The rate of Michigan high school students graduating or dropping out showed little change in the newest figures released by the Michigan Center for Educational Performance and Information (CEPI) today.
The dropout rate fell slightly to 8.9 percent for the 2015-16 school year, down 0.21 of a percentage point from the 2014-15. The school-year graduation rate for 2015-16 decreased slightly to 79.6 percent, down a tiny fraction from 2014-15.
That 79 percent graduation number is slightly above the national average of 76 percent, as of 2014, but the U.S ranks 21st among western industrialized nations in graduation rates, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The Obama administration had established a White House-backed goal of having a 90 percent national on-time graduation rate by 2020 that now seems unattainable.
“I am encouraged by this year’s data,” State School Superintendent Brian Whiston said. “As we move forward to make Michigan a ‘Top 10 education state’ in 10 years, we need to provide each student an education plan that steers them toward success. If that takes four years to graduate, or five years in an early/middle College setting, or even six years, the important thing is that students get the education and skills they need to be successful.”
Among the state’s largest high school graduating classes of 2016, eight of 10 improved their rates: Detroit City School District, 78.3 percent; Utica Community Schools, 93 percent; Plymouth-Canton Community Schools, 92 percent; Dearborn City School District, 92.7 percent; Chippewa Valley Schools 90.4 percent; Ann Arbor Public Schools, 88.9 percent; Livonia Public School District, 92.1 percent; Rochester Community School District, 96.3 percent; Warren Consolidated Schools, 85.6 percent; and Walled Lake Consolidated Schools, 90.2 percent.
CEPI, which is associated with the State Budget Office, calculates graduation rates by tracking individual student enrollment records from the time they first enroll as ninth-graders. CEPI also reports graduation rates for students who remain in high school five and six years.
“While graduation rates for the 2015-2016 school year took a slight dip, the data show us that more students are continuing their high school education past the traditional fourth year rather than dropping out,” said CEPI Director Tom Howell. “The declining dropout rate aligns with the increases we’re seeing in the five- and six-year graduation rates.”
Graduation and dropout data can be found on CEPI’s MI School Data website site’s K-12 Student Counts section, and users can categorize the numbers based 4-year, 5-year, and 6-year graduation rates by gender, race or ethnicity, or by demographic categories such as economically disadvantaged, English language learners, homeless, migrant, and students with disabilities.
