Short Definition: % of students who chose to obtain a General Equivalency Diploma (GED) instead of completing four years of high school, graduating with their class and earning a conventional high-school diploma.

Long Definition:

Percentage of students in a "cohort," defined as those who entered the 9th grade together, who chose to obtain a General Equivalency Diploma (GED) instead of completing four years of high school, graduating with their class and earning a conventional high-school diploma. Students must have completed their GED within four years of entering 9th grade.

Agency Source: RIDE

Time Period(s):

School Year

2007-08,  2008-09,  2009-10,  2010-11,  2011-12,  2012-13,  2013-14,  2014-15

Geographies: School, District

Data Type: Numeric

Purpose:

High school graduation is the minimum requisite for college and most employment.

Limitations:

As the four-year graduation rate is recalculated with the 5-year and 6-year rates, this number will not change and thus will no longer add up to 100% when added with the other cohort 4-year graduation indicators.

The cohort formula required by the federal NCLB and by a National Governors Association compact that Rhode Island has signed focuses on a single “cohort” of students – the group of students who enrolled in 9th grade at the same time. The four-year cohort formula does not fully capture the graduation picture or reflect school and student successes in graduating in five or six years. However, RIDE does calculate five and six year cohorts and these are also available in the DataHUB. See RIDE website for more information.

Universe: Students entering 9th grade four years prior to graduation year who did not transfer out of the RI public system

Tags: GED, Dropout, Graduation, Attainment

Related Reports:

• High School Graduation Rates (Overview)

Related Datastories: No related datastories.