Status and Trends in the Education of American Indians and Alaska Natives: 2008

NCES 2008-084
September 2008

Graduation Rates


A smaller percentage of American Indian/Alaska Native spring of 2002 high school sophomores obtained a high school credential by 2006 compared to White and Asian/Pacific Islander students.

Figure 3.3. Percentage of spring 2002 high school sophomores, by high school completion status and race/ethnicity: 2006
Percentage of spring 2002 high school sophomores, by high school completion status and
race/ethnicity: 2006
# Rounds to zero.
! Interpret data with caution.
NOTE: Detail may not sum to total because of rounding. Race categories exclude persons of Hispanic ethnicity. High school completion status is unknown for less than 0.5 percent of the spring 2002 sophomore cohort. GED is a General Educational Development certificate.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Education Longitudinal Study of 2002 (ELS:2002), Second Follow-up, 2006.

This indicator examines the percentage of sophomores in spring of 2002 reporting they had obtained a high school diploma, obtained a General Educational Development (GED) certificate, or were still working toward an equivalent credential in 2006. In 2006, a smaller percentage of American Indians/ Alaska Natives reported receiving a high school diploma than Whites or Asian/Pacific Islander. Seventy-five percent of American Indians/Alaska Natives who had been sophomores in 2002 reported that they had received a high school diploma by 2006, compared to 91 percent of Whites and 93 percent of Asian/Pacific Islanders. In addition, a larger percentage of American Indians/Alaska Natives (9 percent) than Asian/Pacific Islander (2 percent) reported receiving a GED certificate.

A larger percentage of American Indian/Alaska Natives (12 percent) than Whites (3 percent) or Asian/ Pacific Islander (2 percent) reported they had not received a high school credential and were neither currently enrolled nor working toward one. No differences were detected among the percentages of students of different races/ethnicities who were still enrolled or working toward an equivalency certificate. Across all high school completion status categories, apparent differences between American Indian/Alaska Natives and Blacks and Hispanics were not significant.

View Table View Table 3.3