State Dropout and Completion Rates by Ethnicity, Gender, and Grade (Archives, 2005-2009)

This database reports the total number of dropouts, enrollment, dropout rates, Average Freshman Graduation Rates (AFGR), and other completions by ethnicity for grades 9-12 for U.S. states. Data are not available for all categories in all years.  Years reported refer to the first year of a traditional academic year, e.g., 2007 data reflect drop out and completion figures for academic year 2007-8.  Note, for 2009, gender categories are not available. 

Reported totals for diplomas can exceed the sum of the race/ethnicity detail because states may report students in the total for whom race/ethnicity is not reported. AFGR is calculated using reported enrollment base variables, which estimate the number of first-time freshmen for that class. (E.g., 2007-8 graduation rates are based on estimates of the number of freshmen four years earlier, in 2004-5.)

This databsase also reports other completion statistics, such as Other High School Completers (OHC) and General Equivalency Diploma (GED) recipients. Many states do not offer OHC, including Arizona, Arkansas, California, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia.

2008-2009 data for New Hampshire mis-reported Black and Hispanic graduate counts.  That mis-count will be correct in a future update, according to the NCES.

Finally, the NCES changed demographic categories in 2009.  These changes generally reflect the use of multi-race categories.  As one example, it no longer reports Asian/Pacific Islander counts and instead reports Hawaiian Native/Pacific Islander counts.  However, districts were given a choice of race/ethnicity categories to report.  For further information, see NCES.  

We expect NCES to update this with 2010 data sometime in the summer of 2015.