Skip Navigation
Dropout Rates in The United States: 2002 and 2003

NCES 2008-053
September 2008

Back Arrow List of Tables Download Excel Excel format (27 KB) Download Excel(se) Excel format (23 KB)         Back to Report Return to Report

Table 11. Status completion rates of 18- through 24-year-olds not currently enrolled in high school or below, by sex and race/ethnicity: October 1972 through October 2003
 
Year1 Total
(percent)
Race/ethnicity (percent)2
Sex (percent) White
non-
Hispanic
Black
non-
Hispanic
Hispanic
Male Female
 
1972 82.8 83.0 82.7 86.0 72.1 56.2
1973 83.7 84.0 83.4 87.0 71.6 58.7
1974 83.6 83.4 83.8 86.7 73.0 60.1
1975 83.8 84.1 83.6 87.2 70.2 62.2
1976 83.5 83.0 84.0 86.4 73.5 60.3
 
1977 83.6 82.8 84.4 86.7 73.9 58.6
1978 83.6 82.8 84.2 86.9 73.4 58.8
1979 83.1 82.1 84.0 86.6 72.6 58.5
1980 83.9 82.3 85.3 87.5 75.2 57.1
1981 83.8 82.0 85.4 87.1 76.7 59.1
 
1982 83.8 82.7 84.9 87.0 76.4 60.9
1983 83.9 82.1 85.6 87.4 76.8 59.4
1984 84.7 83.3 85.9 87.5 80.3 63.7
1985 85.4 84.0 86.7 88.2 81.0 66.6
1986 85.5 84.2 86.7 88.8 81.8 63.5
 
1987 84.7 84.0 85.8 87.7 81.9 65.1
1988 84.5 83.2 85.8 88.7 80.9 58.2
1989 84.7 83.2 86.2 89.0 81.9 59.4
1990 85.6 85.1 86.0 89.6 83.2 59.1
1991 84.9 83.8 85.9 89.4 82.5 56.5
 
1992 86.4 85.3 87.4 90.7 82.0 62.1
1993 86.2 85.4 86.9 90.1 81.9 64.4
1994 85.8 84.5 87.0 90.7 83.3 61.8
1995 85.3 84.3 85.7 89.8 84.5 62.8
1996 86.2 85.7 86.8 91.5 83.0 61.9
 
1997 85.9 84.6 87.2 90.5 82.0 66.7
1998 84.8 82.6 87.0 90.2 81.4 62.8
1999 85.9 84.8 87.1 91.2 83.5 63.4
2000 86.5 84.9 88.1 91.8 83.7 64.1
2001 86.5 84.6 88.3 91.0 85.6 65.7
 
2002 86.6 84.8 88.4 91.8 84.7 67.3
2003 87.1 85.1 89.2 91.9 85.0 69.2
1 Estimates beginning in 1987 reflect new editing procedures for cases with missing data on school enrollment items. Estimates beginning in 1992 reflect new wording of the educational attainment item. Estimates beginning in 1994 reflect changes due to newly instituted computer-assisted interviewing. For details about changes in the Current Population Survey (CPS) over time, please see Kaufman, Alt, and Chapman (2004).

2 Beginning in 2003, respondents were able to identify themselves as being "more than one race." The 2003 White, non-Hispanic and Black, non-Hispanic categories consist of individuals who considered themselves to be one race and who did not identify as Hispanic. The Hispanic category consists of Hispanics of all races and racial combinations. Due to small sample sizes for all of the years in the table American Indians/Alaska Natives are included in the totals but are not shown separately. Asian/Pacific Islanders are also included in the totals but not shown separately as that group has only recently been sampled in adequate numbers to be reported separately (see table 1-A). The "more than one race" category in 2003 is also included in the total but not shown separately due to small sample size.

NOTE: Status completion rates measure the percentage of 18- through 24-year-olds who are not enrolled in high school and who also hold a high school diploma or equivalent credential such as a General Educational Development (GED) certificate. Those still enrolled in high school are excluded from the analysis.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Current Population Survey (CPS), October (1972–2003).

Back Arrow List of Tables Download Excel Excel format (27 KB) Download Excel(se) Excel format (23 KB)         Back to Report Return to Report