In 2005, governors from all 50 states signed the National Governors Association’s (NGA) Graduation Counts Compact to voluntarily implement a common and reliable formula for calculating their state’s high school graduation rate.  The Compact focuses on: using a common, four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate formula; building state data collection and reporting capacity; developing additional student outcome indicators; and reporting annually on progress toward these commitments.

A new report from the NGA Center for Best Practices shows that 26 states are now reporting high school graduation rates according to a common formula. Implementing Graduation Counts: State Progress to Date, 2010 also reports that 48 states plan to report their graduation rates using a common formula by the end of 2011.

“Governors agreed to use a more consistent and accurate graduation rate formula because they understand that better information on student outcomes is critical for ensuring that all students graduate from high school prepared for college, work and life,” said John Thomasian, director of the NGA Center. “The 2010 update shows that states are making significant progress toward this end and are expected to continue to do so in 2011.”

Tags: accountability, Graduation Rates, Public Policy, Secondary

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 4th, 2011 at 7:00 am and is filed under Public Policy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.