High School Graduation Summary
High School Graduation
estimates the percentage of students who graduate within four years and
are considered regular graduates. The National
Center for Education Statistics collects the enrollment and
completion data and, now, as part of the No Child Left Behind
initiative, estimates the graduation rate for each state. The rate is
the number of graduates divided by the estimated count of freshmen four
years earlier. This average freshman enrollment count is the sum of the
number of 8th graders five years earlier, the number of 9th
graders four years earlier (because this is when current year seniors
were freshmen), and the number of 10th graders three years
earlier divided by three. Enrollment counts include a proportional
distribution of students not enrolled in a specific grade.
Data are not adjusted
for the presence or quality of basic health and consumer health
education in the curriculum, for continuing education programs or for
other non-traditional learning programs. Also, individual states are
increasingly altering graduation requirements, which may affect their
reported number of regular graduates, their
graduation rate and the
comparability of these rates across time.
Education is vital as
consumers must be able to learn about, create and maintain a healthy
lifestyle and understand their options for care.
Table 24 displays the 2007 ranks, based on 2003 to 2004
data (National Center for Education Statistics, Washington, D.C., U.S.
Department of Education). The rate varies from 87.6 percent of incoming
ninth graders who graduate within four years in
Nebraska to 60.6 percent
in South Carolina. The national average is 74.3 percent, up 0.4 percent
from 73.9 percent in the 2006 Edition.
Louisiana improved the most with
an increase from 64.1 percent to 69.4 percent of incoming ninth graders
who graduate within four years. Arizona and
Nevada indicated a drop of
five percent or more in the last year.
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