• Background
• Limitations in This Report
• High School Dropouts
• High School Dropout Results
• High School Completers
• High School Completer Results
• References

The CCD consists of five surveys that are completed each year by state education agencies (SEAs). Three of these surveys provide basic statistical information about public elementary/secondary institutions, students, and staff. Although all information is reported directly by SEAs, the surveys include data about individual states, local education agencies, and schools. The numbers of students who complete high school with a regular diploma or some alternative credential have been reported at the state and local education agency levels since the 1987–88 CCD collection. A dropout statistic was added to the Local Education Agency Universe beginning with the 1992–93 collection (reporting 1991–92 dropouts).

The high school 4-year completion rate presented here differs in its calculation from other published rates, and readers should be alert to this when making comparisons with other studies (Kaufman, Alt, and Chapman 2001; Young 2002; Young and Hoffman 2002). The inclusion of both regular and other high school completions, and the exclusion of General Educational Development (GED) recipients, may also lead to differences with other reports. (See the "High School Completers" section for a further description.)

Also, state and local policies and data collection administration may have profound effects on the count of dropouts and completers reported by a state. One example of a discrepancy is that not all states provide multiple types of high school completions. Some states award regular diplomas to all students while others award some form of alternative credential to special education students. Another example of a discrepancy is the degree of rigor with which states or districts verify the enrollment status of students who have transferred out of state. Dropout and completion data collected by the CCD are reported from the administrative records of SEAs. Some states collect their data through student-level records systems, while others collect aggregate data from schools and districts. Although state CCD coordinators verify each year that they have followed the CCD dropout definition, states vary in their ability to track students who move in and out of districts, and it is probable that some students have been misclassified.

The CCD definition determines whether an individual is a dropout by his or her enrollment status at the beginning of the school year (the same day used for the enrollment count). Beginning in 1990, NCES defined a dropout as an individual who

1) was enrolled in school at some time during the previous school year (e.g., 1999–2000); and

2) was not enrolled at the beginning of the current school year (e.g., 2000–01); and

3) has not graduated from high school or completed a state- or district-approved educational program; and

4) does not meet any of the following exclusionary conditions:

a) transfer to another public school district, private school, or state- or district-approved educational program (including correctional or health facility programs);

b) temporary absence due to suspension or school-excused illness; or

c) death.

Individuals who complete 1 year of school but fail to enroll at the beginning of the subsequent year ("summer dropouts") are counted as dropouts from the school year and grade in which they fail to enroll. Those who leave secondary education but are enrolled in an adult education program at the beginning of the school year are considered dropouts. However, note that dropout status is determined by a student's status on October 1. Students who receive their GED certificate by October 1 are not counted as dropouts if the state or district recognizes this as an approved program. Although a student whose whereabouts are unknown is considered a dropout, states are not required to count students who leave the United States as dropouts even if there is no information about such students' subsequent enrollment status. A student can be counted as a dropout only once for a single school year but can, if he or she repeatedly drops out and re-enrolls, appear as a dropout in more than 1 year.

This is an annual event dropout rate: the number of dropouts for a school year divided by the number of students enrolled at the beginning of that school year. For example, to compute the 9th- through 12th-grade dropout rate, the calculation is

In the 2000–01 school year, 45 states reported dropouts using the CCD definition.¹ The 9th- through 12th-grade dropout rate in the reporting states ranged from 2.2 percent in North Dakota to 10.9 percent in Arizona (table A).

The majority of reporting states in 2000–01 (26 of the 45) had dropout rates ranging from 4.0 to 7.0 percent. The median dropout rate of reporting states was 4.2. There were four states that had a dropout rate of less than 3.0: Iowa, New Jersey, North Dakota, and Wisconsin. Three states had a dropout rate of more than 8.0 percent: Alaska, Arizona, and Louisiana.

Because of differences in public school-age population size, the numbers of dropouts varied greatly among reporting states. In the 2000–01 school year, while Texas had the greatest number of dropouts (46,973) among reporting states, it did not have the highest dropout rate. On the other hand, North Dakota had the smallest number of dropouts (784) among reporting states and also the lowest dropout rate.

Dropout rates are available for the aggregate of grades 9 through 12 from 1991–92 through 2000–01. During the first 2 years of the dropout statistic collection, no more than 15 states reported publishable data. Because the data are most complete for the period 1993–94 through 2000–01, discussion of changes over time is limited to this time period for states reporting in both 1993–94 and 2000–01.

