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Dropout Rates in the United States: 2005
NCES 2007-059
June 2007

Table 12.  Averaged freshman graduation rate of public high school students, by state: School year 2003–04

State Average
freshman
graduation
rate
Regular
diplomas,
school year
2003–04
Estimated
first–time
9th graders,
school year
2000–011
Grade 10
membership,
school year
2001–02
Grade 9
membership,
school year
2000–01
Grade 8
membership,
school year
1999–2000
             
United States2 75.0 2,548,128 3,396,916 3,259,701 3,669,077 3,261,969
             
Alabama 65.0 36,464 56,063 51,525 60,463 56,201
Alaska 67.2 7,236 10,768 10,148 11,582 10,575
Arizona 66.8 45,508 68,091 67,727 70,950 65,596
Arkansas 76.8 27,181 35,414 34,537 36,192 35,514
California 73.9 343,480 464,970 465,027 492,205 437,677
             
Colorado 78.7 44,777 56,918 54,862 61,197 54,696
Connecticut 80.7 34,573 42,836 41,778 45,525 41,205
Delaware 72.9 6,951 9,540 9,035 10,628 8,957
District of Columbia 68.2 3,031 4,447 4,213 4,478 4,650
Florida 66.4 131,418 197,778 172,935 238,825 181,574
             
Georgia 61.2 68,550 112,024 102,590 126,793 106,688
Hawaii 72.6 10,324 14,211 13,529 15,922 13,182
Idaho 81.5 15,547 19,067 19,074 19,538 18,590
Illinois 80.3 124,763 155,404 150,982 165,558 149,673
Indiana 73.5 56,008 76,196 73,371 80,315 74,901
             
Iowa 85.8 34,339 40,034 39,517 41,701 38,883
Kansas 77.9 30,155 38,711 38,252 40,225 37,655
Kentucky 73.0 37,787 51,729 47,063 59,075 49,049
Louisiana 69.4 37,019 53,327 48,972 54,439 56,570
Maine 77.6 13,278 17,116 16,348 17,306 17,695
             
Maryland 79.5 52,870 66,462 63,954 72,202 63,229
Massachusetts 79.3 58,326 73,582 69,692 78,201 72,852
Michigan 72.5 98,823 136,236 132,743 146,344 129,620
Minnesota 84.7 59,096 69,757 70,837 70,729 67,705
Mississippi 62.7 23,735 37,836 34,377 40,603 38,529
             
Missouri 80.4 57,983 72,144 69,929 75,930 70,572
Montana 80.4 10,500 13,056 12,778 13,384 13,004
Nebraska 87.6 20,309 23,171 22,824 24,236 22,452
Nevada 57.4 15,201 26,495 25,129 30,036 24,321
New Hampshire 78.7 13,309 16,902 16,211 17,649 16,844
             
New Jersey 86.3 83,826 97,100 96,733 98,854 95,713
New Mexico 67.0 17,892 26,703 25,843 28,944 25,322
New York 233,909 229,660 258,564 213,503
North Carolina 71.4 72,126 101,065 94,231 112,420 96,544
North Dakota 86.1 7,888 9,164 9,040 9,314 9,137
             
Ohio 81.3 119,029 146,446 140,441 157,431 141,466
Oklahoma 77.0 36,799 47,770 46,137 49,939 47,235
Oregon 74.2 32,958 44,394 44,458 45,769 42,953
Pennsylvania 82.2 123,474 150,249 148,110 158,648 143,991
Rhode Island 75.9 9,258 12,197 11,631 13,106 11,855
             
South Carolina 60.6 33,235 54,805 49,037 63,776 51,601
South Dakota 83.7 9,001 10,757 10,585 11,057 10,631
Tennessee 66.1 46,096 69,722 67,543 74,322 67,300
Texas 76.7 244,165 318,256 293,235 360,704 300,830
Utah 83.0 30,252 36,435 36,968 36,362 35,974
             
Vermont 85.4 7,100 8,318 8,144 8,604 8,206
Virginia 79.3 72,042 90,856 86,983 98,753 86,831
Washington 74.6 61,274 82,172 81,650 87,322 77,543
West Virginia 76.9 17,339 22,549 21,430 23,759 22,458
Wisconsin 73,177 73,512 78,140 67,878
Wyoming 76.0 5,833 7,674 7,540 7,764 7,719
— Not available.
1 First–time 9th graders were estimated as the average of student membership in grades 8, 9, and 10 in three consecutive years.
2 The national estimate 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. 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. 1999–2000 Version 1c, 2000–01 Version 1b, 2001–02 Version 1b, 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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