Graduation Rate INdicator
The Graduation Rate Indicator measures the percentage of students in a cohort who graduate from high school in a given year. There are two different ways this indicator is defined, depending upon whether the school in question is a traditional school or an alternative school. The cut points were updated for the Fall 2018 release to apply to both traditional and alternative school types.
For traditional schools:
Status is measured as the percentage of students in a 4 year cohort who graduated within 4 or 5 years (calculation = # of 4 and 5 year graduates in 2019, divided by # students in the 4 year cohort plus the # of 5 year graduates). Data for status are from 2019.
Change is measured as the difference in the result between the most recent year of data and the prior year of data. Note that prior to the Fall 2018 release, change here was calculated with respect to a three year average of the prior result. For the Fall 2019 release, the graduation rate calculation was updated to include the 5 year graduation rate and the Fall 2019 dashboard shows both the 2019 and 2018 results calculated with the new rules.
For alternative schools:
Status is measured as the percentage of students who graduate within a year. Note that students must be enrolled in a given school for 90 days with a gap no of no more than 30 days to be included, and the minimum N size for reporting performance (color) results was set to 15 students (vs. 30 for traditional schools). Summer graduates (by August 15) count in the prior year graduation rate. Note that the enrollment requirement for foster and homeless youth is 30 rather than 90 days.
Change is measured as the difference in the result between the most recent year of data and the prior year of data.
More information for the Traditional School Measure
Graduates in the cohort are those who earned a traditional high school diploma. As of the Fall 2018 release, students who earned an adult education high school diploma and those who passed the California High School Proficiency Exam are no longer counted as graduates (but were in prior releases). Additionally, students who transfer to a community college without earning a regular diploma within 4 years of enrollment into high school are not counted as graduates (but will be counted in the cohort as dropouts) in the Fall 2018 release. As was the case in prior years, those students who earned a special education certificate of completion or a high school equivalency certificate are also not included as graduates (but see below). The cohort is defined as all students who first enrolled in school in 9th grade four years ago. It includes those who dropped out over the 4 years, those who transferred in, and lost transfers. It excludes students who transferred out, emigrated or died during the 4 years. It includes early graduates. To be counted as a graduate in the Fall 2019 release, a student must have graduated by August 15, 2019. This same date applies to both students in the class of 2018 and 2019. Data for this measure come from end-of-year CALPADS submissions. Prior to Fall 2019, only the 4 year graduation rate was reported.
More information for the DASS School Measure
Alternative schools here refer to schools that participate in the Dashboard Alternative School Status (DASS) Program. DASS schools include the following types of schools (Ed code Section 52052(g)): Continuation, County or District Community Day, Opportunity, County Community, Juvenile Court, California Education Authority Division of Juvenile Justice, and County-run special education schools. Any district-operated special education school with 70% or more students in grades three through eight and grade eleven who participate in the California Alternate Assessments (CAA) are also automatically placed into DASS. Alternative schools that serve high-risk students may also be eligible for DASS participation.
Alternative school graduates are those who earned a traditional high school diploma and those who earned a special education certificate of completion either while under 20 years of age and eligible to take the California Alternative Assessments (CAAs), or while 20 years of age or older. In order for an alternative school to receive a performance (color) rating for this measure, they must have had DASS status in the current and prior years.
The reference grid for translating status and change results for the Graduation Rate Indicator is below. Click HERE to view all reference grids for all of the measures that go into the California School Dashboard and Oakland Public School Report Cards. The cut points for low and very low was updated in Fall 2019 to be 68% to less than 80% for low, and less than 68% for very low. For DASS schools, low was set to 68% to 70%, and very low was less than 68%.
For traditional schools:
Status is measured as the percentage of students in a 4 year cohort who graduated within 4 or 5 years (calculation = # of 4 and 5 year graduates in 2019, divided by # students in the 4 year cohort plus the # of 5 year graduates). Data for status are from 2019.
Change is measured as the difference in the result between the most recent year of data and the prior year of data. Note that prior to the Fall 2018 release, change here was calculated with respect to a three year average of the prior result. For the Fall 2019 release, the graduation rate calculation was updated to include the 5 year graduation rate and the Fall 2019 dashboard shows both the 2019 and 2018 results calculated with the new rules.
