DATA & REPORTS: HIGH SCHOOL COHORT GRADUATION RATES: ADDITIONAL
INFORMATION (CALCULATION OVERVIEW) INFORMATION (CALCULATION
OVERVIEW) ||When reviewing and analyzing high school assessment
data, it is important to be aware that the results are
influenced by the fact that a proportion of students drops out
before graduating high school and does not participate in
certain assessments. An "event" dropout rate is the type of rate
that has typically been collected and reported in Vermont and
nationally for many years. An event rate describes the
percentage of students who drop out across grades nine through
twelve in a single year. For a number of years, the Vermont
event drop out rate has consistently remained at 4 percent to 5
percent. Describing dropouts with this methodology is important,
but it masks the magnitude of the dropout problem. A more
descriptive approach is to track the proportion of students who
enter high school in ninth grade, but who do not graduate in
four years; this is called a "cohort" rate.