Dropout and completion rates in the United States: 2006 compendium report, September 2008

This report builds upon a series of National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) reports on high school dropout and completion rates that began in 1988. It presents estimates of rates for 2006 and provides data about trends in dropout and completion rates over the last three decades (1972-2006), including characteristics of dropouts and completers in these years. Report highlights include: the averaged freshman graduation rate (AFGR), which provides an estimate of the percentage of public high school students who graduate with a regular diploma four years after starting ninth grade, was 74.7 per cent for the class of 2005; students living in low-income families were approximately four times more likely to drop out of high school between 2005 and 2006 than were students living in high-income families; and in October 2006, approximately 3.5 million civilian noninstitutionalized 16- through 24-year-olds were not enrolled in high school and had not earned a high school diploma or alternative credential.

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