Understanding High School Completion Data

Cautions | Definitions | Calculating Rates | Sources of Data | Using WINSS

Cautions

  1. Formulas for calculating high school graduation and completion rates have changed over time. The most recent change occurred in 2009-10 with the implementation of a federally required 4-year adjusted cohort formula. Changes also occurred in 2003-04 with the implementation of Wisconsin's Individual Student Enrollment System and availability of new data for legacy rates. Rates calculated using different formulas have different meanings and are not otherwise comparable.
  2. Four-year adjusted cohort rates are expected to be lower than legacy rates calculated using the 2003-04 formula. This is because the 2003-04 legacy-rate formula includes students continuing until age 21, some of whom took longer than four-years to complete high school. Other formula differences exist which, in rare situations, may result in four-year rates being higher than legacy rates.
  3. Due to 2010-11 race/ethnicity reporting changes, pre- and post-2010-11 completion rates by race/ethnicity may not be comparable. These changes resulted in five continuing categories with description changes and two new categories. For more information, see How and why have race/ethnicity reporting categories changed?"
  4. Because some students in the cohorts for 2010-11 completion rates and beyond will have last been enrolled prior to the 2010-11 race/ethnicity reporting changes, distinctions between race/ethnicity categories used for completion rate reporting will remain blurred for several years. For this same reason, rates for the continuing race categories (American Indian, Asian, Black, and White) may tend to be lower for a few years after the change, and rates for the other categories (Hispanic, Pacific Islander, and Two or More Races) may tend to be higher, than would otherwise be expected.
  5. 2003-04 was a year of transition to a new dropout and high school completion data collection, the Individual Student Enrollment System, and as a result:
    • Rates for 2003-04 and later years include students in the denominator about whom data are being collected for the first time. Rates will have a different meaning and will tend to be lower than rates for years prior to 2003-04.
    • 2003-04 high school completion data and other data (such as dropouts) used in the calculation of rates may not be comprehensive in this transition year. Implementation in some districts was more difficult than in other districts and there are likely to be some continuing data reliability issues in 2004-05.
  6. WINSS is not the only source of high school completion and graduation rates. Other sources, including pre-1998-99 editions of the Wisconsin School Performance Report, use a variety of formulas to estimate rates. Most sources attempt to estimate the rate in a way consistent with perceived community definitions of this rate. Comparability of rates is complicated not only by variations in the formula used, but also by variations across schools and over time (e.g. in mobility, grade placement policies, populations served, grade ranges served, graduation standards, etc). All rates rely heavily on the effectiveness of student tracking systems and the reliability of data collected from districts and schools.

How are terms used in reporting adjusted cohort and legacy graduation/completion rates defined?

For WINSS purposes, "graduation rate" is also known as the "completion rate - regular diploma" and the "high school completion rate" is also known as "completion rate - all credentials combined." "Graduate" and "completer" are defined below:

For a more complete list of terms and definitions, see:

How are graduation rates and high school completion rates calculated?

Adjusted Cohort Rates (four-year, five-year, and six-year)

Beginning with 2009-10, four-year adjusted cohort rates are calculated as follows:

  • Graduation Rate: number of students in the cohort who graduate (regular diploma) within four years divided by the number of students who form the four-year adjusted cohort for the graduating class.
  • High School Completion Rate: number of students in the cohort who complete high school (any credential) within four years divided by the number of students who form the four-year adjusted cohort for the graduating class.

The number of students who form the four-year "adjusted cohort" for the graduating class is the denominator used to calculate four-year graduation and completion rates. Graduates/completers counted in the numerator are a subset of this number. The four-year adjusted cohort is the "total expected to complete high school" by the year of the rate consistent with the four-year timeframe. For more details see definition of "adjusted cohort".

Beginning in 2010-11, five-year adjusted cohort rates are also available. The formulas used are the same as the formulas used for the four-year rates with the phrase "five year" substituted for "four year".

Beginning in 2011-12, six-year adjusted cohort rates are also available. The formulas used are the same as the formulas used for the four-year rates with the phrase "six year" substituted for "four year".

Note that since data about four-year completers are key to all adjusted cohort rates, five and six year rates for the two new race categories are reported as NA until data about four-year completers in the new categories are available for the relevant five and six year cohorts.

Legacy Rates (by age 21)

Beginning with 2003-04, legacy rates are calculated as follows:

  • Graduation Rate: number of graduates (regular diploma) divided by the total number of students expected to complete high school, expressed as a percentage.
  • High School Completion Rate: number of high school completers (any credential) divided by the total number of students expected to complete high school in that year, expressed as a percentage.

"The total number of students expected to complete high school" is the denominator used to calculate legacy graduation and completion rates and is the sum of cohort dropouts, students who reached the maximum age without completing high school, and high school completers (any credential).

