HIGH SCHOOL DROPOUT RATES

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 2015/16 was 5.4%, down 56.1% from 12.3% in 2009/10. This rate is lower than the California dropout rate of 9.8% in 2015/161 and the United States dropout rate for public schools of 5.9% in 2015.3

• In 2015/16, there were 39,820 cohort students of which 36,162 graduated and 2,145 students dropped out. The remaining 1,513 students did not graduate because they were considered still enrolled at the time of the cohort’s graduation (1,142 students), Special Education completers (346 students), or completed the GED (25 students).

• While rates across all races/ethnicities are declining, dropout rates for the 2015/16 school year continued to be highest among Black students (9.4%), followed by Hispanic (7.4%), American Indian (5.3%), Multiracial (4.5%), White (3.8%) and Asian (2.4%) students.

• By program, dropout rates were highest among students enrolled as English Learners (10.3%), followed by Special Education (9.1%), Migrant Education (8.8%) and Socioeconomically Disadvantaged (8.0%) programs.4

• Dropout rates across all programs are declining. The change in dropout rates since 2009/10 was greatest among the English Language Learner program (improving 66.6%), followed by the Socioeconomically Disadvantaged, Migrant Education and Special Education programs, which improved 42.0%, 41.7% and 30.0%, respectively.

Percent of Grade 9-12 Cohort Dropouts, by Race/Ethnicity

Percent of Grade 9-12 Cohort Dropouts, by School District,