About this Indicator
Graduation rates are based on the number of students who graduate in four years with a regular high school diploma. The completion gap is measured by graduation rates among low-income students who qualify for free- or reduced- price lunch and “higher”-income students who were not eligible to participate in the National School Lunch Program. Higher income is defined as any level of income that did not qualify the student for free or reduced-price lunch. Family income at or below 130 percent of the federal poverty level qualifies students for free lunch, and family income between 130 and 185 percent of the federal poverty level qualifies students for reduced-price lunch.[1]
This indicator shows the percentage of 9th grade students who graduate in four years with a regular high school diploma from a public high school. The four-year adjusted high school cohort graduation rate is calculated by dividing the count of students who successfully graduate within four years with a standard high school diploma by the total count of students forming the adjusted cohort for the graduating class (excluding students that earn a General Educational Development (GED) credential). This adjusted cohort includes students who start their high school education in the 9th grade along with those who subsequently transfer in. Students who either transfer out, emigrate, or decease are excluded from the cohort.
Data Source
U.S. Department of Education. ED data express: ACGR.
Note. Midwest benchmark reflects proportion. Data for higher-income students were not available in 2010-11. The estimates for 2020 and 2021 are not reported due to data collection problems that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic.
[1]USDA. (2019). National school lunch program. Retrieved from https://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/food-nutrition-assistance/child-nutrition-programs/national-school-lunch-program/