Trends in High School Dropout and Completion Rates in the United States: 1972–2008

A recent report from the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics at the Institute of Education Sciences released data on trends in high school dropout and completion rates in the United States. The report includes national and regional estimates of rates for 2008 and trends in dropout and completion rates over the previous three and a half decades. The data included in the report are presented by various characteristics, including race/ethnicity, sex, and age. The report used a variety of data sources and measures of dropout and completion. Some highlights from the report include:

* As of October 2008, approximately 3.0 million 16- through 24-year-olds were not enrolled in high school and had not earned a high school diploma or alternative credential. These “status dropouts” accounted for 8.0 percent of the 38 million non-institutionalized, civilian 16- through 24-year-olds living in the United States. This rate has trended downward since its high of 14.6 percent in 1972.

* 3.5 percent of high school students enrolled in a public or private school in 2007 had left school one year later. This rate, called the event dropout rate, was higher for Black students (6.4 percent) and Hispanic students (5.3 percent) than for White students (2.3 percent). The rate was also 4.5 times higher for students living in low-income families than for students living in high-income families (8.7 percent versus 2.0 percent).

* In 2008, 89.9 percent of 18- through 24-year-olds not enrolled in high school had received a high school diploma or equivalency credential. This rate, called the status completion rate, has shown an overall upward trend since 1972. The rate is higher in the Northeast (92.7 percent) than the West, South, and Midwest (88.7 percent, 89.1 percent, and 90.3 percent, respectively).

* 74.9 percent of students who had been first-year freshman four years earlier graduated with a regular diploma. This rate, called the averaged freshman graduation rate, was highest for Wisconsin (89.6 percent) and lowest for Nevada (51.3 percent).