Table 13. Averaged freshman graduation rates of public high school students and change in rates, by state: School years 2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04, and change from 2001–02 to 2003

Dropout Rates in the United States: 2005

NCES 2007-059
June 2007

(28 KB)

Table 13. Averaged freshman graduation rates of public high school students and change in rates, by state: School years 2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04, and change from 2001–02 to 2003–04

State	Averaged freshman graduation rate			Change in rates from 2001–02 to 2003–04
State	2001–02	2002–03	2003–04	Change in rates from 2001–02 to 2003–04

United States	72.6	73.9	75.01 ¹	2.4

Alabama	62.1	64.7	65.0	2.9
Alaska	65.9	68.0	67.2	1.3
Arizona	74.7	75.9	66.8	–7.9
Arkansas	74.8	76.6	76.8	1.9
California	72.7	74.1	73.9	1.2

Colorado	74.7	76.4	78.7	4.0
Connecticut	79.7	80.9	80.7	1.0
Delaware	69.5	73.0	72.9	3.4
District of Columbia	68.4	59.6	68.2	–0.2
Florida	63.4	66.7	66.4	3.0

Georgia	61.1	60.8	61.2	0.1
Hawaii	72.1	71.3	72.6	0.6
Idaho	79.3	81.4	81.5	2.2
Illinois	77.1	75.9	80.3	3.2
Indiana	73.1	75.5	73.5	0.4

Iowa	84.1	85.3	85.8	1.7
Kansas	77.1	76.9	77.9	0.8
Kentucky	69.8	71.7	73.0	3.3
Louisiana	64.4	64.1	69.4	5.0
Maine	75.6	76.3	77.6	2.0

Maryland	79.7	79.2	79.5	–0.2
Massachusetts	77.6	75.7	79.3	1.6
Michigan	72.9	74.0	72.5	–0.4
Minnesota	83.9	84.8	84.7	0.8
Mississippi	61.2	62.7	62.7	1.5

Missouri	76.8	78.3	80.4	3.6
Montana	79.8	81.0	80.4	0.6
Nebraska	83.9	85.2	87.6	3.7
Nevada	71.9	72.3	57.4	–14.5
New Hampshire	77.8	78.2	78.7	0.9

New Jersey	85.8	87.0	86.3	0.5
New Mexico	67.4	63.1	67.0	–0.4
New York	60.5	60.9	—	—
North Carolina	68.2	70.1	71.4	3.2
North Dakota	85.0	86.4	86.1	1.1

Ohio	77.5	79.0	81.3	3.8
Oklahoma	76.0	76.0	77.0	1.1
Oregon	71.0	73.7	74.2	3.2
Pennsylvania	80.2	81.7	82.2	1.9
Rhode Island	75.7	77.7	75.9	0.2

South Carolina	57.9	59.7	60.6	2.7
South Dakota	79.0	83.0	83.7	4.7
Tennessee	59.6	63.4	66.1	6.5
Texas	73.5	75.5	76.7	3.2
Utah	80.5	80.2	83.0	2.5

Vermont	82.0	83.6	85.4	3.4
Virginia	76.7	80.6	79.3	2.6
Washington	72.2	74.2	74.6	2.4
West Virginia	74.2	75.7	76.9	2.7
Wisconsin	84.8	85.8	—	—
Wyoming	74.4	73.9	76.0	1.6
— Not available. ¹ The national estimate of 75.0 percent does not include data from two states with missing diploma counts: New York and Wisconsin. When the national estimate is adjusted to account for missing information for these two states by using the 2002–03 rates for these states, the adjusted national rate is 74.3 percent. NOTE: The averaged freshman graduation rate provides an estimate of the percentage of public high school students who graduate with a regular diploma 4 years after starting 9th grade. The rate uses aggregate student enrollment data to estimate the size of an incoming freshman class and aggregate counts of the number of diplomas awarded 4 years later. The incoming freshman class size is estimated by summing the enrollment in 8th grade for one year, 9th grade for the next year, and 10th grade for the year after and then dividing by 3. For this table, enrollments for school years 1997–99 through 2001–02 and diploma recipients for school years 2001–02, 2002–03, and 2003–04 were used. Ungraded students were allocated to individual grades proportionally to the reported enrollments by grade. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data: State Non–Fiscal Data Files. 1997–98 Version 1b, 1998–99 Version 1c, 1999–2000 Version 1c, 2000–01 Version 1b, 2001–02 Version 1b, 2002–03 Version 1b, 2003–04 Version 0c, and 2004–05 Version 0c; and Seastrom, M., Hoffman, L., Chapman, C., and Stillwell, R. (2006c). The Averaged Freshman Graduation Rate for Public High Schools From the Common Core of Data: School Years 2002–03 and 2003–04 (NCES 2006–606rev).

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