HOW ARE THESE NUMBERS CALCULATED?

There are two important elements to any empirical calculation, the data set and the formula. Here is what we used to calculate the dropout rate in districts nationwide.

We used the Common Core Data (CCD) as the numbers for our calculator. This data is reported by state education agencies and is made publicly available through the National Center for Education Statistics.

Our calculator uses enrollment data from grades 9-12 as well as a count of graduates for school districts in all 50 states. We use data reported from 2002 through 2005 to produce three estimates for each school district, state, and the nation as a whole.

The formula used here is the Urban Institute’s Cumulative Promotion Index (CPI). Please note that while estimates were created for every school district in the country not every school district is listed here. To learn more about why some communities were excluded from the final web tool check out the What do these numbers tell us? and Frequently Asked Questions articles.