olds not enrolled in school, were dropouts in the corresponding period. Hispanics at 38.6 percent of all dropouts represented about the same proportion of the dropout population as did Whites (41.4 percent); while Whites made up almost two-thirds of the total population of 16- through 24-year olds.