“It Looks Good That Your Graduation Rate Is Up”: High School Graduation Requirements Under High-Stakes Accountability

• In Event: Navigating Accountability: Graduation Rates and Decision Making in High-Stakes Education

Abstract

Beginning in 2010, the high school graduation rate reached record highs on an annual basis for a decade. Also in 2010, the adjusted four-year cohort graduation rate formula standardized graduation rate calculations to allow for high-stakes accountability to include graduation rates. We explore whether states changed their graduation requirements to avoid sanctions and increase graduation rates by compiling an original data set of state-level requirements between 2008-09 and 2019-20 along with interviews of state officials. We identified two trends: increasing credit requirements and removing exit exams. Interviews indicated these changes were made to increase graduation rates or to align with postsecondary/local industry. Removing exams led to increases in graduation rates of up to 7.2 percentage points.

Authors

• Samantha L. Viano, George Mason University

• Natalie Truong, George Mason University