New indicator added to the CHNA platform!

A new indicator for high school graduation rate from the US Department of Education (ED) has been added to the CHNA platform. This indicator is a supplement to the existing high school graduation rate indicator from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The new ED indicator reports the cohort-adjusted high school graduation rate. This measure divides the number of diplomas issued in the 2010-11 school year by the total adjusted student cohort, which is made up of students who entered 9th grade for the the first time in 2008, which is “adjusted” by adding any students who subsequently transfer into the cohort and subtracting any students who subsequently transfer out, emigrate to another country, or die. This measure is a more accurate measure of cohort size than the data from NCES, which reports the average freshman graduation rate. This measure divides the total number of diplomas issued in the 2008-09 school year by the average freshman base, which is calculated by averaging the class size of first-time 9th grade students in each of the preceding 4 years. Though the new indicator is both more current and more accurate, the NCES indicator is maintained because it allows comparison to the Healthy People 2020 Leading Health Indicator.