Dropout Statistics: Calculation, Definitions and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

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Data Collection Site: Student End of Year

Dropout Rate Calculation

Data Notes

• Beginning in 2006-07, Colorado school districts could not report students as transfers unless an official request for the student’s educational records is received from the school in question. If this request is not received, the Colorado district is required to report the student as a dropout.

• In accordance with a 1993 legislative mandate, beginning with the 1993-94 school year, the dropout rate calculation excludes expelled students.

Understanding Dropout Rates

The short informational video and PPT below provide a high-level overview of the dropout calculation and data collection process.

Video: Dropout Rates PPT: Dropout Rates 

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Definitions

Dropout:

A student who leaves school for any reason, except death, before completion of a high school diploma or its equivalent, and who does not transfer to another public or private school or enroll in an approved home study program. Students who reach the age of 21 before receiving a diploma or designation of completion are also counted as dropouts.

Membership Base:

The count of all 7^th-12^th grade students who were in membership in a district/school/subgroup at any point during the school year.

Alternative School:

A public elementary or secondary school that addresses the needs of students that typically cannot be met in a regular school program. The school provides nontraditional education; serves as an adjunct to a regular school; and falls outside the categories of regular, special education, or vocational education. An alternative school may or may not also be considered an Alternative Education Campus (AEC).

Instructional Program/Service Type (IPST):

Services provided by schools and/or districts in the current year for students identified as belonging to one or more of the categories below:

• Students with Disabilities: Students who have been formally identified as having physical or health conditions that may have a significant impact on the student’s ability to learn and therefore warrant placing the student on an Individual Educational Program (IEP).
• English Learners (Multilingual Learner): Students who have been identified as Non-English Proficient (NEP), Limited English Proficient (LEP), or Fluent English Proficient Monitor Years 1 and 2 (FEP Monitor 1, FEP Monitor 2). Non-English Proficient is defined as a student who speaks a language other than English and does not comprehend, speak, read, or write English. Limited English Proficient is defined as a student who comprehends, speaks, reads, or writes some English, but whose predominant comprehension or speech is in a language other than English. Fluent English Proficient students in year 1 or 2 of monitor status are students who have spoken, or currently speak, a language other than English, but who can comprehend, speak, read, and write English comparable to their monolingual English-speaking peers. Districts must provide language services to all English Learners.
• Economically Disadvantaged: Student qualifies for either the free or reduced lunch program. The Federal National School Lunch Act establishes eligibility for the reduced-price lunch program for families with income up to 185 percent of the federal poverty level (in 2009, this amount was $39,220 for a family of four). Families with income up to 130 percent of the federal poverty level qualify for the free lunch program (in 2009 this amount was $27,560 for a family of four).
• Migrant: Students enrolled in a specially designed program for children who are, or whose parent or spouse is a migratory agricultural worker, and who, in the preceding 36 months, in order to obtain, or accompany such parent or spouse in order to obtain, temporary or seasonal employment in agricultural work has moved from one school district to another.
• Title 1: Students in schools receiving grants under Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) who are beneficiaries of educational resources paid with those Title I funds. For schools that operate schoolwide (SW) Title I programs, all students are considered Title I and are eligible for support and services. For schools that operate targeted assistance (TA) Title I programs, only students identified as at risk of failing to meet Colorado’s academic achievement standards who receive supports and services paid with Title I funds are considered Title I students. School Title I designation and grant formulas are based on the numbers of students eligible for free or reduced cost meals (FRM).
• Homeless: According to the McKinney Act, a “homeless individual” lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence.
• Gifted and Talented: Students who have been formally identified, using district wide procedures aligned with CDE guidelines, as being endowed with a high degree of exceptionality or potential in mental ability, academics, creativity, or talents (visual, performing, musical arts, or leadership.
• Military Connected: Students who have a parent or guardian who is an active-duty member of the Armed Forces or on full-time National Guard duty.
• Foster: Students in foster care as reported to CDE by the Colorado Department of Human Services (CDHS).

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q: Who is considered a dropout?

A: By Colorado law, a dropout is defined as a "person who leaves school for any reason, except death, before completion of a high school diploma or its equivalent, and who does not transfer to another public or private school or enroll in an approved home study program." A student is not a dropout if he/she transfers to an educational program recognized by the district, completes a High School Equivalency Diploma (HSED) or registers in a program leading to a HSED, is committed to an institution that maintains educational programs, or is so ill that he/she is unable to participate in a homebound or special therapy program. Students who reach the age of 21 before receiving a diploma or designation of completion (“age-outs”) are also counted as dropouts.

Q: Under what circumstances is a student reported as a transfer?

