 In order to comply with The No child left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2001 and, as defined in The Michigan Department of Education (MDE) Consolidated State Application Accountability Workbook, the state of Michigan must move to an accountability system for high schools in which a graduation rate includes only "on-time" graduates who earn diplomas in four years. This calculation aligns with the guidelines provided by the National Governors Association (NGA) Graduation Counts Compact and the United States Department of Education (USED).
The "four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate" is calculated by tracking individual students from the time they were enrolled as first-time ninth-graders, with a four-year expected completion rate. The formula accounts for students who leave school and return later, for students retained in a grade and stay in school, and for students who transferred into and out of the public school system. Thus, this is a more accurate measure of the Graduation rate. Students included in building rates must have been reported to the state for two or more count days. Students included in district rates must have been reported to the state for one or more count days. |
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