Statistics in Brief: Course Credit Accrual and Dropping Out of High School, by Student Characteristics

摘要

With federal legislation now requiring schools to report graduation rates, high school dropouts are receiving renewed attention from educators, policymakers, and researchers. Recent research has indicated a relationship between the number of course credits that students accrue each school year and students high school completion status (Allensworth and Easton 2005). This Statistics in Brief contributes to the research by using a nationally representative sample of 10th-graders in public and private schools in the spring of 2002 to examine the timing of dropping out and its relationship to the number of credits earned by high school students. Differences in course credit accrual are first reported by selected subjects (English, mathematics, and science). Then, differences in the average cumulative number of course credits accrued across academic years between high school graduates and dropouts are examined in order to describe their enrollment and completion behaviors. This analysis examines variations in course credit accrual and the timing of dropping out by student characteristics (sex, race/ethnicity, and socioeconomic status) and students school characteristics (location and sophomore class size).