PDF National Center for Education Statistics

NATIONAL CENTER FOR EDUCATION STATISTICS

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U.S. Department of Education Office of Educational Research and Improvement

NCES 92- 129

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Phillip Kaufrn MPR Associates, Inc. Berkeley, California Marilyn M. McMillen Denise Bradby Elementary/Secondaiy Education StatisticwDivision National Center for Education Statistics.

U.S. Department of Education Lamar Alexander Secreatay Office of Educational Research and Improvement Diane Ravitch Assistant Secretary National Center for Education Statistics Emerson J. Elliott Acting Commissioner

National Center for Education Statistics 'The purpose of the Center shall be to collect, and analyze, and disseminate statistics and other data related to education in the United States and in other nations."~-Section 406(b) of the General Education Provisions Act, as amended (20 U.S.C. 1221 e-1). September 1992

For sale by the U.S. Government Printing Office Superintendent of Documents, Mail Stop: SSOP, Washington, DC 20402-9328

ISBN 0-16-0J38036-7

FOREWORD

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) collects and publishes inform-ation on the condition of education in the United States. The Hawkins-Stafford Elementary and Secondary School Improvement Amendments of 1988 (P.L. 100-297) mandated specifically that NCES collect and publish data about dropping out of school. One of these mandates requires NCES annually to report dropout and retention rates for a 12-month period to the appropriate committees of Congress on the second Tuesday after Labor Day, beginning in 1989. This report was prepared pursuant to that mandate and is NCES' fourth annual report on dropout rates.

This report presents the data for 1991 on high school dropout and retention rates. This report also examines high school completion and graduation rates. At the conclusion of the report is a discussion of new data collection efforts by NCES that have a direct bearing on the issues of high school dropouts and graduates.

The report is based on the best and most current national data available at this time. It utilizes the Current Population Survey conducted by the Bureau of the Census to develop national event and status dropout rates; 1990 Decennial Census to develop status dropout rates for states, counties, and large cities; and the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 to develop an 8th- through 10th-grade cohort dropout rate. NCES is currently pursuing an extensive, integrated program to expand and improve data collected about dropouts in response to the provisions of P.L. 100-297. These efforts were described in an earlier report, Activities to Plan and Implement the Reporting of School Dropout and Retention Indicators: Status Report to the United States Congress on Activities Related to Section 406 (G) of the General Education Provisions Act (GEPA) as Amended by Public Law 100-2 97, May 1989. To this end, a dropout statistics collection was initiated in the 1991-92 school year as a component of the NCES Common Core of Data (CCD).

I hope the information in this report will be useful in discussions about this critical national issue.

Emerson J. Elliott Acting Commissionerof Education Statistics

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This report was prepared underthe direction of Jeff-rey Owings, Chief, Longitudinal and Household Studies Branch, Elementary/SecondaryEducation Statistics Division. Many individuals made substantial contributions to the preparation of this report. Without the assistance of Robin Henke, Andrea Livingston, and Leslie Retallick of MPR Associates this report could not have been prepared. They provided invaluable analytical, editorial, graphic, and production assistance. Without the assistance ofRobert Kominski, Chief, Education and Social Stratification Branch, Population Division, Bureau of the Census, and Rosalind Bruno of his staff, the sections of this report based on CPS data could not have been prepared. They provided data tapes, special tabulations, and guidance in interpreting the data. Paula Schneider, Paul Siegel, and Marie Pees of the Population Division, Bureau of the Census, provided assistance with the 1990 U.S. Census Sample Detail File. Numerous members of the NCES staff provided assistancein preparing various parts of the report. Nabeel Alsalam and his staff provided invaluable assistance in formulating the definition of event dropouts in CPS. Nabeel also provided the family income data used in the reporting of the event and status rates in this report. Mary Frase provided the detailed Hispanic population status rates from the November 1989 CPS. Roger Herriot provided assistance with the 1990 Census data. The report was reviewed by Susan Ahmed, Mary Frase, John Grymes, and Robert Burton of NCES; Robert Kominski, Bureau of the Census; Russell Rumberger of the University of California at Santa Barbara; and Charlene Rivera of George Washington University. Their efforts and contributions are greatly appreciated.

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