Diplomas Count: An Essential Guide to Graduation Policy and Rates (Education Week, June 2006)

This publication discusses the effects of dropping out, the dropout rate, state and national policy and potential steps to be taken in the future. Christopher B. Swanson, formerly of the Urban Institute, is the director of Education Week's Editorial Projects in Education Research Center; thus, the study calculated the graduation rate using the Swanson-developed Cumulative Promotion Index (CPI). The CPI follows step-by-step progress through high school, counting standard diplomas. Principal findings include:

• the national graduation rate is 69.6 percent for all students;

• large racial and gender gaps exist: black and Hispanic graduation rates are 51.6 percent and 55.6 percent, respectively; and, 

• on average, 60 percent of students in urban districts graduate—a rate 10 percentage points lower than the national average and almost 15 percentage points lower than the suburban average.

These numbers are supported by various other researchers and institutions, such as Jay Greene's Manhattan Institute report in 2005. Additionally, the data calculated by these researchers is often cited in newspapers across the country as undisputed fact. The online resource that accompanies this Education Week report features state-by-state reports and a mapping tool that allows for zooming in on particular districts.