SACRAMENTO — State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell today announced that graduation rates for the 2006-07 school year are now posted on DataQuest through the California Department of Education's Web site.

The state-level "ninth grade to graduate rate" is 67.6 percent, up from the previous year's rate of 67.1 percent. The rate California is required to report under the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) law, using a different formula, is 79.5 percent. The NCLB rate is lower than the 2005-06 NCLB rate in part due to the inclusion of the first time-dropout counts based on Statewide Student Identifiers (SSIDs) in the graduation rate formula.

"Increasing graduation rates is critical to closing the achievement gap and preparing students for success in the competitive global economy," O'Connell said. "We are now able to use individual student-level data to more accurately report how many students graduate, how many drop out before graduating, and why these students leave school. Educators at the state and local level must use this powerful new information to prevent students from dropping out in the first place, and ensure more students leave high school with a diploma in hand."

SSIDs provide each student a unique identification number and allow for much more accurate information about how many students are or are not completing their education. The high school graduate counts have been updated on DataQuest based on data received as of June 30, 2008. These rates are derived from student-level withdrawal data for the first time.

Counts of students completing high school equivalency programs, such as the General Educational Development Test to receive a California High School Equivalency Certificate (GED®), California High School Proficiency Examination (CHSPE), Adult Education High School Diploma program, or special education certificates of completion, are not reflected in the rates because they did not graduate.

Calculation of a graduation rate is limited by available data. Currently, school year graduate and dropout counts and point-in-time enrollment counts are reported statewide once a year at the school level. Because four years of student-level data under SSIDs have not yet been collected, cohort graduation rates that account for incoming and outgoing transfers cannot yet be calculated. A cohort is a group of school districts with similar qualities specifically identified by the California Department of Education to track its progress.

Student-level withdrawal data was collected for the first time during the 2007-08 school year. Once four years of student-level exit data have been collected, the California Department of Education will be able to calculate four-year cohort graduation and dropout rates that more accurately reflect incoming student transfers and outgoing student transfers that take place during a four-year high school graduating class.

Two four-year high school graduation rates have been posted on DataQuest. The "ninth grade to graduate rate" is calculated using two types of data, single point-in-time data (enrollment) and year-end cumulative data (high school graduates). When used at the state level, this calculation provides a reasonable statewide graduation rate estimate. However, application of this calculation at the school-level creates invalid rates for schools with increasing or declining enrollment, or moderate student mobility. Therefore, this rate is calculated only at the state level. The formula for calculating this rate is:the number of graduates at the end of year four divided by grade nine enrollment from four years prior.

The graduation rate required for NCLB reporting is used as a result of negotiations with the U.S. Department of Education. Because this rate is calculated using comparable data, including both school-level dropout and graduate counts are cumulative year-end summary data, the rate will never exceed 100 percent, even in schools with increasing or declining enrollments. Therefore, this rate may be used at the school-level. This calculation overstates the graduation rate because it does not account for those students who do not graduate or dropout.

The formula for the NCLB rate is: the number of graduates from the end of year four divided by the value of the number of graduates from end of year four plus grade nine dropouts from year one, plus grade ten dropouts from year two, plus grade eleven dropouts from year three, plus grade twelve dropouts from year four.

To download state-, county-, district-, and school-level reports, please visit DataQuest.