HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUT RATES

ACROSS ALL RACES AND ETHNICITIES.

This indicator measures high school dropout rates for Orange County school districts, including detail by race/ethnicity and by program. Beginning in 2008, a student is considered a dropout if he or she was enrolled in grades 9 to 12 during the previous year and left before completing the current school year, or did not attend the expected school or any other school by October of the following year. Students who received a diploma, General Education Diploma (GED), or California High School Proficiency Exam certificate; transferred to a degree-granting college; died; had a school-recognized absence; or were known to have left the state are not counted as dropouts.1

Education provides benefits to both individuals and society. Compared to high school graduates, dropouts earn lower wages, pay fewer taxes, are more likely to commit crimes, are more likely to be on welfare and are far less healthy.2

• The Orange County cohort dropout rate for 2014/15 was 5.7%, lower than the California dropout rate of 10.7% in 2014/15 and the United States dropout rate for public schools of 6.8% in 2013.3

• In 2014/15, there were 40,872 cohort students of which 36,770 graduated and 2,311 students dropped out. The remaining 1,791 students did not graduate because they were considered Special Ed Completers (339 students), still enrolled at the time of the cohort’s graduation (1,432 students), or completed the GED (20 students).

• While rates across all races/ethnicities are declining, dropout rates for the 2014/15 school year continued to be highest among Black students (10.4%), followed by Hispanic (8.1%), American Indian (4.8%), Multiracial (4.7%), White (3.7%) and Asian (2.6%) students.

• By program, in 2014/15, dropout rates were highest among students enrolled in Migrant Education (14.6%), followed by English Learners (11.8%), Special Education (9.9%) and Socioeconomically Disadvantaged (8.5%) programs.

• Rates across all programs are declining The change in dropout rates since 2009/10 was greatest among the English Learner program (61.7%), followed by the Socioeconomically Disadvantaged (38.4%), Special Education (23.8%) and Migrant Education (3.3%) programs.4

Percent of Grade 9-12 Cohort Dropouts,

Percent