1. Measuring Michigan’s Graduation & Dropout Rates The Impact of the Four-Year Cohort Margaret Merlyn Ropp Ph.D., Director Center for Educational Performance & Information

2. Impetus for Change … The No Child Left Behind Act requires states to use a graduation rate that tracks students from the beginning of high school to completion of a regular diploma in four years. The National Governors Association convened a task force to help states develop a standard methodology to measure high school graduation rates. All 50 governors committed to adopting the four-year cohort methodology to track state graduation rates. Michigan will be the 17 th state to implement the NGA Graduation Rate Compact.

3. What is a Cohort Rate ?

4. The Four-Year Cohort Rate tracks students starting in the 9 th grade Students are assigned to a cohort when they first start 9 th grade. The cohort is a group of students expected to graduate in the same year. First-time 9 th graders during the 2003-04 school year were assigned to the 2007 cohort.

5. All students are tracked throughout high school: Students who transfer from one public school to another are considered transfers out of their old districts and transfers in to their new districts Students who transfer in to a Michigan public school from a private school or out of state after their 9 th grade year are added to the cohort. Students who transfer out of Michigan’s public schools for a private or parochial school, home school or another state are considered “exempt” and removed from the cohort.

6. At the end of four years, all students are separated into four categories … 1. On-Track Graduate - completed high school with a regular diploma in four years or less. 2. Other Completer - earned a GED or other certificate, or reached special education maximum age. 3. Dropout - left high school permanently during the four year cohort period or whose whereabouts are unknown 4. Off-Track Graduated & Continuing = completed high school with a regular diploma in more than four years or did not complete high school, but continues in school.

7. The cohort total for a school or district is the total number of students in these four categories.

8. Calculating a Four-Year Cohort Graduation Rate

9. A cohort graduation rate is determined by the formula… On-Track Graduates Cohort Total

10. Example #1… Happy Valley Public School District

11. To calculate Happy Valley’s graduation rate, divide the total number of On-Track Graduates 1,254

12. … by the Cohort Total 1,254 1,443 = 86.90%

13. Example #2… Sunnydale Community Schools

14. Calculating a Four-Year Cohort Dropout Rate

15. Drop out rates are calculated the same way as graduation rates, substituting the number of dropouts in the numerator: Dropped Out Cohort Total

16. Example #1… Happy Valley Public School District

17. Rates for Subgroups Four-year cohort graduation rates will also be calculated for subgroups in districts and the state, including: race/ethnicity gender race/ethnicity by gender economically disadvantaged students with disabilities migrant limited English proficiency

18. Michigan’s Graduation and Dropout Rates August 20, 2008