A total of 33 states reported publishable data for both 1993–94 and 2000–01. (Louisiana's data were not comparable between these 2 years and were also not included in this analysis.) Among this group, the range of dropout rates generally decreased from 1993–94 to 2000–01. Dropout rates for reporting states in 1993–94 ranged from a low of 2.7 percent in North Dakota to a high of 13.7 percent in Arizona. Seven years later, the reported rates ranged from 2.2 percent in North Dakota to 10.9 percent in Arizona.

Of those 33 states that had dropout rates in 1993–94 and 2000–01, 8 states (24 percent) reported dropout rates of less than 4 percent in 1993–94; this increased to 12 states (36 percent) in 2000–01. In 1993–94, dropout rates for 20 of the 33 states ranged from 4 to 7 percent. In 2000–01, 19 of the 33 states had dropout rates that ranged from 4 to 7 percent. Of those 33 states, 6 states reported dropout rates of higher than 7 percent in 1993–94, and only 3 states reported dropout rates of higher than 7 percent in 2000–01.

Dropout rates were more likely to decline than increase over the 7-year interval: only 4 of the 33 reporting states' dropout rates increased and none by more than 1 percentage point. In this period, the dropout rates decreased by at least 2 percentage points in Arizona, Idaho, Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, and Oregon.

High school dropout rates for each of five racial/ethnic groups² were calculated by dividing the number of grade 9 through 12 dropouts in a racial/ethnic group by the grade 9 through 12 membership for that group. Of the 46 states that reported dropouts for the 2000–01 school year, 43 were able to do so by race/ethnicity. Caution should be used when interpreting results by race/ethnicity as some of the racial/ethnic group populations are quite small in some states.

In the 2000–01 school year, dropout rates were generally lowest for White, non-Hispanic and Asian/Pacific Islander students and highest for American Indian/Alaska Native; Black, non-Hispanic; and Hispanic students in reporting states. Relative to groups other than White, non-Hispanic students, dropping out was rare for Asian/Pacific Islander high school students in reporting states. The Asian/Pacific Islander dropout rate was less than 4 percent in more than two-thirds (30) of reporting states. No state reported a dropout rate of 10 percent or more for this group.

More than 15 percent of American Indian/Alaska Native high school students dropped out in Arizona, Minnesota, and South Dakota. Twelve states had a dropout rate of 10 percent or higher for American Indian/Alaska Native students. Only one state (Wyoming) reported a Black, non-Hispanic dropout rate of more than 15 percent. However, there were eight states that reported dropout rates of 10 percent or more among Black, non-Hispanic high school students. Among Hispanic high school students, dropout rates were 10 percent or higher in 11 reporting states.

The CCD assigns each school a locale code that identifies its location relative to a population center; the codes range from "large city" to "rural." The school locale codes have been aggregated to the school districts with which the schools are associated and the dropout rates among the different types of locales computed. Not all states have one or more school districts in every locale. Hawaii, for example, consists of a single urban fringe school district while South Dakota has no large city school districts. Because of this, caution should be used when interpreting state differences.

Relatively high dropout rates were most often observed in reporting school districts that served large or midsize cities and least frequently in rural areas. Nine reporting states had dropout rates of more than 10 percent in large city school districts, while only one state had a dropout rate of more than 10 percent for its rural school districts inside of a Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA).

Table A. Dropout numbers and rates in grades 9–12, by state: School year 2000–01

— Not available. These states do not report dropouts that are consistent with the NCES definition.

† Not applicable. Total 9th- through 12th-graders not reported for states without conforming dropout data.

¹Ungraded students are prorated into the 9th- through 12th-grade total for dropout rate calculation purposes. For those states that did not report dropouts, no prorated 9th- through 12th-grade enrollment was calculated.

²These states reported on an alternative July through June cycle rather than the specified October through September cycle.

³New Hampshire is missing reported dropouts for 14 of its 76 school districts that operate high schools (16.3 percent of enrollment in the 76 school districts).

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), "Local Education Agency Universe Dropout and Completion Data File: School Year 2000–01, " Version 1a. (Originally published as table 1 on p. 7 of the complete report from which this article is excerpted.)

High School Completers

The term "high school completer" includes both diploma recipients and other high school completers. Thus, the CCD 4-year high school completion rate includes both diploma recipients and other high school completers. (This rate includes other high school completers but does not reflect those receiving a GED-based equivalency credential.)

