| Author(s): | American Youth Policy Forum, Gateway to College National Network, and the National Youth Employment Coalition |
| Title: | Making every diploma count: Using extended-year graduation rates to measure student success |
| Source: | http://www.aypf.org/documents/MakingEveryDiplom... |
| Date: | 2011 |
| Organization: | American Youth Policy Forum |
| Short Description: | In an effort to recognize schools and districts for their successful efforts to get struggling and out-of-school students back on-track to graduation, some states are beginning to gather five- and six-year graduation rates and are incorporating these extended-year rates into their accountability measures. |
| Annotation: | States and districts are under increasing pressure to ensure all students complete high school in four years; while this should continue to be the expectation for all students, many students who fall off-track on the way to graduation take longer than the traditional four years to earn a high school diploma or its equivalent. Unfortunately, those schools and districts serving overage, under-credit students, many of whom successfully complete high school beyond a four-year time frame, often are designated as “in need of improvement” due to low four-year graduation rates. In an effort to recognize schools and districts for their successful efforts to get struggling and out-of-school students back on-track to graduation, some states are beginning to gather five- and six-year graduation rates and are incorporating these extended-year rates into their accountability measures. States gathering such data are able to document increases in graduation rates when comparing four-year rates to five- and six-year rates. To ensure that schools’ and districts’ efforts to serve struggling and off-track students are recognized, not discouraged, states should calculate five- and six-year high school graduation rates in addition to four-year rates. |
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