(FRANKFORT, Ky.) – Data from the 2006-07 school year show that Kentucky's public school students had higher graduation rates than those in the 2005-06 school year, and dropout rates decreased slightly during the same time period.
The graduation rate increased from 83.26 percent in 2006 to 83.72 percent in 2007. Kentucky began reporting graduation rate data with the 2000-01 school year to comply with requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. Because NCLB requires that graduation rates not include students who received certificates of completion and those who took longer than four years to graduate, a more rigid formula to determine the rates was adopted by the Kentucky Board of Education in 2002.The 2001 and 2002 rates include students who received certificates of completion and those who took longer than four years to graduate. Rates collected after those years include only those students who finished high school within four years and those students with Individual Education Plans (IEP) that allow more than four years to graduate.
The overall high school dropout rate decreased slightly, from 3.34 percent in 2006 to 3.17 percent in 2007. In grades 9-12, 154 fewer students dropped out in 2007 than in 2006. Dropout rates for nearly all ethnic groups fell slightly from 2006 to 2007.
The school retention rate -- the percentage of students held back a grade -- increased slightly, from 2.92 percent to 3 percent. School attendance rates decreased from 94.60 percent to 94.18 percent.
The rate of successful transition to adult life decreased slightly from 2006 to 2007, and the percentage of public high school graduates who went on to college decreased, from 54.9 percent in 2006 to 54.3 percent in 2007.
COMPARISONS OF NON-ACADEMIC DATA - STATEWIDE RATES
2000-01
Attendance 94.15%
Dropout (grades 9-12) 4.72%
Graduation 79.72%
Retention 3.67%
Successful Transition 95.11%
2001-02
Attendance 94.43%
Dropout (grades 9-12) 4.72%
Graduation 80.83%
Retention 3.55%
Successful Transition 95.67%
2002-03
Attendance 94.31%
Dropout (grades 9-12) 3.31%
Graduation 79.15%
Retention 3.38%
Successful Transition 96.03%
2003-04
Attendance 94.26%
Dropout (grades 9-12) 3.34%
Graduation 81.29%
Retention 3.27%
Successful Transition 96.00%
2004-05
Attendance 94.31%
Dropout (grades 9-12) 3.47%
Graduation 82.86%
Retention 3.30%
Successful Transition 96.15%
2005-06
Attendance 94.60%
Dropout (grades 9-12) 3.34%
Graduation 83.26%
Retention 2.92%
Successful Transition 96.07%
2006-07
Attendance 94.18%
Dropout (grades 9-12) 3.17%
Graduation 83.72%
Retention 3.00%
Successful Transition 95.70%
HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUT RATES BY GENDER
MALE FEMALE
2002 4.63% 3.20%
2003 3.91% 2.75%
2004 3.91% 2.77%
2005 4.06% 2.86%
2006 3.91% 2.69%
2007 3.69% 2.64%
HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUT RATES BY ETHNICITY
WHITE AFRICAN HISPANIC ASIAN AMERICAN OTHER
AMERICAN INDIAN
2002 3.78% 5.52% 5.96% 2.09% 1.64% 2.72%
2003 3.23% 4.45% 4.65% 1.80% 2.08% 2.29%
2004 3.22% 4.56% 4.77% 1.73% 5.32% 2.50%
2005 3.21% 5.75% 5.08% 1.39% 2.81% 3.38%
2006 3.03% 5.45% 6.11% 1.11% 2.64% 3.67%
2007 2.94% 4.77% 5.46% 1.22% 2.45% 3.96%
Today's release of nonacademic data is one component of the Commonwealth Accountability Testing System (CATS). The other component -- the Kentucky Core Content Test (KCCT) results -- will be released in late summer. Non-academic data is comprised of dropout, graduation, retention, attendance and successful transition to adult life rates. Each rate contributes a specific percentage to a school's overall accountability index, and graduation rates also are required to be reported under the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act.
See complete details on district and school nonacademic data by visiting the Kentucky Department of Education's Web site at http://www.education.ky.gov and clicking on the Testing and Reporting link.
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