Diploma recipients

These are individuals who are awarded, in a given year, a high school diploma or a diploma that recognizes some higher level of academic achievement. They can be thought of as students who meet or exceed the coursework and performance standards for high school completion established by the state or other relevant authorities.

Other high school completers

These individuals receive a certificate of attendance or some other credential in lieu of a diploma. Students awarded this credential typically meet requirements that differ from those for a high school diploma. Some states do not issue an "other high school completion" type of certificate, but award all students who complete school a diploma regardless of what academic requirements the students have met. Thus, in order to make data as comparable as possible across states, this report includes both regular and other diploma recipients in its high school 4-year completion rate.

Exclusion of high school equivalency recipients

High school equivalency recipients are awarded a credential certifying that they have met state or district requirements for high school completion by passing an examination or completing some other performance requirement. High school equivalency diplomas are considered valid completion credentials, but high school equivalency recipients are not included in the CCD completion rate. There are two reasons for this exclusion. First, high school equivalency recipients are reported on the CCD only at the state level and cannot be disaggregated to the district level. Second, not all states report high school equivalency counts on the CCD, and the statistic is therefore not comparable across states.

High school 4-year completion rate

Put simply, this rate asks, "Of those students who have left school, what proportion have done so as completers?" This rate does not include those students who are still enrolled. The rate incorporates 4 years' worth of data and thus is an estimated cohort rate. It is calculated by dividing the number of high school completers by the sum of dropouts for grades 9 through 12, respectively, in consecutive years, plus the number of completers. If a hypothetical graduating class began as 9th-graders in year 1, this 4-year completion rate would look like

Note that the completion rate is not the same as a cohort graduation rate that shows the proportion of 9th-grade students who graduate 4 years later. To get a more detailed description of the development and limitations of the dropout and completion rates, see Public High School Dropouts and Completers From the Common Core of Data: School Years 1991–92 Through 1997–98 (Young and Hoffman 2002).

High School Completer Results

The 2000–01 school year

As with states' numbers of high school dropouts, states' numbers of high school completers varied widely, in part because of the sizes of states' public school populations. As might be expected, in 2000–01, the state with the largest public school population, California, had the most high school completers (316,124), and the District of Columbia, with the smallest public school population,³ had the fewest high school completers (3,043). Seven states had more than 100,000 high school completers: California, Florida, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas (table B).

In the 2000–01 school year, the 4 years of dropout data needed to calculate a high school 4-year completion rate were available for 39 states. The high school 4-year completion rates ranged from a high of 90.1 percent in North Dakota to a low of 65.0 percent in Louisiana for those states with data. In 2000–01, seven of the reporting states had 4-year completion rates above 85 percent: Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Dakota, and Wisconsin. Five states had 4-year completion rates below 75 percent: Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Nevada, and New Mexico.

The majority of high school completion credentials are in the form of a diploma. There were 37 reporting states with data available to calculate a 2000–01 high school 4-year completion rate that either reported other high school completer data (i.e., certificates of completion) or did not award any type of other high school completer credentials. (Wisconsin and Wyoming's other high school completers were missing and were therefore not included.) Other high school completers made up only 1.8 percent of all high school completers in these 37 reporting states (derived from table B). Twenty-eight of these states awarded other high school completion credentials (the other nine states did not award these credentials) and had data necessary to calculate a 2000–01 4-year completion rate for other high school completers (e.g., recipients of certificates of completion). In 6 of these 28 states—Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, Oregon, and Tennessee—the percent of all students who completed by means of another high school completion credential was 5 percent or more.

Over time

The rate of high school completions over time includes diplomas and other high school completers, but excludes high school equivalencies. It is important to note that states have different policies in regard to awarding high school diplomas versus other high school credentials. Caution should be used when comparing states.

This report includes 4-year completion rates for the 1994–95 through 2000–01 school years. Since 4 years of dropout data are required to calculate a 4-year high school completion rate, fewer than 15 states had completion rates in 1994–95 or 1995–96. For this reason, discussions of the 4-year completion rate over time are based on the 1996–97 and 2000–01 school years; there are 32 states that had 4-year high school completion rates in these 2 years. Seven of the states' 4-year completion rates went down between 1996–97 and 2000–01. The changes (increases and decreases) were relatively small: less than 2 percentage points in 18 states. Two states, Idaho and Nevada, increased their 4-year high school completion rates by over 9 percentage points between 1996–97 and 2000–01.

