Education outcomes
The main federal outcome measure for high schools is the four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate (ACGR). District rates for 2022–23 are being added to SchoolScope.
What the rate measures
States follow a group of students who start 9th grade for the first time, add students who transfer in and remove those who transfer out, move abroad or die. The ACGR is the share of that adjusted cohort who earn a regular diploma (or a state-defined alternate diploma for students with the most significant cognitive disabilities) within four years.
Why many rates are ranges
To protect students' privacy, the Department of Education publishes rates for smaller groups as ranges (for example 90–94%) or with extra rounding. SchoolScope shows rates exactly as published and never converts a range into a single number.
Reading rates carefully
- States set their own diploma requirements, so rates are not fully comparable across states.
- The department advises caution with 2019–20 and 2020–21 rates, which were affected by the pandemic.
- A rate describes a cohort, not what will happen to any individual student, and differences between schools do not show what caused them.
Source: ED Data Express, EDFacts file specifications 150 and 151.