A: For purposes of the dropout rate, a ‘transfer’ is a student who enrolls in another school that awards a diploma, or who enrolls in a HSED program, or enrolls in a home-based education program (home school) pursuant to 22-33-104.5. A student is considered a transfer to another district or educational program in Colorado if the receiving school or program sends confirmation of attendance and enrollment, or, if the student transfers to a home-based education program, a signed notification from the student’s parent or guardian can serve as official documentation of transfer. Additional documentation requirements are available depending on a student's transfer status. Please see the adequate documentation page for more information.

Q: What if a student just disappears?

A: A student in 7th through 12th grade who stops attending school or does not return to school at the beginning of the school year is considered a dropout unless the original district can obtain official documentation that the student transferred to another educational program. Please see the adequate documentation page for more information.

Q: What is adequate documentation and when did Colorado begin requiring this documentation?

A: Beginning in 2005, CCR 301-67 - “Rules for the Administration of Colorado Data Reporting for School Accreditation” - required Colorado’s school districts to obtain adequate documentation of transfer for all students who transfer from the district to attend a school outside the state or country, a private school, or a home-based education program. Adequate documentation is defined as an official request for academic records from the student’s new school or, in the case of a home-based education program, a signed form from a parent or legal guardian. If the district cannot obtain this documentation, the student must be reported as a dropout. Districts and schools serving highly mobile student populations were potentially affected by this provision to a much greater degree. Please see the adequate documentation page for a list of specific documentation required for specific transfer circumstances.

Q: Can the dropout rate be multiplied by four to find out how many students drop out over the four years of high school?

A: No. The dropout rate is an annual rate only. It is not statistically valid to multiply the annual rate by four to find out how many students dropped out during high school. Similarly, it is not statistically valid to multiply the dropout rate by four and subtract this number from 100 to determine the graduation rate.

Q: Can a student drop out more than once? How does that affect the annual dropout rate?

A: Some students have a pattern of dropping out and returning to school several times before they either graduate or drop out and do not return. In the state reporting system, a student is counted as a dropout only once within a given reporting period (i.e., from July 1 through June 30). However, if a student drops out during one school year, then returns to school the following year and drops out again, he/she will be counted in the dropout rate two years in a row.

Q: Are students who transfer to a HSED program counted as dropouts?

A: No. For the purposes of the dropout rate, students who enter a HSED program not run by a Colorado school district are counted as transfers and not as dropouts. However, these students will negatively affect the graduation rate for the district, school, and cohort they last attended, because they will be added to the graduation base (or graduation rate denominator) whether they receive a HSED certificate or not.

Q: How valid are Colorado's dropout rates?

A: The Colorado Department of Education provides definitions, guidelines, and training regarding the proper procedures for identifying and reporting dropout statistics. The data are edited and screened upon receipt and a summary document with the calculated rates is returned to the district for verification. In submitting the data to the state, each superintendent signs an assurance that the district has followed the required procedures.

Q: Why doesn’t the high school completer, still enrolled and dropout rate add up to 100%?

A: Adding the dropout, completer (which includes Graduates and HSED completers), and still enrolled rates will not equal 100%. These rates will not add up to 100% because the completer and still enrolled rates use a set of students based on graduation cohort rather than the annual count of students used for the dropout rate.

The dropout rate is calculated based on all students enrolled within the district between the 7th and 12th grade for the current year. It is an annual calculation of students who dis-enroll without providing documentation of transfer. If a student drops out of school in 2017-18, they will be counted in the 2017-18 Dropout Rate even if they later re-enroll in the 2018-19 school year.

The denominator for the graduation, completer, and still enrolled rate is based on the students with a common anticipated year of graduation (AYG). A student’s AYG is set when a student enters the 9th grade. Four years are added to the current school year and this will become the student’s AYG. All students who last attended a school with a common AYG are grouped together and this set is used to calculate the graduation, completer, and still enrolled rates. Students who drop out of a school will remain part of that school’s AYG cohort group until they re-enroll elsewhere or provide documentation of their educational status.

As a result, the students within the set of data used to calculate the graduation, completer, and still enrolled rate is not the same as the group of students used to calculate the annual dropout rate. Since these calculations use two different sets of data, it does not make sense to add the percentages associated with these calculations together. Typically, the denominator for the graduation, completer, and still enrolled rates will be much smaller than the number of students used to determine the dropout rates because the dropout rate represents all students in the 7-12^th grade range.

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Student Data Privacy

Data privacy guidelines are applied to publicly reported district and school level dropout rates to maintain student data privacy. The methods for student data privacy include blurring of membership base sizes with small populations, blurring membership base sizes for subgroups with small populations, and top/bottom masking of rates. While complicated, these methods ensure student data is protected while providing transparent information regarding dropout rates as much as possible. 

Visit the graduation, dropout, mobility rates: aggregate data privacy page for detailed information.

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For additional information, email Reagan Ward