By race/ethnicity

Four-year completion rates by race/ethnicity can be presented for 36 states in the 2000–01 school year. Caution should be used when interpreting results by race/ethnicity as some of the racial/ethnic group populations are quite small in some states.

As might be expected given the dropout rates, Asian/Pacific Islander and White, non-Hispanic students were more likely to have higher completion rates than Black, non-Hispanic; Hispanic; and American Indian/Alaska Native students. High school 4-year completion rates were below 60 percent in six reporting states for Black, non-Hispanic students; in seven reporting states for Hispanic students; and in eight reporting states for American Indian/Alaska Native students. No state had a 4-year completion rate below 60 percent for Asian/Pacific Islander or White students.

The 4-year completion rate was over 80 percent in 78 percent (28) of reporting states for White, non-Hispanic students and in 75 percent (27) of reporting states for Asian/Pacific Islander students.

By district locale code

Reporting states' large city school districts were more likely than other districts to have a relatively low high school 4-year completion rate of less than 60 percent. In 2000–01, no reporting state's large city school districts had 4-year completion rates of 80 percent or more. The reporting states' districts in urban fringes of large cities fared much better, with 19 (66 percent) with completion rates of 80 percent or more. The same was true for 25 (74 percent) of districts in urban fringes of midsize cities.

Four-year completion rates of 80 percent or higher were more likely to occur in reporting states' rural school districts than in any other district locale. In fact, more than three-fourths of the reporting states had a 4-year completion rate of 80 percent or more in their rural school districts (78 percent in rural districts outside of MSAs and 80 percent in rural districts inside of MSAs).

Table B. Numbers and rates of high school completers, by state: School year 2000–01

State	Number of completers1			4-year completion rate2
	Total	Total diplomas	Other completers3	Total	Total diplomas	Other completers
United States	2,616,570	2,569,413	47,157	—	—	—
Alabama	39,613	37,082	2,531	80.0	74.9	5.1
Alaska	6,829	6,812	17	75.2	75.0	0.2
Arizona4	47,543	46,773	770	68.3	67.2	1.1
Arkansas	29,019	27,100	1,919	79.1	73.9	5.2
California	316,124	316,124	†	—	—	—
Colorado	39,370	39,241	129	—	—	—
Connecticut	30,435	30,388	47	86.6	86.5	0.1
Delaware	6,712	6,614	98	81.6	80.4	1.2
District of Columbia5	3,043	2,808	235	—	—	—
Florida5	115,522	110,858	4,664	—	—	—
Georgia	69,215	62,499	6,716	71.1	64.2	6.9
Hawaii	10,323	10,102	221	77.7	76.0	1.7
Idaho4	16,101	16,021	80	76.9	76.5	0.4
Illinois	110,624	110,624	†	75.8	75.8	†
Indiana	60,464	58,323	2,141	—	—	—
Iowa	33,909	33,774	135	89.2	88.9	0.4
Kansas	29,360	29,360	†	—	—	—
Kentucky5	37,293	36,957	336	79.9	79.2	0.7
Louisiana	39,296	38,314	982	65.0	63.4	1.6
Maine	12,129	12,110	19	86.5	86.4	0.1
Maryland	49,569	49,222	347	83.2	82.6	0.6
Massachusetts	54,393	54,393	†	86.3	86.3	†
Michigan	97,124	96,490	634	—	—	—
Minnesota	56,550	56,550	†	82.5	82.5	†
Mississippi	25,762	23,748	2,014	77.3	71.3	6.0
Missouri	54,198	54,099	99	81.0	80.9	0.1
Montana	10,628	10,628	†	82.1	82.1	†
Nebraska	19,738	19,565	173	83.9	83.2	0.7
Nevada	15,880	15,200	680	73.5	70.3	3.1
New Hampshire5	12,294	12,294	—	—	—	—
New Jersey	75,948	75,948	†	88.0	88.0	†
New Mexico	18,354	18,199	155	74.4	73.8	0.6
New York	147,305	141,884	5,421	81.6	78.6	3.0
North Carolina5	63,954	63,288	666	—	—	—
North Dakota	8,445	8,445	†	90.1	90.1	†
Ohio	113,973	108,722	5,251	81.0	77.3	3.7
Oklahoma	37,448	37,448	†	79.2	79.2	†
Oregon	33,713	31,076	2,637	76.4	70.4	6.0
Pennsylvania	114,436	114,436	†	84.0	84.0	†
Rhode Island	8,617	8,603	14	79.8	79.7	0.1
South Carolina5	30,577	29,742	835	—	—	—
South Dakota	8,881	8,881	†	84.6	84.6	†
Tennessee	44,663	40,642	4,021	79.5	72.4	7.2
Texas5	215,316	215,316	†	—	—	—
Utah	31,214	31,054	160	82.6	82.2	0.4
Vermont	6,876	6,856	20	81.9	81.6	0.2
Virginia	68,593	66,067	2,526	83.8	80.7	3.1
Washington5	55,337	54,885	452	—	—	—
West Virginia	18,452	18,440	12	83.4	83.3	0.1
Wisconsin	59,341	59,341	—	90.0	90.0	—
Wyoming	6,067	6,067	—	76.5	76.5	—
Department of Defense (DoD) dependents schools, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and outlying areas
DoD schools (overseas)	2,621	2,621	†	—	—	—
DoD schools (domestic)	568	568	†	—	—	—
Bureau of Indian Affairs	—	—	—	—	—	—
American Samoa	726	724	2	90.0	89.7	0.2
Guam	1,371	1,371	†	51.2	51.2	†
Northern Marianas	361	361	†	64.5	64.5	†
Puerto Rico	32,574	30,154	2,420	94.6	87.5	7.0
Virgin Islands	966	966	†	72.3	72.3	†

