States Gird to Report Revised Graduation Rates States are grappling with a federal requirement that is forcing them to use a new, more uniform method of calculating high school graduation rates—a method that, in some states, is yielding rates that are 20 percentage points lower than those states have reported in the past. Under a 2008 update to federal education rules, the states were required to replace their patchwork of graduation-rate formulas with a four-year “cohort” rate, beginning in the 2010-11 school year, and to use that number this school year to determine whether schools are making adequate progress under the No Child Left Behind Act.

States Gird to Report Revised Graduation Rates

States are grappling with a federal requirement that is forcing them to use a new, more uniform method of calculating high school graduation rates—a method that, in some states, is yielding rates that are 20 percentage points lower than those states have reported in the past.

Under a 2008 update to federal education rules, the states were required to replace their patchwork of graduation-rate formulas with a four-year “cohort” rate, beginning in the 2010-11 school year, and to use that number this school year to determine whether schools are making adequate progress under the No Child Left Behind Act.