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Home » Documents Library » Beyond the Numbers: Understanding California's High School Dropouts

Longitudinal Four-Year Dropout Rate (L4YDR)

The longitudinal four-year dropout rate is the percent of students from an entering 9th grade cohort who drop out within four years, based on individual data covering four years.[i]  No measure is perfect, but from the perspective of the six PUER districts the longitudinal four-year dropout rate is the most accurate measure of actual dropouts given currently available data systems and resources to track the progress of high school students in each district.  This method of calculation ties students to the first institution they entered as 9th graders, and does not account for the subsequent inflow of students. Therefore, the district graduation and dropout rates will likely sum to be greater than 100%.
 
The PUER school districts calculated dropout rates for each of the participating districts using longitudinal data on students who entered the 9th grade for the first time in the fall of 2003. The status of these students was then captured in the winter of 2008 for the purposes of this study, and for reporting to the California Department of Education.
 
Dropouts have been defined as students who choose to leave school before graduating, although they are intellectually capable of doing the work required for obtaining a secondary education diploma. Excluded from this definition are students with learning disabilities, students who have completed high school requirements for graduation but have not passed the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE), students who have been expelled, students who have been unable to continue due to medical reasons, and students who are deceased.

[i] Longitudinal Four-Year Dropout Rate calculation:

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