— Not available.

† Not applicable.

¹Includes regular and other diplomas as well as other completers, but does not include high school equivalencies (e.g., GED). Total completers may be different than reported on the state-level file.

²The 4-year completion rate is calculated by dividing the number of high school completers in a given year by the number of high school completers in that year and dropouts over a 4-year period.

³Other completers data are missing for the following states: New Hampshire, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

⁴Values for 1 year of the 4-year completion rate denominator are imputed.

⁵States that reported completers but not 4 consecutive years of dropout data cannot have a 4-year high school completion rate.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Common Core of Data (CCD), "Local Education Agency Universe Dropout and Completion Data File: School Year 2000-01," Version 1a. (Originally published as table 5 on p. 11 of the complete report from which this article is excerpted.)

References

Kaufman, P., Alt, M., and Chapman, C. (2001). Dropout Rates in the United States: 2000 (NCES 2002–114). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.

Young, B. (2002). Public High School Dropouts and Completers From the Common Core of Data: School Years 1998–99 and 1999–2000 (NCES 2002–382). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.

Young, B. (2003). Public School Student, Staff, and Graduate Counts by State: School Year 2001–02 (NCES 2003–358). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.

Young, B., and Hoffman, L. (2002). Public High School Dropouts and Completers From the Common Core of Data: School Years 1991–92 Through 1997–98 (NCES 2002–317). U.S. Department of Education. Washington, DC: National Center for Education Statistics.

Footnotes

¹The following four states' 2000–01 dropout data were not available: California, Colorado, Indiana, and Michigan. (The District of Columbia's dropout data were also not available.) These states, as well as the District of Columbia, did not report dropouts that were consistent with the NCES definition.

²The groups were American Indian/Alaska Native; Asian/Pacific Islander; Hispanic; Black, non-Hispanic; and White, non-Hispanic. Non-White includes all groups except White, non-Hispanic.

³Total students by state is from the CCD state-level survey and can be found in Public School Student, Staff, and Graduate Counts by State: School Year 2001–02 (Young 2003).

Data sources: The NCES Common Core of Data (CCD): "Local Edu-cation Agency Universe Dropout and Completion Data File: School Years 1991–92 through 1996–97 and 2000–01," Version 1a; and "Local Education Agency Universe Dropout and Completion Data File: School Years 1997–98, 1998–99, and 1999–2000," Version 1b. For technical information, see the complete report: Young, B.A. (2003). Public High School Dropouts and Completers From the Common Core of Data: School Year 2000–01 (NCES 2004–310). Author affiliation: B.A. Young, NCES. For questions about content, contact Lee Hoffman (lee.hoffman@ed.gov). To obtain the complete report (NCES 2004–310), visit the NCES Electronic Catalog (http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch).