Graduation Rate

Graduation Rate 2021

As the school year is closing, please be aware that the requirements for documenting graduates have NOT changed for 2021. In preparation for submitting student data for graduates, district leaders, principals, counselors, eSchool Administrators and state reporting coordinators should be working together to ensure that student data are entered accurately and timely.

Please reference the guidance documents below as needed.

Graduation Rate Guidance 2021

Graduation Rate Summary Information Sheet- Class of 2021

On January 2017, the U.S. Department of Education issued guidance to states, local educational agencies (LEAs) and schools regarding implementation of the Title I graduation rate regulations (October 29, 2008.) The Arkansas Department of Education's Division of Public School Accountability presented "Understanding the Graduation Rate Indicator in the ESSA School Index" (PPTX) on March 1, 2018. LEAs are required to maintain written documentation on any student who transfers out of the original cohort into a private school, home school, out of state school, emigrates to another country or dies. Additional information regarding the guidance can be found in High School Graduation Rate Non-Regulatory Guidance.

Under 34 C.F.R. §200.19(b)(4)(ii)(A), a state and its LEAs must report the four-year graduation rate on report cards providing assessment results. The state must include the four-year graduation rate in AYP determinations beginning with determinations based on the assessments administered.

Graduation Rates

To download the graduation rates from 2010 to present in Excel format, please go to Graduation Rates or click on the following image:

Cohorts and Documentation of Transfers

From the beginning of the 9th grade, students who are entering that grade for the first time form a cohort that is subsequently “adjusted” by adding any students who transfer into the cohort later during the 9th grade and the next three years and subtracting any students who transfer out, emigrate to another country, or die during that same period. Only a student who transfers out and enrolls in another school or in an educational program that culminates in the award of a regular high school diploma, emigrates to another country, or dies may be removed from a high school's or LEA's cohort.

To assist districts with accurate documentation for transfers out, three additional dropout/withdrawal codes were added to the Statewide Information System (SIS) database to include "enrolled in private school, enrolled in home school and enrolled in another school out of state". Before removing a student from a cohort, a school or LEA must obtain confirmation in writing that the student transferred out, emigrated, or is deceased. No other students may be removed from the cohort. Written documentation facilitates audits and, thus, will help ensure that states, LEAs, and schools have an accurate measure of graduation rate.