Indiana Graduation Rates on the Rise

By Geoff Zimmerman

Earlier this year, we looked at high school graduation rates as a key outcome that we track to better understand how many students are successfully completing high school. That post didn’t look specifically at high school graduation rates in the Indiana portion of our service area, so I want to take the opportunity here to explore what is happening across Indiana, and specifically in Dearborn and Ohio counties. 

The Indiana 2011 high school graduation rates were just released in the beginning of this month, and the data show that overall Indiana’s graduation rate improved to 85.7 percent, increasing 1.6 percent over last year and 4.3 percent over the 2009 rate. Indiana was one of the first states in the country to convert to the “four-year cohort graduation rate” which means that they are tracking cohorts of students as they move from ninth grade to twelfth grade, and ultimately to graduation from high school.  The 2011 graduation rate marks the highest that the state has achieved since moving to the cohort rate in 2005.

A graphical representation of Indiana’s 2011 high school graduation rate is below.

2011 State Graduation Rate Breakdown

• 85.7 percent of students graduated within four years
• 6.1 percent of students are reported dropouts or undetermined, which means they either moved out of state, dropped out or left school without formally withdrawing
• 6.3 percent of students are still in school
• 0.4 percent of students earned a General Education Development (GED) diploma
• 1.2 percent of students earned a Special Education Certificate
• 0.2 percent of students earned a non-diploma Course Completion Certificate

A record high 171 public schools reached 90 percent or more of their students graduating in four years.  A breakdown by number of schools can be seen below.

2011 Public High School Graduation Rate Breakdown

• 90-100 percent graduation rate – 171 schools (45 percent)
• 80-89.9 percent graduation rate – 142 schools (38 percent)
• 70-79.9 percent graduation rate – 39 schools (10 percent)
• 60-69.9 percent graduation rate – 11 schools (3 percent)
• Less than 60 percent graduation rate – 14 schools (4 percent)

Approximately 45 percent of public high schools met or exceeded the 90-percent graduation mark, and 83 percent of public high schools graduated 80 percent or more of their seniors. In addition, 55 percent of schools improved their graduation rates over last school year, with 25 percent of schools improving their rate by five or more percentage points.

Greater Cincinnati Region: Dearborn and Ohio Counties

The school corporations in our local region have been faring well, too.  There are four corporations in our area: Lawrenceburg, Rising Sun, South Dearborn, and Sunman.  A look at trends over the last three years can be seen in the chart below.  All four corporations have seen improvement over the most recent year, with Lawrenceburg seeing the biggest jump.

About the Four Year Graduation Cohort Rate

Accurate accounting of high school graduation rates is critical to better understand students who drop out of high school or take longer than four years to graduate.  Indiana has been at the forefront of pushing for better calculations.

In August 2004, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) released a report synthesizing the recommendations of a panel of experts on graduation rate calculations. The panel recommended an adjusted cohort graduation rate as the best method for calculating the graduation rate. In 2005, the National Governors Association (NGA) Task Force on High School Graduation Rate Data also recommended that all States adopt and begin immediately taking steps to implement a standard four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate consistent with that proposed by the NCES panel.

The Indiana General Assembly was ahead of the nation. In 2003, the General Assembly passed legislation to begin using a new method for calculating high school graduation rates in 2005-06 (the first time four years of student-level data would be available), making Indiana among the first states to calculate graduation rates based on student-level information.

The formula begins by establishing a cohort (or class) of first-time freshmen that expands and contracts as students transfer in and out of school during the years that follow. Since a student never moves to a different cohort, we have an accurate measure of the percentage of students who graduate in four years or less. By publishing five and six year rates, we account for those students who persist even though they do not graduate in the standard number of years. This is part of Indiana’s focus on promoting a statewide culture of academic excellence in which at least 90% of students graduate from high school in four years or less.