Prior to 2003-04, these rates were calculated as follows:

  • Graduation Rate: number of regular diploma recipients (i.e. graduates) divided by the sum of the dropouts over four years plus the number of regular diploma recipients, expressed as a percentage. All pre-2003-04 data on WINSS use this definition. Graduation rate is also known as the Completion Rate - Regular Diploma.
  • High School Completion Rate: not available. Data were not available to calculate high school completion rates prior to 2003-04.

How are students counted who move between Wisconsin school districts during the 4-year, 6-year, or legacy rate timeframe?

In general, consistent with federal regulations, students are counted in the district where they were last enrolled during the timeframe. This is true regardless of the duration of enrollment in that district, physical location of service delivery, circumstances causing the move, or student progress toward meeting district graduation requirements at the time of the move.

For example, the district where a residential facility (e.g. a county jail, county secure detention, mental health center, hospital, group/foster home, CBRF, etc) is located is legally obligated to provide educational services to any student residing in the facility as long as the student’s placement at the facility was not for an educational purpose. In general, if the district where the residential facility is located is the one where the student was last enrolled during the timeframe, then the student is counted in the rate for that district. {C}

What about rates for alternative schools which may sometimes prepare high school students for graduation rather than grant diplomas?

Generally, high school students are counted where last enrolled during the timeframe. Graduation is only one of several possible outcomes. Since a student may continue at an alternative school beyond the timeframe, reach age 21, or discontinue schooling, these outcomes are counted and included in reports for the alternative school. If students who successfully complete most of the graduation requirements at the alternative school are transferred to and receive their diplomas from another school prior to the end of the timeframe, then these students count in and raise the graduation rates for that latter school. In some districts, by their own policies about which schools may graduate students, some alternative high schools may have 0% graduation rates.

Does WI have future plans to publish extended-year adjusted cohort rates?

Yes. Wisconsin plans to publish six-year adjusted cohort rates, beginning with 2011-12. Seven years of comprehensive high quality data from a student level tracking system is required to calculate the six-year adjusted cohort rates. 2004-05 was the first full school year of Wisconsin's student level tracking system, and the data from that year were not comprehensive. Wisconsin intends to calculate six-year rates after data are available for the 2011-12 school year, by spring of 2013.

What are the sources of graduation and high school completion data?

Adjusted Cohort Rates (four-year, five-year, and six-year)

All data used in calculating adjusted cohort rates come from the Individual Student Enrollment System (ISES) Year End records. 2009-10 4-Year Rates used 5 years of ISES data, 2005-06 through 2009-10. 4-Year Rates for each successive school year use a corresponding set of 5 years of ISES data. 5-Year and 6-Year rates require 6 and 7 years of ISES data, respectively.

For a list of key ISES data elements used in the calculation of adjusted cohort graduation rates see Data Sources - Adjusted Cohort Rates

Legacy Rates (by age 21)

Beginning with 2003-04, data used in calculating graduation and completion rates are collected as part of the Individual Student Enrollment System (ISES) unless otherwise indicated below:

  • Until 2006-07 dropout data were available through ISES, some of the cohort dropout data by grade, by gender, by race/ethnicity and by disability came from the School Performance Report aggregate collection. Some of the dropout data used in the 2006-07 cohort dropout count came from ISES and some from a separate one-time aggregate collection of 2003-04 summer dropout counts.
  • Beginning with 2007-08, all cohort dropout data came from ISES.

Prior to 2003-04, all data used in the calculation of graduation rates (AKA "completion rate - regular diploma") come from the School Performance Report aggregate collection.

See Understanding Dropout Data for more information about how dropout data are collected.

"Total enrollment grade 12" comes from DPI enrollment data collections and is provided for reference purposes only. Grade 12 enrollment is a fall count and is not used in the calculation of graduation or completion rates because it does not reflect cohort dropouts, in and out transfers after fall, or students who reached the maximum age.

Where can I get more information about using data on WINSS?

For more information about the WINSS Data Analysis Section, see Data Analysis Section - Frequently Asked Questions and/or Tips for First-time Users of the Data Analysis Section

You can download all data on WINSS for any specific WINSS data question. When data are updated on WINSS the download files are also updated. Links are provided near the bottom of WINSS graph pages. See WINSS Download Options for more information.

High school completion and graduation data are publicly reported annually by public schools through the School Performance Report (SPR).

See the Data Errata page for corrections submitted by school districts after final publication of WINSS and other reports.

See also:
Graduation Data Analysis and Reporting
Adjusted Cohort Rates - Report Mockup
Legacy Rates - Report Mockup
Submitting and Publicly Reporting about High School Completion Credentials

For questions about this information, contact dpistats@dpi.wi.gov (608) 267-3166