NOTE: Some data for Asians/Pacific Islanders and American Indians/Alaska Natives should be interpreted with caution (see table 17a). The data presented here represent status dropout rates, which is the percentage of civilian, noninstitutionalized 16- to 24-year-olds who are not in high school and who have not earned a high school credential (either a diploma or equivalency credential such as a GED). The status dropout rate includes all dropouts regardless of when they last attended school, as well as individuals who may have never attended school in the United States, such as immigrants who did not complete a high school diploma in their home country. Another way of calculating dropout rates is the event dropout rate, which is the percentage of 15- to 24-year olds who dropped out of grades 10 through 12 in the 12 months preceding the fall of each data collection year. Data for 1999 have been suppressed due to unstable estimates. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic origin.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Census Bureau, Current Population Survey (CPS), October 1989-2005.