NCES Releases High School Dropout and Completion Rates in the United States: 2007

NCES Releases High School Dropout and Completion Rates in the United States: 2007
Date: Wednesday, September 23, 2009, 12:40 PM

Some 73 percent of high school freshman nationwide graduated on time with their peers, but this four-year graduation rate in 2006 varied widely across states--from a low of 55.9 percent to a high of 87.5 percent, according to "High School Dropout and Completion Rates in the United States: 2007." The report, released by the National Center for Education Statistics at the Institute of Education Sciences, builds upon a series of NCES reports on high school dropout and completion rates that began in 1988. It includes national and regional population estimates for the percentage of students who dropped out of high school between 2006 and 2007, the percentage of young people who were dropouts in 2007, and the percentage of young people who were not in high school and had some form of high school credential in 2007.

Annual data from 1972-2007 reveals trends by race, gender, income and other characteristics. It also includes state from national level estimates for public school students for the end of the 2005-06 school year showing estimates of how many beginning freshmen in the 2002-03 school year had graduated with their class in 2006, and how many students had dropped out between 2004-05 and 2005-06.

Other key findings include:

* Among reporting states, fourteen states had freshman graduation rates of 80 percent or higher, and 10 states had rates below 70 percent. Twenty-three states had higher AFGRs in 2005-06 compare with 2004-05, and 23 had lower rates.

* Students living in low-income families were approximately ten times more likely to drop out of high school between 2006 and 2007 than were students living in high-income families.

* One-year dropout rates have declined since 1972 among all racial/ethnic groups, although the decreases happened at different times over this 35-year period for these groups.

* About 3.3 million 16- through 24-year-olds were not enrolled in high school and had not earned a high school diploma or alternative credential, as of October 2007.

* The percentage of young White and Hispanic females who completed high school by earning a diploma or GED was higher than their male counterparts. Specifically, 94.6 percent of White females and 77.6 percent of Hispanic females had completed high school in 2007, compared with 92.4 percent of White males and 68.1 percent of Hispanic males. Overall, 89 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds nationwide have completed high school.

To view the full report please visit:
http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2009064