For alternative schools:
Status is measured as the percentage of students who graduate within a year. Note that students must be enrolled in a given school for 90 days with a gap no of no more than 30 days to be included, and the minimum N size for reporting performance (color) results was set to 15 students (vs. 30 for traditional schools). Summer graduates (by August 15) count in the prior year graduation rate. Note that the enrollment requirement for foster and homeless youth is 30 rather than 90 days.
Change is measured as the difference in the result between the most recent year of data and the prior year of data.
More information for the Traditional School Measure
Graduates in the cohort are those who earned a traditional high school diploma. As of the Fall 2018 release, students who earned an adult education high school diploma and those who passed the California High School Proficiency Exam are no longer counted as graduates (but were in prior releases). Additionally, students who transfer to a community college without earning a regular diploma within 4 years of enrollment into high school are not counted as graduates (but will be counted in the cohort as dropouts) in the Fall 2018 release. As was the case in prior years, those students who earned a special education certificate of completion or a high school equivalency certificate are also not included as graduates (but see below). The cohort is defined as all students who first enrolled in school in 9th grade four years ago. It includes those who dropped out over the 4 years, those who transferred in, and lost transfers. It excludes students who transferred out, emigrated or died during the 4 years. It includes early graduates. To be counted as a graduate in the Fall 2019 release, a student must have graduated by August 15, 2019. This same date applies to both students in the class of 2018 and 2019. Data for this measure come from end-of-year CALPADS submissions. Prior to Fall 2019, only the 4 year graduation rate was reported.
More information for the DASS School Measure
Alternative schools here refer to schools that participate in the Dashboard Alternative School Status (DASS) Program. DASS schools include the following types of schools (Ed code Section 52052(g)): Continuation, County or District Community Day, Opportunity, County Community, Juvenile Court, California Education Authority Division of Juvenile Justice, and County-run special education schools. Any district-operated special education school with 70% or more students in grades three through eight and grade eleven who participate in the California Alternate Assessments (CAA) are also automatically placed into DASS. Alternative schools that serve high-risk students may also be eligible for DASS participation.
Alternative school graduates are those who earned a traditional high school diploma and those who earned a special education certificate of completion either while under 20 years of age and eligible to take the California Alternative Assessments (CAAs), or while 20 years of age or older. In order for an alternative school to receive a performance (color) rating for this measure, they must have had DASS status in the current and prior years.
The reference grid for translating status and change results for the Graduation Rate Indicator is below. Click HERE to view all reference grids for all of the measures that go into the California School Dashboard and Oakland Public School Report Cards. The cut points for low and very low was updated in Fall 2019 to be 68% to less than 80% for low, and less than 68% for very low. For DASS schools, low was set to 68% to 70%, and very low was less than 68%.
Safety Net Methodology
For Graduation Rate, Suspension Rate, and now also Chronic Absenteeism (as of Fall 2018), the State Board of Education approved the use of what they are calling the safety net methodology to prevent large swings in results for these measures triggered by the results of just a few students. The methodology is applied when the N size is less than 150 students for that measure. What this methodology does is remove the possibility of classification of results into the increased significantly or declined significantly columns from the reference grids. If the change result for a school corresponds to "Increased Significantly" but there are fewer than 150 students in the cohort, then their result will be translated to color using the "Increased" change column. Likewise, if the change result for a school falls in the "Declined Significantly" column but there are fewer than 150 students in the cohort, then their result will be translated to color using the "Declined" column (see graphic below).
For Graduation Rate, Suspension Rate, and now also Chronic Absenteeism (as of Fall 2018), the State Board of Education approved the use of what they are calling the safety net methodology to prevent large swings in results for these measures triggered by the results of just a few students. The methodology is applied when the N size is less than 150 students for that measure. What this methodology does is remove the possibility of classification of results into the increased significantly or declined significantly columns from the reference grids. If the change result for a school corresponds to "Increased Significantly" but there are fewer than 150 students in the cohort, then their result will be translated to color using the "Increased" change column. Likewise, if the change result for a school falls in the "Declined Significantly" column but there are fewer than 150 students in the cohort, then their result will be translated to color using the "Declined" column (see graphic below).
